I am quite fed up of curved balls. It seems that Erin is destined to be a regular client of the NHS. The poor girl has already put up with far more than most her age. As if DDH and spending 24 weeks bound by spica isn’t enough, a diagnosis of hypermobility syndrome followed. This makes everything so much harder for her little body. Whenever I find us on an even keel it seems that isn’t the path she is supposed to be treading. I am finding it increasingly difficult not to scream out loud at the unfairness of it all.
Sunday saw Erin gasping for breath and breathing too fast. Her little stomach rising and falling was a sure sign that breathing was not coming easily. Something I take for granted. I can’t imagine how it feels to be so constricted. To feel that suffocating feeling to feel scared. Erin wasn’t talking much, concentrating her efforts on trying to fill her lungs with oxygen.
At the hospital Erin’s levels were low and she needed both nubulising and oxygen. The relief for her young body was temporary and withing the hour it was needing more help. Steroids were administered and a chest xray ordered to ensure that she wasn’t battling pneumonia. Thankfully that came back clear. Yet another xray on her little body. Xrays that we are supposed to be avoiding as she has had so many over the years.
Now I am more aware than ever that asthma is not to be belittled, its nasty and tries at times to grip my girl. We will fight back like she always does.
2 Responses
aww poor Erin, I know how scary this is as Sam was hospitalised a few times when he was little. We were given a nebuliser for use at home & 1 dose of that when we could see an attack coming on helped avoid a hospital stay…unfortunately that was in the US & they were less keen for us to do it here. Thankfully he’s pretty much grown out of it (touches wood) and hopefully Erin will too…she’s a brave girl & if anyone can cope with all this she can x
My daughter also has asthma (she is 4.) We spent a week in hospital in Mallorca this Summer until they could stabalise her last attack. Lucky the doctors were magnificent. I also have asthma so at least I know what it is like, but children don´t complain so it is much harder to tell when they have an attack.
You might ask you doctor to carry out an allergy test to find out whether she has allergic asthma, then you would be able to make sure she was not exposed to things that bring it on. Hot and cold can also bring it on – for example getting into a hot bath when you are cold, or going out into the cold air…
Other than that, it´s a pain to live with but gets easier as you get older, as she will start to realise what might make her huffy and avoid those situations.
I hope this was an isolated incident. Good luck!