A Sad Picture

 

We've spent a lot of time at the hospital over the last couple months. Evan usually gets kind of wheezy whenever he gets a cold and when he was a baby we were prescribed an inhaler with a chamber for when he gets like that but the problem is that he won't take it. He holds his breath and kicks and screams and it's impossible to get the medicine into him. The last few times he's been sick though the breathing seemed to get worse. A couple months ago I was concerned because his breathing was really laboured. His chest was going in and out and his nostrils were flaring and he seemed to be breathing really fast. I called the nurses line to see if there was anything I should do about it and they said to take him to emergency right away. I was reluctant to take him because he didn't have a fever and he was in good spirits despite the laboured breathing but it was a good thing we went because it turned out to be pneumonia. Evan had his first chest x-ray and we were given antibiotics and sent home. A week or so later, his eyes became swollen and crusty so I took him to the walk-in clinic. We were told it was pink eye and given antibiotic eye drops. Evan calls them "rain drops" in his eyes. The "rain drops" didn't seem to get rid of the problem though. It would be good for a few days and then come back again and we were pretty good at administering them four times a day for the entire 10 days. Then, a week or so after that, Evan developed a rash all over his body and his eyes became swollen again. I took him to a different walk-in clinic and was told it was a virus. Antibiotics wouldn't do any good but we were to watch for fever, vomiting and diarrhea. That was on a Friday and on the Sunday the fever, vomiting and diarrhea started. Then, Evan's breathing became very laboured again but this time we could tell he was really suffering from it so again we made a trip to the hospital. He threw up all over himself in the car on the way there and when we got there the ER waiting room was so packed it was standing room only. We were told to have a seat and wait. I sat for a couple minutes and then decided he needed to be assessed right away so I went up to the desk and told them I was worried. Well, they got Evan in to see the nurse right away. As soon as they heard his breathing they put us in a room and hooked him up to the Ventolin mask with steroids. I was so relieved cause I figured this would open up his airways and we could go home but it didn't work. Every time the doctor listened to his breathing they would say it's not better yet and give him another dose. He had to do several doses and have another chest x-ray. About five hours later we saw a pediatrician who referred us to another pediatrician and sent us on our way with instructions to rent a nebulizer for use at home. So we've been giving Evan oral steroids, and a combination of ventolin and pulmicort with the mask at home. It started out 4-6 times a day. We even had to wake him up at night to administer it. Brian and I had to alternate taking time off of work because Evan couldn't go back to daycare until he was better. Now we're only doing the mask twice a day. We stopped for a day and the wheezing came back so we started again. Apparently they can't test a two year old for asthma but it seems like that's what it is and that it's triggered whenever he gets sick. We're suspicious that it might be triggered by allergies and we're working on getting him tested for that too. I have a feeling the swollen eyes may have been from allergies and not pink eye at all. Anyways, for the time being we have his breathing under control and he's gotten used to wearing his mask twice a day. I think he knows it makes him feel better. Now we just have to be really careful about dusting and vaccuuming and keeping the cat away in case it is an allergy. Hopefully we'll get some answers soon.