The spirit of God has made me, and the breath of the Almighty gives me life. -- Job 33:4
My poor li'l guy. He's been fighting this cold F-O-R-E-V-E-R. At least it feels that way. Its miserable to be the one with a cold but I would HAPPILY take over this cold if it meant my son would be wheeze-free. Have you ever been winded? Yes you fit folks might nod that after a marathon it takes a minute to catch your breath. And those who are not as physically fortunate might understand that a flight of stairs has you gasping. But what about the miserable toddler who's rocking in a chair with snot dripping down his face and you hear it that horrible vicious rattle. Now those with untrained ears or untrained eyes might not catch it if the person is more than three feet away. But my ears and eyes have been honed for decades for the wheeze or to see that slight pull in the chest when it is tight fighting for oxygen. My family has some history of emphysema, asthma, allergic reactions, and one time included a medical helicopter flying family members out of state. I suffered some allergy related asthma and battling weight for so long a good jog takes some recovery. At my heaviest a walk across the living room counted as a marathon :(
So although I am not a professional I do have experience to look for the symptoms. We were warned with our son's prematurity there were some indicators that he would get sick often if exposed and it would go straight to the chest (more specific - bronchioles). I try hard to not be a complete puddle of a worry-wart especially when it comes to Drew. I have checked his temperature daily (low-grade) Used wet wash cloths to wipe his nose to keep from becoming chapped (this is a picture from the early onset of this neverending cold!), and perked my ears every time he has coughed. They haven't been pleasant sounds but in the last 72 hours the wheeze has snuck into the arena. We have a nebulizer to try to treat it early and save a trip to the doctor.
However, a two year old toddler turns this simple event into a 10 round wrestling mania event. He's quick, strong, and has a show no mercy mentality. These events weren't pleasant before to give a breathing treatment. He would twist his head as I would wrap him in a blanket on my lap and we would rock and either sing favorite songs or turn to our old friend Sesame Street/Mickey Mouse. WOWSERS! Things have changed. It takes a while to get his hands contained within the blanket to stop easy access of grabbing the mask. Then as both hands are grasping the blanket. I slowly pinch the material tighter as I reach for the mask and turn on the machine. Prison outbreaks have been less intensive than my son's moves. He head butts my chin with the back of his head to distract me with pain which slackens my grip. He then reaches straigh up with both hands to push apart my arms (total martial art move) and then disassembles the nebulizer (the hose, the mask, and the cup of medicine so the liquid flies around the chair. He then jumps down, runs away, screaming as if he was in a horror flick. All of this within 34 seconds of the ten minute treatment. Do you know what this means? He begins another WORSE coughing fit and that we have to do the treatment over. BOO:( I'll sum up the second treatment took 64 seconds to accomplish pretty much the same maneuver. I became slightly smarter but the kid still had the edge by a long shot. We called that attempt good and have tried two others slightly better but definitely not the whole treatment.
So today in the doctor office as we tried to get an oxygen saturation reading (if you ever have seen the E.T. fingers that lighted clamp on a finger or toe usually does this job. But to read properly it helps to have stillness. Have you ever seen a two year old play statue? They lose - every time! After three seconds! We got a reading not nearly as bad as we expected great sign. uuuuuuuuuuuuhhhh.
But the doctor still wants to attempt a treatment. *mommy weeps* We did ....I was about to write awesome but I am going to tame it down to somewhat acceptable. Watching toddler olympics in the mirror adds a whole other level of shame attempting to help this child breathe looks ridiculous and somewhat dangerous. Especially from my side as my child broke free from a full mask covering and started BITING my sweater at the wrist. Really? But we got through it - he sounded a lot better which means goody we get to do more treatments. Actually our doctor (who is fabulous and I wouldn't trade for the world - kind, compassionate, great with children, smart, thorough, and cautious - I appreciate the caution!) gave us an option of an inhaler. Kind of sad that is entering our household so early. Not only does my son wear glasses before the age of two (I was five) but now he has his own inhaler at 2 years old :( How I pray that he will outgrow this issue!
We have some other medicine and an appointment in a couple of days to check up. I was hoping that with this medicine we might get some better sleep and I mean WE. But as we approach the 2 am hour my son has been awake twice already. Better turn on the coffee I feel it's going to be a long night!
May your HealthFULL Journey only steal your breath away for those awe-inspiring moments and never as a thief to kill your spirit. ' Til we meet again. . .
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