Riley woke up yesterday morning complaining that his chest hurt. I listened for wheezing and did not hear any, but he was coughing some. A lot of times coughing leads him to need his inhaler, so I went ahead and gave it to him.
He had a bought of wheezing in September where we ended up in the ER, and, then again, the week of Christmas. Both times he was placed on Prednisone and both times the wheezing cleared.
But, it had been rearing its ugly head off and on. Riley averaged using his rescue inhaler for wheezing about once every couple of weeks or so. Never two days in a row.
Riley continued to have to use his inhaler all through the night last night and again this morning. Every time he’d been to the doctor for his wheezing it was explained away as “just one of those things”.
Today when he left the doctor’s office we left with an asthma action plan to take to school and a new controller inhaler that he must take twice a day every day.
It’s one more thing my little man has to deal with. Asthma.
I did OK with it at first. I was relieved that they finally put him on a medicine to help control his symptoms. The inhaler he was on only treated the symptoms once they occurred.
I was upbeat about it when I told Holden and he freaked out. I told him everything would be fine.
I was firm with Michael that everything would be fine when I told him and he freaked out too.
But, now sitting here I just want to cry or scream. All I keep thinking is: Didn’t he have enough to deal with already? Isn’t diabetes enough?
When I look over at him perched on the edge of the couch his weight shifted slightly onto his left hip so as to not bother the new, tender site I just inserted it’s all I can do to hold back the tears.
In my heart I know he’ll be fine. Just like diabetes it’s not going to stop him from doing what he wants to do. It’s just one more thing.
It’s one more thing to check on in the middle of the night, one more contraption to add to my pocket book, one more medicine co-payment every month, one more thing to monitor during sports, one more thing on his plate….
4 comments:
I'm so sorry Penny. I totally hear and feel your sorrows. ((hugs))
I so sorry to hear that Riley has asthma. As a fellow asthmatic I know all the frustrations that comes with it, but only from a patients point of view. It must be rough to be standing on the outside and not be able to do something to fix the problem for good.
((HUGs))
Brittney
Sorry to hear that Penny. How does he feel about it?
Scott,
Thanks for asking. He's doing really well with it. It's not even really a blip on his radar screen. He takes his inhaler every morning before school and every night before he goes to bed and then I think it's out of his mind. He continues to amaze me with his strength at such a young age.
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