Now, he's 4, right? And you can imagine what a challenge it is to everyday, twice a day, get him to 'breathe in' his controller inhaler. And not breathe out so hard that it forces the medicine out the back of the chamber right. So on top of a couple of weeks of this kind of scenario...I took him inside a home w/ 2 cats last Thursday.
Daniel has never shown signs of an allergy to cats (that would be me), and that day - none of us were having any symptoms so I thought he was fine. The very next day, I went by some family's home with dogs. Daniel is allergic to dogs, however, since his new arsenal of meds that were prescribed, he hadn't had any reactions to these dogs since the fall (pre-Advair/Singulair days). Within 20 minutes of being there - the cough came! Very minor.
Now this time it got a little tricky. He was only coughing a little bit during the day (and we were doing Albuterol as needed)...and then on Sunday night, his cough showed up at night. We went from smack in the yellow...nearing red. He got a little hot, woke up whiny & then coughed some. Nothing that the albuterol inhaler couldn't handle! I didn't think it was quite the red zone that night...
Fast forward to yesterday - I determine on Monday night that his cough is in the red zone & we would start the Prednisolone the next morning (since that stuff causes insomnia, right)...I thought I was being proactive. He had too much constant coughing & per his 'action plan' (which every asthmatic needs) - I followed protocol. We had been doing Albuterol 4X a day since Sunday...nothing was really working by the end of yesterday. In fact, we had to use the Alb. inhaler every 2 hours. I was praying, "come on Pred. do your thing!"
So come 11 p.m., laying 'propped up' and coughing NON-STOP, I bring him in the bathroom. Desperate. It had only been an hour since the Albuterol...and that hadn't even helped anyways. He's rosey-cheeked, miserably whining out of exhaustion & frustration and just sucking in air - only to cough. There's gagging, nearly throwing up...And I say: We have to call 911!
There was nothing I could give him, nothing was working, and there were no signs of his cough ceasing! I said, "What do we do, wait 'til he turns blue...by then it's too late!" I had already been praying & this seemed to be the solution resonating in my heart!
In the back of my mind and from hearing about kids w/ asthma & the power of an 'oxygen mask'...I just knew that is what he needed. But who has the OXYGEN? The good 'ol heroic firemen do!
So it's 11 p.m. & there's sirens coming. Daniel is in my arms and nervous that he's going to get a shot. (Poor thing, I think he's traumatized.) He's experiencing excitement that there is a firetruck in the driveway, but nervous of what is really going on.
Within minutes of the oxygen mask...he's no longer coughing at all!!!! The ambulance shows up ready to take us in. Since his bronchospasm/coughing spell had finally ceased (after 2 hrs. - poor thing). I decide that if it started up again...I would take him in to ER.
Nearly midnight now, I fall asleep, sitting up in bed, cradling and holding Daniel in an upright position. He is fast asleep, overly fatigued by the night's events.
At some point, he ended up laying propped up on the pillows (getting brand new ones today) & the cough threatened me again. I grabbed him & held him again.
Sigh - what a night, right? It's all a blur. We'll do our second dose of the Prednisolone this morning (nervous about the behavorial effects, yet what else can we do?). I'll put a call into the doc to inform them.
Right now, we could use some prayer. Prayer for the cough to be controlled today a.s.a.p. And some prayer for Dave, myself & Daniel, as we are all exhausted. Thank you so much, I appreciate it so much!
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