Asthma - A Mother's Story

I remember when Bryan was in kindergarten and the coughing fits would start. Some were so bad that a trip to the emergency room would be necessary. Doctor after doctor, visit after visit we were told the same thing...he's having an asthma attack but he doesn't have asthma! My question then was always the same...how do you have an asthma attack without having asthma? (aka "if it walks like a duck and it quacks like a duck and it looks like a duck why don't we call it a duck"?) There were no daily meds to control it, no routine to follow to make his life easier. Running and playing with the other kids in the neighborhood was iffy at best as it might bring on a coughing fit. We lived in a rural area of North Carolina at the time and literally went through every pediatrician and family doctor in our area...we never got any answers. When we moved to Georgia we finally found a doctor willing to help our child. He diagnosed Bryan with asthma. (It was a duck!) Bryan started on an "as-needed" inhalor and was given Prednisone orally for 2 weeks to get his attacks under control. Once the 2 week course was over he went to 2 daily doses of Vanceril (inhalor) and life started to be much easier on him and on us. It's so very frustrating to know that something is wrong with your child but be unable to find a doctor that will do anything about it. Our doctor here told us that most likely the problem we ran into trying to get a clear cut diagnosis was due to the fact that some doctors don't like to "label" children as asthmatic due to insurance concerns down the road. What a crock! My son suffered for 2 years because of a "labeling problem"??

I am happy to say that now his attacks are down to a minimum. Most often they are brought on by either colds, exercise (but even those are getting less frequent) and extreme weather. He played t-ball and not only loved it but for the first time in his life he was able to play a sport without there being a much better than average chance that it would end in him being rushed to the hospital! He rides his bike without getting winded, runs around playing army...you name it!

Am I bitter? Not anymore.
Do I resent the 2 years of not being able to have my child diagnosed? Just a little...*grin*
Will I ever blindly listen to a doctor just because he has MD after his name as if he is perfect and never makes mistakes?
NOT ON YOUR LIFE!
I learned my lesson the hard way.

[Jones' Zone] [Kim's Corner] [Kim's Office]
[Dad's Place] [Dad's Library] [Web Rings]

This page hosted by Get a Free home page!