As I had mentioned in my prior post, poor Kader's allergies went nuts at the lake. The moment we arrived, his little nose started running and it didn't stop. By Sunday, the allergies had flared up his asthma as well. In small children, asthma doesn't always present as wheezing, but more often coughing. Kade was coughing horribly, and his little chest was concave when was sucking between coughs, unable to catch his breath. It honestly was the first time that I was really worried about Kade. He was struggling so much. That Sunday afternoon it was bad enough, I took him home. We tried numerous albuterol breathing treatments, and it didn't seen to be helping him much. Concerned, I took him into the doctor on Monday morning. She was pretty concerned that even on Singulair, Zyrtec, and doing breathing treatments, he was still struggling. So she called and got us back into our allergist/asthma doctor later in the week.
Later that week, we visited with the doctor. She felt it was time for Kade to begin the weekly regiment of allergy shots. At our last appointment, we had decided to try to control Kade's allergies (which is what triggers is asthma) and the asthma with medication. Our little trip to the lake proved that we were not successfully doing so. I hated the thought of Kade having to get two shots every week for months on end, but I hated even more seeing him struggle to breathe, not being able to enjoy our family vacation, and having him on so many different medications.
Kade has now successfully had four weeks of shots, and I will take him back again today. He actually handles it fairly well. He knows that we're going to get shots, and just marches in like a big boy. He heads straight to the registration desk and tells the receptionist, "Kade Johnson is here!" After he gets his shots, we have to stay for 30 minutes in case he has a reaction. The first three weeks, he didn't have any reaction, but last week he had a slight one. His injection site on one arm became red and a little swollen, and his O2 sats were a little low for a bit. We waited a few minutes and rechecked and they were better. The nurse wasn't for sure if the monitor had picked it up correctly the first time.
You might just keep Kade in your prayers. He has been a trooper for far, but we have many, many more shots to go!
