My poor boy
Poor little Ethan. We can never seem to keep him healthy for more than a month.
A cold we can deal with. Just a cold would he awesome! But with Ethan a cold is never just a cold. Since he was three months all the way till he was one a cold meant an automatic ear infection. Those stopped when we had tubes put just before his first birthday.
He did so well after that for about 9 months. But now that he is older he likes to play. He loves other little kids! Who am I to deprive him of that joy? But along with other kids - naturally comes colds- along with other things.
We try hard to keep him home when cousins, friends, and family are sick but somewhere some how he picks something up (and yes - we do wipe down the shopping cart!)
These days when he gets a cold he tends to get a sinus infection, strep throat, or tonsilitis.
This week it was a sinus infection. One day he is fine and the next morning when he wakes up he is a full blown sick little boy!
We learned from our many trips to Primary Childrens to have an action plan. You see, with Ethan, a cold us never just a cold. It turns into a serious health risk that can leave hypoxic and in the emergency room. Our goal is always of course to keep his oxygen levels up and try our best to keep him out of the hospital.
I feel so bad when he does get sick enough to induce his asthma because it sentences him to calmness. A two year old calm?! I think that is the hardest part for us both.
Usually we can get by with his inhaler but Tuesday night was really bad. He was barely breathing. And we worried about letting him sleep because that is when his oxygen drops to it's lowest. Thankfully, our last doctor had given us a prescription for a steroid to help open his lungs - our last chance. Steroids are always a last option for Ethan because is the possible side effects for a little boy we only give it to him as a last resort.
When we took him to the doctor yesterday his oxygen was at 90%. Anything under that and it means your body isn't getting enough oxygen to function correctly. We were so glad we had that steroid at home and that it had worked quickly enough that his lungs were starting to breathe well again.
Today he is much better but one of the unfortunate effects of the steroids is mood swings. As long as he us breathing though - we are happy!
I just want to add that at times it seems like we deal with alot of illness in our little family but we are truly grateful that our kids are as healthy as they are. We consider ourselves lucky and blessed that we have only had to deal with relatively small problems.
~On a totally different note - Happy Easter! I hope we all remember why we really celebrate at this time of year.
