Keeping Up with the Jones: Aidan's diagnosis

Today was a big day. Well let me back up some for you to understand what has led us to this point. The past year (January 2012) to now Aidan has been diagnosed with pneumonia three times. According to our new asthma/allergy Dr. NO one should have pneumonia that often, let alone a child, unless they have a chronic illness. Aidan does not have a chronic illness so there's something going on. Last January during his first pneumonia illness, we were given a nebulizer with albuteral (medication used to relax the bronchial muscles to make breathing easier). So we were giving him that along with an antibiotic to help cure him. After taking him in to the Dr. the third time (early January 2013) and having to give him back to back emergency breathing treatments to him (now knowing it was an asthma attack) and oral steriod, he was officially diagnosed with asthma. His pediatrician gave him some "preventative meds" for his nebulizer and said we could see an asthma/allergy Dr if we wanted but to him, Aidan's asthma was seasonal. So after getting sick again a week ago (meaning getting cold like symptoms and within 12 hrs a bad cough with labored breathing), enough was enough. Josh and I decided to take him to a specialist to get his asthma under control and better knowledge and information with what we were dealing with.

So we took him to the asthma and allergy Dr. while he was sick so he could help us control his asthma (a week ago). At that appointment (last Monday), he told us his oxygen level was really low at 59% and let me hear his chest. Let me just tell you I now know what it sounds like and how scary to hear my child's lungs in that poor of function. It definitely made me want to tear up at that moment. The nurse ran some tests on Aidan's lung function with breathing tests, etc. After giving him some medication in an inhaler, he did the same tests again with lung function. To make the story shorter basically to be diagnosed with asthma you have to have at least a 12% improvement and after treatment he has 18% improvement. Needless to say it confirmed the Pediatrians diagnosis. So our main goal at that appointment was to get Aidan well with improvement in breathing and his lungs. We started breathing treatments with budesonide and albuterol 2 times a day for a week. Once he improved we were doing the allergy testing to see what triggers cause an asthma outbreak for Aidan.

Just FYI: Asthma is a disease of the respiratory system caused by inflammation in the airways. Allergies are factors that trigger asthma. So they are two different things. Everyone is very different in what triggers.

Which brings us to today's appointment. With a lot of prayers from family and friends we know the Lord guided us with ease during the whole process. Aidan did better than expected. They did the allergens on his back and after 15 minutes of waiting (and Aidan playing Angry Birds to distract the itchiness) they came back to record the results. According to the test he tested positive for Alternaria and Epicoccum which are molds. Alternaria is linked to the most "fatal" asthma attacks if not treated properly and is one that is in the atmosphere (and not in the house...whew!). It's nothing we can control and it's highest growth period is in November thru January (which explains why he gets so sick during those months). It lives in dead particles like dead leaves falling from Autumn and then the wind picks up and blows them around. So when there's a high wind and it's dry, we know it can cause a flare up with Aidan (which explains why he's sick in July). The Dr. also said for Aidan the cold/viruses also cause flare ups for him. The goal from this appointment is to record his lung function with a peak flow meter and logging it twice a day with breathing treatments 2x a day with just Budesonide. We should be seeing slow improvement this month and will then get a better feeling what Aidan's "high" level (normal range) is after he's been on medicine and completely well. When we return to the Dr. in a month we will then make an "active" plan with Aidan and start the control method with an inhaler 2x a day for about a year to get his lungs and body strong and go from there. He discussed possible weekly immunizations but we don't want to go on that route for now.

Whew, sorry that was a lot of information but I wanted to make sure we journaled this entire process as we are anxious to see how this month goes and the improvement he will make. We are so thankful for more information to help us along the sick seasons with our little guy. So thankful for answers!!