Wednesday, October 1, 2008

Is Cold Season Here Already?

This is the eighth day son number one has missed from school. I am starting to get a little stir crazy.

A week ago Monday he woke up with a sore throat and drippy nose. Now this son in particular is severely asthmatic so I kept him home. The next morning his ear hurt a lot so we headed to the pediatrician. They diagnosed - surprise! - an ear infection and prescribed antibiotics.

The doctor listened to his lungs. They sound wheezy but the antibiotics for the ear infection should stop an infection in his lungs. Considering son number one's history (several severe asthma flares a year and three times with pneumonia), this is somewhat comforting.

At this point he is starting to cough more and more. He continues to wheeze severely. We spend two nights administering breathing treaments every four hours around the clock. We are so tired!

Fast forward to Sunday. We had a couple of good nights and son looks a little better. Husband and I decide that son could go to flag football team pictures and then watch his team play. Well, after merely walking to the photo tent and back son was ready to go home for a breathing treatment. The short walk wiped him out. Poor guy!

Monday he looked worse so we headed to the asthma specialist. The doctor takes one listen to son number one's chest and prescribes prednisone. We start that immediately. I am aware of the side effects of this powerful drug but I want to avoid and ambulance ride and/or the hospital so he takes it.

The good news is he is finally doing a little better. I will most likely send him to school tomorrow. It is my day to help out in his little brother's class so I figure that I can check on him and bring him home if need be.

To give you an idea of how this effects him, I took him to the grocery store today because I am out of basically everything and he kept asking me to slow down while I was walking. He is ten years old!

We are not alone. I know that two kids at our bus stop were out sick a few days each and at least one mom is sick. I hope that this is not a sign of things to come this season. We are definitely getting our flu shots.

How are all of you doing this school year with sickness so far?