Asthma

I grew up with the idea that asthma was the terrible disease that small, scrawny kids had because their immune system was wimpy and they were allergic to practically everything. So, they had to live in practically sterile environments, and when they ventured off into public places, they had to bring their inhalers and medicines, so that if they did have an asthma attack - they wouldn't die because of not being able to breathe.

I always felt so bad for people who projected themselves with that fragility. I think the pity that I had, even drew me closer to my now husband, when I was dating him, because I knew that he had asthma, and talked about his youth as that portrait that I just painted. When I said "Yes" to his marriage proposal, one of the first things that worried me was that our kids would have the same health issues as he had. I vowed that I would do everything in my power to try to avoid any health issues with my kids - one of the main reasons why I choose to breastfeed and to continue for an entire year - so I could pass along my antibodies and invoke a healthy immune system.

Well, my oldest son had issues with ear infections and other ENT issues in his first 2 years of life. I thought that maybe my second son would be able to avoid these kinds of problems. I guess I was wrong...

First, it started with really bad cradle cap that turned into eczema. After 6 months of awful skin issues, and finally getting his ped to try a medication, his eczema was finally treated and going away. Then realizing how bad topical steroids really are, and re-discovering Melaleuca - their Renew lotion has saved his skin with providing natural eczema relief.

But, at the end of March he was struck with a double whammy of a cold - a GI infection that caused him to have severe dehydration and then a lung infection that caused bilateral pneumonia and then the asthma symptoms. He was hospitalized for 3 days due to this. Now not even 10 days later, he gets another cold and the asthma symptoms come back. We started back up with the nebulizer treatments yesterday and today we went in to see his doctor. He was put on more steroids to avoid another trip to the hospital and to continue his alburterol treatments.

It's not like it's a hassle to give him his treatments. It's the principle of it all - my baby is sick and needs to be monitored - and not just monitored to make sure his fever goes down or his cold goes away - but to make sure he can breathe...