{2 year "not-so-well" check & exercise}

Yesterday evening was Seneca's 2 year "well check." I know....I'm a few months late, but better late than never, right? It actually worked out well, because Seneca has had a cold the past few days, so I kinda was able to do everything all in one shot......check up and cold remedies. I had called our doctor's office twice in the past two weeks to get more cream for Seneca's eczema, but never heard back from them. Therefore, Seneca's little legs were all dry with little scratch sores everywhere. If I go even 2 days without that steroid cream, it really starts to flare up again. I was really embarassed to show up with her skin in such bad shape....it looked like I hadn't been taking care of it. Anyway...so then her doc checks both of her ears. DOUBLE EAR INFECTION! What?? See here's the prob. My kids aren't LIKE most kids. When they have ear infections, they don't show the normal signs...irritation, rubbing ears, etc. You never KNOW they even HAVE them until you look inside. Goodness. So then he listens to her chest and says, 'Oh, this is one sick little girl.' I knew she had had a really nasty cough...but I thought it was just that. I felt like such a bad Mama. But LOOK AT HER...this was her yesterday. Does she look sick to you? LOL! The doctor said he wanted to test for RSV. Then he asked if either Chas or I had asthma. I was going to go into the story about my freakish breathing problem that no one can diagnose and that has nothing to do with asthma....but then decided against it since it wasn't really relevant. LOL! While we were waiting for the RSV test (which came back negative), they had me do an Albuterol breathing treatment on Seneca. And sure enough....it helped clear up her lungs, even in that short amount of time.  I was suddenly so completely concerned that Seneca was have asthma her whole life. The doc said, however, that though there is always a chance, that since she was just barely experiencing this and hadn't had any symptoms earlier in age, that the chances were VERY HIGH that she would NOT suffer from asthma permanently. That didn't really help me much though.

I won't hide the truth...I am a COMPLETE WRECK when it comes to ANYTHING about my little ones. ANYTHING. I literally SOBBED all the way home from the doctor's office, dropped Seneca off at home and went to pick up the $100 worth of meds she needed (antibiotics, a steroid for the restricted airways, an albuterol inhaler with a little tubey thing and a mask to do breathing treatments 4 times a day and more steroid cream for her skin)...and then sobbed all the way from the pharmacy. Good grief. I was a mess. Anyway....I'm still hoping for the best though and praying that her breathing will get better soon, that her cough will go away and that this will be the last we see of it. The happy part is that other than all of that, she looks GREAT! LOL! She weighed 27 pounds, putting her in the 50th percentile and measured 37 inches...putting her in the 97TH PERCENTILE for height! Nice! He actually said that she's in the 50th percentile for the height of a THREE year old. LOL! She a long little thing! LOL! And then, as we were walking out of the doctor's office as I was close to my complete breakdown, Seneca is calling out "BYE!" in her cute little pixi voice and blowing kisses to everyone! LOL! Such a sweetheart.

When I got home with the meds, just as the doc had warned, the steroid medicine was NASTY! Seneca only kept it down for a bout 2 seconds before throwing it all up. Lovely. We finally got her to take it, when she saw that she would get the yummy medicine (the antibiotics) afterwards. Come to think of it....we probably shouldn't be teaching her that the medicine is yummy. LOL! Oh well. Last night, she woke up in the middle of the night with her nasty cough and I got up and did the breathing treatment with her and she was able to sleep better the rest of the night. I know what it's like to deal with breathing problems and I am seriously praying almost every minute of the day that she doesn't have to do so as well. Anyway....it was definitely an eventful evening. Yesterday was kind of a rough and tiring day for us, and I was so tired and a little frazzled, that I forgot to even bring the camera with me for her doctor's appointment. It's the first time I have forgotten. However, circumstances being what they were, it wouldn't have felt right to take pictures of Seneca in her little sickly state. ;-) So I guess we can survive without pics this time around. ;-)

Now, just a few pics of my cute Kaden from yesterday. During rest time, he begged me to show him some "exercise" on my Jazzercise mat. LOL! He was so cute. He sat down on my mat and I showed him a few stretches for him to do. Then, afterwards, he said...."No Mama, I want to do some exercises like this." He started to do a bunch of YOGA-esque poses on the mat including this one that looks kinda like a push up. LOL!

I told him I was sorry, but I didn't know any like that. So he taught me. LOL! So fun. And then we spent the rest of rest time playing one of his pirate games over and over and over again. That was the best part of the day yesterday! ;-)

EDITED TO ADD: My little sis just found kind of a vital typo. LOL! I had accidentally typed that the doc had said that the chances were VERY HIGH that she WOULD suffer from asthma permanently. That is wrong. I meant to say that her chances were VERY HIGH that she WOULD NOT suffer from asthma permanently. Thanks Kristi-Dist for pointing that out....I've corrected that now! :-)

Comments

[Bonnieb]

So sorry about your poor little sick kid. Try not to stress too much. Could be that she just has a chest cold, and that's causing the breathing problems. Watch out for the prednisolone. We had Jake on it, and it changed his personality a little (a pretty common side effect). He was GRUMPY on it. Hope that she gets well soon! And what a cutie that Kaden is!

[Christal]

oh heather I'm so sorry she is sick that is so much antibiotics for a little one. I hope she gets better soon! Poor both of you! Kaden is so dang cute and loads of fun looks like! Well hope you have a better day! Awesome response to your cookbooks eh good job!! You are so loved!!!

[Nikki Peck]

Poor thing! At least she's acting well. Try not to stress too much about the asthma. Sydney has it. She got pneumonia when she was a tiny thing, about 1 year old, and has had problems ever since, though we didn't get an "official" diagnosis until 2005. However, she has done wonderful this winter and has hardly needed her albuterol or her Singulair. So there IS hope that Seneca won't have problems with it her whole life. My sister actually had problems when she was younger and grew out of it as well. In my anatomy class at LDSBC my teacher actually said that a large percentage of children do grow out of it. Hopefully Seneca and Sydney will too!! (((HUGS)))

[Allison]

Heather, I'm SO sorry for what you're going through! That's really scary. I was diagnosed with asthma when I was 5 (after 2 years of being mis-diagnosed). In the whole scheme of all of the horrible diseases and illnesses, I'm greatful that I have such a controllable and liveable one. I know how scared you must feel now (I'm always scared of my kids inheriting my disease), but it will all work out. Modern medicine is amazing. I forget I have asthma most of the time now, when at one point, it was extremely severe. You will be in my thoughts... and sorry for this super-long post! I can just totally relate to how you feel right now.

[letti]

I am so sorry to hear about Seneca. My sisters 4 kids all had problems like that when they were younger but the three oldest ones have grown out of it and the baby is still doing treatments. I hope that she grows out of it too. Kids are pretty amazing and so is modern medicine. I love your personal trainer he is so handsome.

[Jolene George]

I'm so sorry Seneca is so sick. Some kids really never show signs of serious problems, so don't feel bad. She really doesn't look sick at all. Just shows you, she's a happy little girl. She is on the mend now and you have Kaden to cheer you up with his cute little personality. :o)

[Lynn C.]

It truly is an amazing thing......once those little ones are given to us from up above.....how often the emotional roller coaster rides. It just proves how much love you have for your sweet little ones. Just remember....YOU were the one that got her to the doctor on time. You did good. As they say. And sometime those little trials we get (the sores on her legs) are so that we can solve another problem (her ear infections and breathing problems) that we are not even aware of, but the LORD is. He takes care of his little ones too. I pray that she will get much better soon. Heather rest up and take care of yourself too. Looks like you had a good time with your son. That's good. Keep smilin'!

[Lisa]

I've had a similar experience with my 3 year old - he was so sick with acute tonsillitis but we didn't know it until he had to be hospitalized!!!! He's a tough nut with a high tolerance for pain! Talk about feeling like a bad mom and that was 2 years ago! The guilt!!!!!

Have you thought about treating the eczema by altering diet? My 2 year old had severe eczema and we started eliminating foods which got it completely under control to the point where we didn't have to use the steroid cream anymore. Now, she only gets the odd spot here and there and we treat them with Spectrogel (sp?). We also had a really strict regimen of bathing twice day, no soaps, baby laundry detergent etc. If you'd like to know the details of what worked for us, just let me know. I know it's hard to see all that irritated skin!!

Hope everyone is feeling better soon!

[Marie]

Poor Seneca, and cute Kaden. But I want to see pics of YOU on that Jazzercise mat. Please take a class photo!! You go girl!

[Zach]

Okay, this may sound wierd, but I just went back and read your post about your breathing issues and your ER visit from way-back-when... and something struck me... Have you ever been to a chiropractor? Chiropractics can work wonders for a lot of things... all your nerves to every part of your body (including your vocal chords and your lungs) come out from between your vertebrae... So if they're out of whack, it can cause all sorts of things, and ER docs (and most other docs) wouldn't even think to check that, I would guess. Just a thought...

[Michelle Baker]

Awww, poor Seneca and poor you! I felt the same was when Sam was diagnosed with asthma. But it IS manageable, so hang in there. :) I absolutely hate those oral steroids, though. They make Sam SUPER naughty for a few days. Talk about testing my patience! Lots of good thoughts coming your way!

[Linda U]

Poor little Seneca and poor little you! Hang in there!

[Liz]

Oh my gosh, Kaden is SO cute doing those little exercises. Love the last picture! And poor Seneca. I hope she is feeling better soon and that she ends up NOT having asthma. I know when Jack went to the dr a few weeks ago he asked about asthma is our family and I was SO scared that is what he had. Luckily, it doesn't look like he has that right now!

[Meagan Gold]

Oh my gosh...I was kind of relieved to read about Seneca. Is that bad?? Not that I would wish anything bad on you or your family, but I just had this same incident happen to me last week. I felt like the worst mom ever because Carson had a cough and I finally took him in when he started to run a fever (I never want to be the mom who runs to the doctor for every little sniffle). When we went, the doc said he had a double ear infection and bronchiolitis. Oh my heck!!!! I felt like an awful parent!! My son is the same as your kids...never tugs at the ears. When I asked if his ears hurt, he said no. What do you do!?! I hope Seneca gets better soon! I'm just glad that I'm not the only one who this happens to. :)

[sockiepuppetsmom]

It's so hard when our little ones are sick. My youngest would get colds that turned into bronchitis and all sorts of stuff and we would do breathing treatments and the steroid stuff....oh it was so hard to get her to take that at 2! But she doesn't have asthma just every now and again if she gets sick like that we have to do breathing treatments. This winter was the first time in about 3yrs. that she got sick enough to have to have breathing treatments. So there is hope:) I hope she feels better soon....I love her name!

[Bobbi-Jo]

Poor little thing! That must be awful for her (and for you too!). Hope she bounces back quickly and this little crisis will be a distant memory. She's blessed to have such a caring mother, and I'm sure she feels it.

[Amy]

Oh man .. been there & done that. My youngest had RSV when she was 7 weeks old (hospitalized too for it). My oldest does have asthma -- but the asthma caused by allergies. She didn't get officially "labeled" until she was 7, and she had it since she was 3 ~~ coughing her head off all night long. That little tube thingy -- an aerochamber? I have to pinch my girls' nose when they use theirs to make sure they don't breathe through their nose. I hope Seneca doesn't have asthma -- it's a pain. ESP. being on prednisone. THAT is a horrible medicine to be on. My oldest has to go on that to get her coughing under control, and she turns into a horrible horrible person (mean, witchy, grumpy, etc). Works wonders, but it's hard!!

[Kristi]

Heather-

So sorry to hear about poor little Seneca! As am mom of 2 kids with asthma I can feel your pain! It is not a fun thing to deal with. I am guessing the oral steriod they put her on was prednisone(sp?). It is more than awful and if they ever have to prescribe it again, ask for OraPred instead, it doesn't taste bad at all. You just have to be careful at the pharmacy because they will try and give you prednisone every time.

Secondly, you can ask for a pill form of the prednisone. They are tiny and you can easily put it in a bit of pudding or applesauce and have her swallow the whole bite.

Good luck, Heather. It is so hard to watch our little ones be sick! I hope that things are better soon!

[Joanne]

Hey, don't beat yourself up about it - you are a great mom! My oldest son had breathing problems when he was 2 or 3. I kept going to the doctors but they just passed it off as a bit of a cough. Until one time I saw a different doc and he sent me to the ER immediately! And kept him in overnight on a nebuliser for asthma. It was so scarey for me! He just took it in his stride like kids do! Anyway, just wanted to say he is now 6 and I don't think he's had to use his inhaler for well over a year now, possibly longer. So I'm hoping that he's grown out of it. Time will tell!! Your children are well-loved and well-looked-after. That's sure plain to see so don't you dare think you are a bad mom, lol. We've all been there at some time or another!!
joanne

[Jewels]

I'm so sorry to hear about little Seneca. I would have bawled too if that was Colby. I'll keep you both in my prayers!

[Kimmie]

{{{{Hugs}}}} RSV brings back horrible memories - Almost lost my daughter to it when she was 13 days old - hang in there. I know it is the worst when your kids are sick & you can't FIX them. {{{hugs}}} wishing Seneca gets better & soon!!!!
Kaden looks adorable!

[erin]

Hi Heather! Don't feel bad about not knowing Seneca was sick...I did the same thing with my daughter before--took her in for a 1-yr. well check & the doc informed me how bad she was wheezing when he listened to her chest, tested her for RSV & it was positive. And raging ear infections--both ears too with me having no idea. P.S. That Triamcinolone cream you've got does work wonders--I try to keep a large tube on hand all the time for eczema.

Keep your chin up, and hey--at least it's not the stomach flu that's getting passed to your whole family, right?

[Deb]

I lurk on your blog all the time and thought I'd just add a quick comment about the ear infections and antibiotics.

My kids both had chronic ear infections (M still does). With K we had him on antibiotics almost constantly. I hate the side effects of those meds on little ones. The nasty diaper rash. The upset stomach. All of that.

With M, we started taking her to the chiropractor at just 6 weeks of age because the dr. wanted to put her on a massive dose of antibiotics for her ears - that would have been her 3rd round. Obviously they weren't working. As soon as she was adjusted, she fell asleep. She hadn't slept well for almost 3 days.

Our regular dr. wanted to see her the next day to see if the meds were working. We hadn't given her any. Thought we'd try the chiropractor instead. At her visit the next day, her ears were nearly clear. Our SHOCKED dr. asked what we'd done and we told him. He was very supportive (surprisingly!) and we haven't gone back to meds for ear infections since.

If the chiropractor isn't something you feel comfortable with, think about picking up some acidopholis powder (not sure on the spelling - it's the same stuff that is in yogurt) to add to Seneca's juice or cereal. It will help regulate her stomach and rebuild her good immunities that are destroyed by the antibiotics.

Hang in there! You're a good Mom and she'll be better soon!

[Brooke Vincent]

Paige had the same thing! Hopefully Seneca is better about the breathing treatments that Paige was. I had to kneel on top of her, squeezing her arms down with my thighs to get it down, but it did the trick! And not a single sign of asthma now! I have done the double ear infection too with Claire, not a single sign!! At least she has a high tolerance for pain!

[Laurie]

I hope she gets better soon. I've done the same thing, taking my child in for one thing and came out with ear infections. Being the Mom is so hard.