Copyright © Louise Bostock 2007-2013. Please give credit where credit is due.

Wednesday 29 April 2009

Asthma bulletin

Nine degrees at 8am. Days of rain came to a stomping conclusion last night with thunder and lightning and feline goings-on in the murky darkness. This morning we have relatively clear skies and some blessed sunshine.

Anybody remember this post? Well, yesterday was our fourth check-up with the "doctor-with-the-dolly", the paediatric allergy specialist at the hospital, and PHEW! we passed! Given that he hasn't had a crisis since January, AJ's asthma medication will be stepped down and Mama is patting herself on the back.

So it was all worthwhile :

  • Sourcing and dragging up anti-dustmite bedding, washing it religiously at above 60° and airing it frequently in the sunshine
  • Sourcing and dragging up a new and desperately expensive Hoover Accenta with newfangled, washable (anti-dustmite) HEPA filter
  • Frantic bobbing around with a wet rag and a mop-and-bucket in a deft imitation of Mrs Swabb (Habeas Corpus, York Festival 1985)
  • Dead-of-night mercy dashes to our top-secret hideaway high in the Swiss Alps (where dust-mite don't exist), at the first sign of a wheeze
  • The blanket ban on cuddly kitties from bedrooms (blanket-bedroom tee-hee)
  • Keeping short-stay dogs on the dog shelf and strictly accepted only in the absence of AJ
  • Laying down a death sentence for the crime of rolling in the hay
  • Exporting AJ to his Oma in Germany at the appearance of even an estimate for dust-producing construction work, let alone the workers themselves
  • Camping out on the top bunk when summoned by a cough
  • Waging thermo-nuclear-biological-feline warfare against the mice, who seem to have decamped elsewhere, taking their doo-doo and their other nasties with them
  • Lurking about in bushes with my medicine cabinet in my handbag when the kindergarten kids go on a field trip - just in case
  • And stalking around every morning and evening in a starched white apron, inhaler in one hand, pills in the other and a clipboard under my elbow (to M's obvious delight - strange, strange boy).

Having decades of asthma/allergy nursing experience to call on from Grandma, from AJ's unshakeable kindergarten maestra and from our wonderful family paediatrician has been and remains invaluable. Thank-you all three for your patience, support and reassurance. Asthma, even of such a mild variety as AJ's, can be a scary condition for a Mama to cope with alone, half way up a mountain with no road and in a foreign language.

For his part, M. purchased a lifetime supply of those widgets he puts in his ears so that he had a chance of sleeping through the nighttime rumpus. Well, one of us had to stay sane, I suppose.

5 comments:

Vanessa said...

Very glad AJ's feeling better. Also for you - sounds like lots of work. You must be exhausted, but relieved, I guess.

Anonymous said...

What a lot of work! I certainly hope that you keep on reaping the benefits for a long time to come!

Anonymous said...

Hi Louise, Thats very good news, kids often grow out of it with vigorous excersise. I remember Paul in hospital leaning against the wall watching tv with the same condition,clutching his teddy, and us having to leave a very small child on his own in the hands of the stazi nurses, he got better, but no thanks to them. Heart breaker.

Martin in Bulgaria said...

You can take a big deep breath after all that!

Karin said...

What a relief! Sure is a lot of work isn't it. Have a daughter who suffered from asthma attacks.

Wednesday 29 April 2009

Asthma bulletin

Nine degrees at 8am. Days of rain came to a stomping conclusion last night with thunder and lightning and feline goings-on in the murky darkness. This morning we have relatively clear skies and some blessed sunshine.

Anybody remember this post? Well, yesterday was our fourth check-up with the "doctor-with-the-dolly", the paediatric allergy specialist at the hospital, and PHEW! we passed! Given that he hasn't had a crisis since January, AJ's asthma medication will be stepped down and Mama is patting herself on the back.

So it was all worthwhile :

  • Sourcing and dragging up anti-dustmite bedding, washing it religiously at above 60° and airing it frequently in the sunshine
  • Sourcing and dragging up a new and desperately expensive Hoover Accenta with newfangled, washable (anti-dustmite) HEPA filter
  • Frantic bobbing around with a wet rag and a mop-and-bucket in a deft imitation of Mrs Swabb (Habeas Corpus, York Festival 1985)
  • Dead-of-night mercy dashes to our top-secret hideaway high in the Swiss Alps (where dust-mite don't exist), at the first sign of a wheeze
  • The blanket ban on cuddly kitties from bedrooms (blanket-bedroom tee-hee)
  • Keeping short-stay dogs on the dog shelf and strictly accepted only in the absence of AJ
  • Laying down a death sentence for the crime of rolling in the hay
  • Exporting AJ to his Oma in Germany at the appearance of even an estimate for dust-producing construction work, let alone the workers themselves
  • Camping out on the top bunk when summoned by a cough
  • Waging thermo-nuclear-biological-feline warfare against the mice, who seem to have decamped elsewhere, taking their doo-doo and their other nasties with them
  • Lurking about in bushes with my medicine cabinet in my handbag when the kindergarten kids go on a field trip - just in case
  • And stalking around every morning and evening in a starched white apron, inhaler in one hand, pills in the other and a clipboard under my elbow (to M's obvious delight - strange, strange boy).

Having decades of asthma/allergy nursing experience to call on from Grandma, from AJ's unshakeable kindergarten maestra and from our wonderful family paediatrician has been and remains invaluable. Thank-you all three for your patience, support and reassurance. Asthma, even of such a mild variety as AJ's, can be a scary condition for a Mama to cope with alone, half way up a mountain with no road and in a foreign language.

For his part, M. purchased a lifetime supply of those widgets he puts in his ears so that he had a chance of sleeping through the nighttime rumpus. Well, one of us had to stay sane, I suppose.

5 comments:

Vanessa said...

Very glad AJ's feeling better. Also for you - sounds like lots of work. You must be exhausted, but relieved, I guess.

Anonymous said...

What a lot of work! I certainly hope that you keep on reaping the benefits for a long time to come!

Anonymous said...

Hi Louise, Thats very good news, kids often grow out of it with vigorous excersise. I remember Paul in hospital leaning against the wall watching tv with the same condition,clutching his teddy, and us having to leave a very small child on his own in the hands of the stazi nurses, he got better, but no thanks to them. Heart breaker.

Martin in Bulgaria said...

You can take a big deep breath after all that!

Karin said...

What a relief! Sure is a lot of work isn't it. Have a daughter who suffered from asthma attacks.