The first asthma experience for our family was in July, when my son had to visit the pediatric ER twice in one day. For months he was coughing, and coughing, sometimes working into coughing fits. No cough medicine seemed to stop his coughing. Every time I took him to the doctor, I paid my $50 co-pay, sat in the office waiting room for an hour, and saw the doctor for three minutes. Mentioning our family history of asthma, the doctors continued to tell me it was a virus.
That all changed one morning when my son had a difficult time breathing, his neck muscles were struggling trying to assist him in breathing along with his belly (I understand now what they mean by belly breathing). He was pasty white and had black circles under his eyes. I took him in to the ER and he was given a breathing treatment and oral steroid. Four hours later we were back in the ER with the same breathing issues again. This time around in the ER he had 2 more breathing treatments and the doctor would not discharge him until the medical supply company delivered his home nebulizer to the hospital for us to take home . Let me tell you what a long day that was sitting in the ER for hours! One tired Mama, plus a really tired boy. I cannot even describe what a trooper he was.
I believe what made my son's diagnosis a little tricky was that he had a lack of wheezing. It seems most people relate asthma to wheezing. My son did not wheeze until we were on our way to the hospital. Since coughing seemed to be an asthma symptom not commonly mentioned I did some research. In this research, I came across an article about symptoms of asthma, one being a persistent clearing of the throat. I read that sentence twice to make sure I was reading it correctly. This was my daughter. She was constantly clearing her throat. Knowing now, after all my asthma research, it makes since as she was most likely trying to expel the air. So, to the doctor she went. My daughter had a great doctor, who we found after my son's asthma diagnosis, and she prescribed my daughter preventative medicines also.
Some days it now feels like our life revolves around asthma. My daughter uses her inhaler 4 times a day plus Singulair at night. My son has a preventative inhaler he takes morning and night, plus Singulair. Both have rescue inhalers and the home nebulizer machine. The kids have become quite proficient at playing while being attached to the breathing mask. Besides the asthma medicine, it is constant vacuuming and cleaning to keep our house as free of allergens as possible. Our house is an allergy nightmare. We live in the dessert with constant dust, poor air quality in the city, a dog, 2 cats, a load of stuffed animal that collect dust mites, and carpet upstairs. Hopefully by being a great maid and staying on the preventative medicine, the kids will stay healthy and out of the ER.
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