Everyone's Got an Inhaler

In the middle of the never-ending doctor's appointment yesterday, I took the kiddo out to eat something.

I took her to Wendy's explaining it was easier for mommy to avoid gluten there than at McDonald's. As she watched me remove the bun from the hamburger she said, "Mommy, do I have a rash on my neck too?"

It felt like we were revisiting the theme of ' being just like mommy' which arose when she was told to take an inhaler a few weeks ago.

I looked at her and said, "You will always be my little girl, but you are not mommy. You will have your own life. It will be different from mine."

And then I took her to get a chest x-ray.

Later, the ped called with the verdict of asthma, not walking pneumonia.

Right now we are doing nebulizer treatments at regular intervals. The next step is steroids.

It's all just like mommy.

The universe is a sick, twisted bitch.

My hope is to see if we can skip systemic steroids and go for an inhaler like Qvar. Given my experiences, I think systemic steroids should be avoided at all costs. If there's a first time, there's a hundredth time with steroids. Not to mention she's way too much 'like mommy' for me to think oral steroids are no big deal. Keeping her off the oral form is her only shot at not repeating my history.

My husband isn't breathing well either. The flu has left him with a nagging cough and some asthma-like wheezing. He talks about going to the doctor, but it never happens. Instead he runs off to play hockey...except he can't breathe well enough to do anything but pant on the sidelines. He's now got one of my inhalers in his pocket.


And my twelve-year-old labby love is sick and going to the vet today. Hopefully she's okay and just needs antibiotics. At the rate things are going now, she'll get an inhaler too.