Illness Update

I definitely kick myself in the you-know-what for saying this has been Devin's healthiest year yet! He is just starting to feel better from a 6+day illness. Here is a time line of Devin's illness (for personal reference- as we are still not quite sure what was wrong).

Monday morning- I notice Devin has mild cold symptoms.

Monday night- Devin has a low grade temperature.

Tuesday- Devin stays home from school (with me) with a low grade fever. Begins with cough. Fever continues through day/night.

Wednesday (no school due to Nor'Easter)- Fever continues but stays low (up to 100.7), cough worsens.

Thursday (no school due to snow)- Low grade temperature and cough/congestion. Visit pediatrician. Doctor says its a virus/cold. Increase asthma meds to inhaler every 4 hours. Call back if temperature raises/symptoms worsen.

Thursday evening- Fever spikes to 102.1 Call doctors office.

Friday- Devin stays home from school with Aunt Courtney and Uncle Brian. No fever in the morning. Very wet cough, tired, pale, fever returns by noon- 101.8. Back to the pediatrician in the afternoon. Doctor agreed that Devin looked much worse than the previous day and did NOT like that his fevers were rising after 4 days of low grade temps. He did have a small pocket of fluid in the right ear but it was not believed to be the cause of rising fevers. His lungs sounded clear, as they did the day before. She prescribed Azithromycin antibiotics, believing there was an infection, but not quite sure where.

Friday night- Devin fever raises to 102.5 during the night.

Saturday- Devin has no fever, some ear ache, still tired and pale. Wet cough continues.

Sunday- Devin finally begins to feel better! He has been fever free for 24 hours! He has enough energy to want to play today. He is still coughing, but not as much. Continues inhaler every 4 hours. Antibiotics must be doing the trick!

*I am a bit freaked out/worried/concerned about not know where this infection was or what kind of infection he had. Devin was so pale and the fevers were relentless. The cough is wet and really takes his breath away. I am glad that the antibiotics are working and thankful that the inhaler has helped to keep Devin's airway open and thus his breathing in check. Its sad to see your child so sick and I'm appreciative to see Devin with some pep in his step and color in his face again.

4 Years Old

Devin had his 4 year check up yesterday. He weighed in at 51.5 pounds and 43.5 inches. (97th and 95th percentiles, respectively). He is our big boy!

Cute though, isn't he?

He had 3 vaccines in 2 shots. He screamed before they were given and tried to break away from us (3 nurses and myself) but we held him down- he is strong!!! After the shots he was fine- like oh that's it? He woke up this morning with a 101* fever though. I think the vaccinations got him.

We also saw a Pediatric Pulminologist yesterday (coincidence that the appointments fell on the same day) who said that Devin's asthma was correctly diagnosed and medicated. Good to know my Pediatrician knows what she is doing! Devin will stay on 1mg of Pulmicort a day with the Xopenex inhaler as needed.

Back to Square One

Remember in February when Devin had surgery to have ear tubes put in to ease all of his ear infections? Well, apparently his right tube has already fallen out of place! I blame it on his rapid pace of growth. The pediatrician told me that it is not unheard of for the tube(s) to come out this soon, but I really hoped/expected them to last through one full winter (they typically last about a year or more).

Ugh, so anyway, we are right back at square one already...with an EAR INFECTION!

Devin started with a nasty, mucus sounding cough on Saturday and it has just been sitting there with him all week. We have been attached to the Nebulizer, doing treatments 2-3 times a day. Last night he woke up with a high fever and vomiting. We were up half the night. Poor Devin was so sick! First thing this morning we were off to the doctor. I was not surprised when she said he had an ear infection. I was relieved when she said his chest sounded clear and I was surprised when his Pulse Ox was only 95 with all of the Neb meds we have been doing!

Hopefully Devin will get better quickly now that he is on antibiotics!

One Year Later: Asthma Edition

The History:
It's been one year since Devin had his first (and so far only) major asthma attack. I remember it well. It was scary. I did not know what was going on with my baby. He was having such trouble breathing. He could barely get two words out. I first blogged about Devin being sick here.

My original post, once we were home from the hospital the next day, is here. I decided to leave the post in its original form. I had only had two hours (of interrupted) sleep at that point. The raw form of that post exemplifies the anxiety for the health of my son.

The Update:
Overall, Devin has done really well adjusting to this asthma thing. He takes his Nebulizer daily, and like a trooper! Last winter his Pulmicort was increased due to a lower Pulse Oxygen Level. This summer we (in conjunction with his Ped) tried to take him off the Pulmicort (most kids can come off for the summer), but he became so short of breath and unable to play, with a lowered Pulse Oxygen Level, that he had to go back on and this time to the higher level because playing was still too cumbersome on him. That's where we are now.

The Future:
We hope that someday Devin will outgrow his asthma. We hope that someday he will be able to run and play with other kids without needing medications to help him do so. We hope that Devin will be able to play sports, if he chooses, without becoming short of breath and "needing a break."

Middle of the Night

As I was peacefully dreaming of cost-free relaxing vacations on beautiful islands and calorie-exempt desserts, I was awoken by a shrieking little voice yelling, "Mommy! Mooooom! Mommy I have to peeeee!"

So I got up and helped the little guy to the bathroom. Both of us, in a half drunk stupor, made it there and back. As I was tucking Devin back into bed he asked me, "Can I be done sleeping now?"

"Uhhh, no Devin its 1 am. Its still the middle of the night." I told him and I kissed him goodnight and went back to bed.

A few minutes later he was coughing repeatedly and I knew it wasn't going to stop. <His asthma has been really bad lately.> I went and got the Nebulizer and medicine and brought it into his room. I entered into my "Nurse Mommy" roll and administered the Neb while Devin lay half-asleep.

When it was done, Devin asked me, "Are you going to watch the news now Mommy?"

"No, Devin. I am going to WASH the Neb and go back to bed."

"Yeah, its the middle of the night." Devin said.

Update on Last Post

To answer a question from Mel , no Devin will not be exposed to the Coffee Sand every time he goes to school. It is in the sensory table still, but Devin's teacher is not taking her class to that center. She said that even if for some reason she decided to bring them to it that Devin would join another class for that time frame. He will not use it/be exposed to it again.

Last night I decided to do some experimenting (because I want to know what caused that reaction). I gave Devin a bowl of flour to play with. He mixed it, touched it, smelled it and was fine....NOT THE FLOUR. Then I added some coffee grinds (not baked though) to it and had him repeat....NOT THE COFFEE EITHER.

Humph.

I'm thinking the cornmeal. I need to buy some and try it. Don't worry I will have his Nebulizer ready.

Asthma Update

So going off the Nebulizer for the summer didn't work out for Devin. :(

Last Friday I decided that we would give it try over the long week-end. A couple of days ago I noticed that Devin was doing some rapid breathing so I was keeping an eye on it to see if it got worse. Yesterday, Wednesday, I got a call at work from his school. Devin was having a reaction to the "Coffee Sand" in the sensory table and couldn't stop coughing. I instructed his teacher to bring him outside for fresh air to see if that helped and if not, then to give him his Nebulizer. The fresh air helped Devin to clear out his lungs and they kept him away from the "Coffee Sand." When I picked up Devin after lunch I asked to see the container for the mystery "Coffee Sand." As soon as I opened the empty container (it only had the dusty remnants left) Devin started coughing again. I wrote down the (WRONG) ingredients.

Here are the CORRECT ingredients:
coffee grinds (which you have to bake out)
cornmeal
flour
salt

Its ends up the consistency of gray sand hence the name.

I ended up taking Devin to the doctor in the afternoon because I wasn't feeling confident about his breathing. His Pulse Ox was down to 96~ not terrible, but not great for a kid. His lungs were nice and clear though~ no wheezing! I talked to his doctor about his reaction to the "Coffee Sand" and she said it definitely sounded like an asthmatic reaction and next time you can just give him the Neb to help him stop coughing. Unfortuntely I had copied the wrong ingredients down the first time so I showed the Doctor the ingredients for pretzels! Whoops! I guess I wasn't looking carefully! (They had put the coffee sand in a large pretzel container.)

Anyway, Devin is now back on the Nebulizer until at least mid-June when the height of Pollen season is over. Now I just have to figure out what caused him to have that reaction to the Coffee Sand....

The Sickies

As in most households across America, we have been facing a case of the sickies this past week.

Last Wednesday when I brought Devin to the Pediatrician for an asthma check, we found out that not only was his oxygen level a little low (95%) but that he also had a double ear infection to the point that his ear drums were nearly bursting. The child never complained or had a fever!!! Of all the ear infections we have gone through (and trust me there have been A LOT) this has never occurred! I had noticed (off and on) that Devin would tug at an ear, but never the same one~ now I see why, or say "huh? What did you say mommy?" but I really didn't see a need to take him to the doctors. Now I know better! I felt like such a bad mommy! Anyway, he seems to be doing better now that he is on antibiotics and doubled up on his asthma meds for the remainder of winter.

Sunday night I started coughing and when I went to bed I noticed that my chest hurt A LOT and I was having a hard time breathing. This was still bothering me Monday so I went to the doctor's. I have costrochondritis. That's basically a big fancy name for an upper respiratory infection of the breastbone and/or ribs area. Laying down makes the chest hurt more and breathing harder. I started a steroid dose pack yesterday and am already feeling a lot better this afternoon. Plus I have been resting a lot by sitting up in the recliner~ that definitely helps!

Erick has had an off and on cold over a week now. We had thought it was gone but on Sunday he started coughing again too. He is still coughing and all that other "fun" stuff (pleghm, dizziness, and tiredness).

Erick and I have been home resting yesterday and today. Tomorrow is Erick's day off and it looks like Devin and I will have a snow day so that will be a bonus day of rest!

*Here's to hoping the sickies leave us soon!*

UPDATE on Devin

Devin had a follow- up appointment with his Pediatrician yesterday. She said that he is bouncing back nicely. He is to continue with his treatments and medication for a few more days and then he will be on maintenance nebulizer treatments for the winter. The idea of that is to keep the lungs open and working properly.

Thank you to everyone who expressed their concerns and well wishes! We greatly appreciate it.

Devin's Trip to the Hospital

Devin spent the last 25 hours in the hospital. Let me back track....Originally his Ped thought he had pneumonia and sent us to the hospital because his breathing was terrible. Very labored, tugging, pulling from the belly, etc. At the hospital they did chest x-ray, blood work, IV and started Nebulizer treatments and Respiratory PT. After the x-ray came back Devin's doctor decided that it did not show pneumonia, but asthma. His diaphragm was flat (or something that indicates asthma) and he was responding to the steroids (not the antibiotics) and nebulizer (which he would only respond to for asthma). So it was decided that basically yesterday was a severe asthma attack. He now has a nebulizer at home, meds, etc.

Let me tell you- all of those things- chest x ray, IV, nebulizer, etc. are VERY difficult with a two yr old!!!! He was a trooper and except for the meds making him very HYPER he was a good boy.

I am glad to be home. Hopefully this asthma thing will stay at bay with us now doing treatments every day.

Here is a video of Devin at the hospital. This was after 2 treatments. Notice his breathing. belly movement, and his attempt to talk. It breaks my heart.