Thursday, August 30, 2012

Where Did All The Asthma Go?

One Sunday morning way back when, we sat on a bench at church.  Isaac was about 18 months and I had him dressed so spiffy.  The family in front of us had a little boy, about 2 or 3, who turned around to play with Isaac.  Then it happened.  He spewed, hacked, snot flying, sputtering through a long cough.  I moved Isaac immediately.  That week he got sick.  Nasty cold.  Then he couldn't breathe.  So I took him to the pediatrician.  Diagnosis:RSV.  I said, "Hey!  He's 18 months!  I thought RSV was for tiny babies" No.  Older babies can get it too.  The RSV filtered through his little body and he developed asthma.  For years we used a nebulizer each day to treat the wheezing.  Every time we went camping, each time we were around fire, every day of an inversion, colds and coughs, grass blowing in the wind, playing with a dog, heck, just being around people who owned a dog, swimming, going outside to ride his bike.  All of those and more would bring on an asthma attack. When Isaac was about 8 we put him on an inhaler and he began taking Singular.  Wow.  What a difference Singulair made.  He didn't wheeze so much.  It was pretty much being around a dog and environmental factors that got the asthma worked up.
Then Isaac turned 12.  About a month or so later we stopped the Singulair.  Just to see.  We kept Zyrtec around just in case.  He took that each night.  But we realized that he wasn't using his inhaler anymore.  Oops.  Needed it just once.  But here we are on the cusp of September and, even though the inhaler is in my purse, he hasn't used it.  At all.  Camping, swimming, hiking, dogs, fair animals, fires, scooter riding, smog, a cold.  No wheezing.  No asthma. I think we're done with the asthma.  It's a miracle.  Well, we knew he'd grow out of it.  He takes Zyrtec only when allergies get his nose a'runnin'.  I still think about that little boy at church and wonder why his parents thought it was a great idea to take him to church.  I can't say I'm grateful that Isaac had asthma.  But I am so grateful he is done.  Now he wants a dog.  Umm...

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