Sick Kids

The past 6 weeks have been a struggle with keeping the kids breathing well. First it started out with Jase's fall allergies making it rough for him to breath normally (wheezing and shallow breathing = allergy induced asthma). He had this last year for 1 week too, and an oral steroid and the daily use of an inhaler made him fine. This year his inhaler didn't seem to be enough, so into the pediatrician's office we went. Since he struggles with using the inhaler, they/we opted for the breathing machine (aka nebulizer). It comes with a dinosaur mask and a mouth tube attachment). Jase freaks out with the mask (I think because he just had his tonsils out and they knocked him out with the gas mask), but he does amazingly well with the mouth tube (aka vacuum tube in our house as it looks like an attachment to a vacuum). After a week of this (and some oral steroids), he was all better.

One week later he got the wonderful cold that is going around. And he started coughing and breathing hard again (especially during the night and naptime). So we started the treatments again. They help him so much and he loves having the treatments at school because all the other kids surround him and watch and then they want their turn...if only medicine was always this fun...

About a week ago Meghan began developing cold symptoms in addition to her molars that are coming in. Between the snot and the drool this kids face is always wet... Friday evening her breathing wasn't the best and she was quite distressed and really wheezing, so I headed to Urgent Care with her. About 30 minutes later we were home with a prescription for breathing treatments and an oral steroid. She seems to be a little bit better, but she hates to have the mask on her face, partly because she can't suck her thumb... But the screaming really helps her get the meds into her system. The first time we did this, Jase was really worried that we were hurting Meghan and kept saying "Stop! You're hurting her." What a loving big brother (sometimes) - my hopes of having him "protect" and watch out for her when they get older might actually happen...

But when Joe gives her the treatment before bedtime, she almost always falls asleep during it...


I just realized that I don't have any pictures of Jase taking his medicine...