Week from hell

[shiredancer]

It's been a rough, rough week. Last Thursday Kidlet, who'd been suffering from a bad head cold/allergy reaction/change of season thing, called to say she couldn't breathe. Called the doctor, zipped off to pick her up, and had her in on a breathing apparatus in no time. Asthma. Actually her doctor calls it "reactive airway disease", but admitted that if one were being "mean", one would call it asthma. (They don't diagnose it as such because, apparently, it could cause future insurance problems. Pre-existing condition? Whatever. It's asthma.) Purchased inhalers and peak flow meters and checked in every two hours all night, with either an inhaler or some cough medicine in hand, listening anxiously to her labored breathing. God, that's hard, to hear your child struggling for breath. Back to the doctor on Friday to see if progress was being made, and finally, it was. To help kick the cold symptoms, to clear her airway, the dreaded Prednisone was prescribed -- but he *assured* me it was just the lightest of tiny doses and she wouldn't have any of the notorious side effects, and it's only for four days. Just finishing that up; don't see that it's helping all that much. Still using the inhaler and trying to get a normal result out of the flow meter -- guess this will be a trial-and-error kind of thing until we know what we're doing here. And hopefully it will be a once-a-year (or so), heavy-pollen-related experience, and not anything chronic.

Other than that, it's been orientation week at the university with the first day of classes tomorrow. Putting out dozens of fires and doing huge amounts of work. The next week or so will be equally hard, until we settle into the new quarter. Then it's admissions time -- oh joy. Too tired to be chatty.

And, uh, LJ sure looks different... wonder when that happened? *smile*

Comments

[baylorsr.livejournal.com]

As a sufferer of childhood and adult asthma, let me reassure you that the kidlet will pull through! If if turns into more than a once-a-year thing, talk to your doctor about maintenance medicine. When I started taking Singulair, I could sleep through the night without needing a shot of inhaler for the first time in years upon years.

[realdaisygamgee.livejournal.com]

Keep an eye on that singulair, and have your doc run a creatine level *often* -- it's been linked to kidney damage. I have a friend who had a hellish year with that, and it damn near killed her.

Have you tried Advair? That's saved my life. Literally.

[baylorsr.livejournal.com]

Oh, that's great to hear. I've been on it for years. And to my knowledge I've never had my creatine level checked, whatever the heck that is. And I've never heard of Advair.

I have crappy doctors.

[realdaisygamgee.livejournal.com]

*Eep* I apologize, I've fretted you. I was on Singulair for years as well, and had no problems; I stopped taking it because it became unnecessary as the Advair (which is a daily inhaler) works extremely well for me. But ask your doc next time to look into that; you may be uber-fine with it, and a quick blood test would rule out any problems. I'm in Research Hospital Central here, so I get subjected to more info and drugs than I know what to do with.

[baylorsr.livejournal.com]

I've had nothing that would ever indicate kidney problems to me, so I won't fret about it. I despise inhalers, so I think Singulair is probably the better choice for me.

[shiredancer.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the helpful advice and encouraging words, Baylor -- I'll keep it all in mind. Like I told Daisy, I'm going to print out this page for future reference (just in case).

And my sympathies for the asthma... now that I've seen it first-hand, I really feel for anybody suffering from this disease. *Not* fun! Good luck, sweetie.

[baylorsr.livejournal.com]

I am hearty and hale these days, which is what I wish for your kidlet when she grows up!

[realdaisygamgee.livejournal.com]

Ah, poor Claire--I hope it's seasonal, I really do. *frets*

[shiredancer.livejournal.com]

Thanks, love. It's always something, isn't it?

And *eep*, that dialogue between you and Baylor! Just a mite scary. I'm going to print that out and save it, for possible future reference. Meanwhile I'm keeping optimistic in my Pollyanna-from-Hell way, and yeah... hoping that it's seasonal and will be outgrown in time.

*Hugs* Don't fret, Daisy -- she's doing lots better.