Brigham was hospitalized for his asthma on Tuesday and came home the following night. Now that things have calmed down a bit I thought I would journal it. I was trying to think of a clever title and all I could think about was what these pictures were telling me. That it is always that time of year for Brigham. Asthma suffers know that at certain times of the year, they are more prone to attacks and flair ups. But it truly seems that for Brigham it is always that time of year for the poor guy!
Asthma can be triggered by different things and usually people just have one or a few of the major things that will induce an asthma attack ( Exercise, allergy, environmental, emotional, or sickness induced). This guy has all of them and it's not easy to deal with. Sometimes it can be frustrating because he seems like he is always sick. He can cry and it will set it off. If someone is sick in our house we have to keep him away because a common cold will bring on attacks. He will only play baseball now for his sport because it involves the lease amount of running (and he just really likes it!). He has been tested for many allergens and he is allergic to a ridiculous amount of things, which of course, triggers his asthma. And the worst seems to be the pollution. Being snug in between mountains trap in smog so when it is cold, the pollution gets trapped in the valley. It's sad because then he can't even play outside and we are constantly running air purifiers in our house.
Other than my family who suffers from asthma and other friends who deal with it, people just don't get it. We miss a lot of church. Brigham misses a lot of school. I am picky about sick children coming into our home. He always seems to have a runny nose because there is always something in the air that is in the high range that day. My family can attest to you that even a trip across states will set off major asthma attacks. It's ridiculous but the last few trips that we have made we have had him stick to bottled water because someone suggested that even changing tap waters could be a trigger for him when we are visiting far away. Errrrrr....the more I am typing, the more irritated I am getting! Not at him, but at how I can have 2 very healthy children who rarely get sick and how I can have 1 child that gets everything. Doesn't seem very fair.
So to add to our ever changing "try outs" we are taking him off dairy to see if it will help lower the amount of attacks as well as his Eczema. His Eczema has gotten real bad lately and we've been told this could help. I was told this a long time ago actually but Brigham loves string cheese so much I just couldn't do it to him. If I find out that no diary is the cure all I am going to be soooooo mad at myself. Then I'll be asking myself, how could I have NOT taken away his string cheese?
Ummmm, can you tell I'm a little on edge? Ha!
Here he is in the doctors office on Tuesday morning. His oxygen level was at 91 so they did a steroid treatment there in the office and sent us home with a liquid steroid prescription. But by dinner, Brigham almost collapsed coming up the stairs. I quickly put Levi in charge and off to the ER we went.
Here he is in the ER after they finally got his heart rate down. As you can see, he is thrilled with the IPad that they provided him to distract him while putting in an IV. They had to get steroids in him quickly and an IV was the best method. They were also afraid he was dehydrated because his food and water intake haven't been great lately. The McKay Dee Hospital ER was so quick and it really put my momma's heart at ease.
Because he had taken over 100 puffs of his rescue inhaler in little over than 24 hours, his little heart was racing. His oxygen was at an 84 which is terrible (80 and below cause cardiac arrest as well as some organ failure) but they were most concerned with his little heart working so hard to keep going.
So they admitted him into the hospital. Here he is the following night finding out that he finally gets to go home! He was so ready. Though I'm not sure why since they completely spoiled him! They really did. I sure do love that hospital!
When I went to get his new prescriptions I found this "Brigham's Brew" root beer as a reward for when he gets better....it's still in the fridge.
We went to a follow up this morning. His oxygen is at a 91, which isn't the best, but sooooo much better. We are just keeping him inside while his brain turns to mush while on so many electronics....but hey, he's breathing right?!
Here is a scrapbooking page of one of his first hospital stays. He was 2 years old and hadn't been diagnosed with asthma yet. He had double pneumonia and they were pretty sure at this point that he had asthma but didn't want to diagnose him at such an early age. I remember hoping he would grow out of it. I still hope that.
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