A Doctor's Update and more

I realized that I never posted an update after I took Ethan to the pediatrician last week. The doctor listened to him and said that he still heard some slight wheezing, but that Ethan had made remarkable improvement considering how sick he was. He asked me what his sats had been running at home and I told him that they were anywhere from 93-96. They were 92 when he first took them in the office, but he got Ethan to cough and then they improved up to 98. The doctor asked me when we are scheduled to see the pulmonologist again and I said not for a few more months. He said that he isn't going to send us over to him right now, but he is going to send over all of the hospital records to him. He is holding out hope that this was just a fluke attack for Ethan and that it won't happen again for a while. I told him that I have been going crazy trying to think of what could have possibly been done differently to expose Ethan to to cause such an attack. I was concerned about something environmental in our house. I also mentioned that Ethan was given allergy tests by his old pulmonologist when he was younger and I questioned whether we needed to redo any of the tests. The pediatrician said that he is very certain that Ethan's asthma is NOT allergy related. He said that children who have asthma that is triggered by allergies tend to have a lot of little attacks all the time. They also tend to have allergy symptoms all the time with stuffy noses and congestion and stuff like that. Ethan has never had that kind of problem. He told me that Ethan actually has the hardest and most serious kind of asthma to treat because it comes on so sudden and so severe when it happens. In fact, he told me that the dose of Pulmicort that the pulmonologist put Ethan on is so high that the pediatrician only has only had two other patients EVER that have had that high of a dose of Pulmicort. And the strange thing is that when Ethan isn't having an attack, his lung function is actually really good. While we were talking about the seriousness of Ethan's asthma, Ethan and Emily were in the room playing with some toys. Ethan was obviously still taking it all in because the minute we got in the car to leave, this was the conversation.

Ethan: Mommy, I bet Emily will have her shunt forever.

Me: Yes, even when Emily grows up she will still have her shunt.

Ethan: I bet she'll have her shunt even when she's in the cemetery.

Me (horrified at what he said): Ethan! Don't say things like that. That isn't something that is nice to talk about.

Ethan: That's okay, Mommy, because I'll have lung failure when I'm in the cemetery.

I was absolutely horrified that my child was sitting there talking about that and was just so matter of fact about it, too. To lighten the mood, I ended up telling him that to be honest, we'd all have lung failure when we'd be in the cemetery because we wouldn't be breathing. He just busted out laughing and that was the end of the conversation. Emily just sat there quietly the whole time.

Ethan is doing great now regarding his health. Other than some horrible tantrums that we are still dealing with, he is good. His tantrums are probably a combination of the constant steroids he always gets for his lungs, combined with a little ADD, combined with his age, too. He has spent more time in time-out now than he ever did as a toddler. He is also getting some big lessons in consequences. We are always dealing with impulse control with him and not thinking things through. I have had enough of him breaking something and just saying "Uh Oh, sorry" and then it being okay. Sometimes "sorry" just isn't good enough. The kids have these two plastic lap art trays. They usually take them every time they are in the hospital, go camping, or just for whatever. Emily brought me her tray and was all upset because it is cracked and broken. Ethan was standing on it. When I showed it to him, I got his usual, "Uh Oh, sorry." I asked him why he was standing on it, and he said, "I don't know." By this point I was just getting angrier that he once again didn't think before he did something. I asked him if it was a step stool and he said no and that he stood on his also, but that his didn't break. I told him that since he didn't think about what he was doing before he did it and now he broke Emily's lap tray, he will now give her his lap tray and he won't have one. He cried and cried and cried. And while he was crying, I told him that if he continues to swing around the poles on her bed and they happen to break off, he will be giving her his bed as well and he'll be without a bed then, too. Nothing like the mean old mama adding salt to the wound, huh?!?! It's like we go in cycles with the kids. One is always the angel while one is trouble. Thank goodness it is never both of them in trouble at the same time. I'd lose my mind.