Breathing Troubles

Robert had some trouble breathing last night. He came in from playing soccer in the backyard and he was panting like he was out of breath, but there was a lot of wheezing in there, too. Hours later, when he was asleep, he was still wheezing and panting at the same rate. I found it pretty alarming, but he didn't seem too bothered. Well, until he woke up and couldn't go back to sleep. He sounded so raspy and panty that I took him to the guest room and slept next to him the rest of the night...just to monitor the situation a little closer. If it had distressed him at all, I would have considered a visit to the ER. As it was, Robert insisted he was fine. No pain. No distress. But between the wheezing, a couple nightmares, some growing pains in his feet, and some periodic whimpering and restless tossing and turning, neither one of us slept very well.

Robert was lethargic in the morning, not wanting to eat or talk too much because "it takes too much air." I called the pediatrician as soon as his office opened and got an appointment at 8:30. Yay! Exercise can wait another day (erk!).

The doc didn't have to listen very long to confirm our suspicions. Asthma. This attack was probably triggered by the harvest season (yay, midwestern living!) and all that physical activity outdoors last night. Anyway, he got a couple doses of medication with the nebulizer in the office:

And when Robert's lungs still weren't as open as the doc would have liked to hear, he gave him a dose of oral steroids. Robert found them quite tasty. He commented on the flavor and texture as if he were evaluating a glass of wine. Made the doc chuckle a little. We were then sent home with prescriptions for an inhaler and more steroids and a pile of instructions on how to administer these new drugs frequently over the next four days.

Robert was feeling fine after the first nebulizer treatment. He's been acting very much like his normal self. The doc said we should keep him home from school today and tomorrow, though, as we monitor the situation and get into the new medication regimen. Inhaler today and tomorrow every four hours, also at night if he wakens with breathing/coughing problems. Oral steroids twice a day for the next four days. Once that's over, he'll only need the inhaler when he has trouble breathing again.

My little brother had asthma as a kid. I'm pretty sure he's completely outgrown it by now. There's no way of knowing now how asthma will affect Robert's life in the future, but he does seem to be responding well to the medication, and the whole situation doesn't seem to bother him too much.

The meds are stressing me out, though...which one when and how many times for how many days...argh.

But because Robert was feeling fine and breathing well, I decided NOT to change my plans for the afternoon: a friend helped me rent a truck and haul our big pile of sticks/brush/woody branches to the landscape recycling center. Sooooooo nice to have that done at last.