Spring Break fun...or lack thereof (part 1)

The week of the 10th was spring break at Jacob's school.  I took off work to keep the boys.  I hardly ever take off work for a couple of reasons:
1) the University has great holidays so I can be off without using vacation time - SCORE!
2) my work doesn't stop when I'm not there

I used the vacation time to schedule different appointments for the boys...a much needed "dentalist" appointment for cleanings and an appointment with a pediatric allergist that our pediatrician recommended. 

I wasn't sure how the "dentalist" was going to go since Ryan's first and only appointment last year wasn't so great.  In fact, he wouldn't open his mouth for the dental hygienist to do anything.  If I remember correctly, I had to hold him down in my lap for them to even look at his teeth at the end.  Forget the cleaning, there's no way that was happening. 

They called both boys back and I waited to be summoned but no one came to the door and called for me.  When both boys were finished, they did call for me and I was told that they each did great!  Ryan actually let them clean his teeth and do x-rays.  Neither boy had cavities! 

After the "dentalist" we came home to each lunch and get ready for the allergy doctor.  Since this is a new doctor and it's been about two years since Jacob was tested, we knew they were going to do testing.  Not exactly the best way to start off spring break and having been through it twice, I enlisted the help of Daddy.  Allergy testing is terrible!!!  Especially when you aren't prepared or know what's going on (our first experience).  In order to be tested, he could not have any type of antihistamine five days prior to the visit.  In the five days prior, we had visited my parent's once (to celebrate my Dad's birthday) and they have a dog; he has pet allergies.  During the weekend prior to the appointment, he spent a lot of time outside on Saturday (he's very allergic to grasses and also allergic to trees).  Who didn't?  It was a gorgeous weekend!  He also spent some time outside on Sunday.  When I got home from my trip with the tennis team on Sunday evening, he was running a fever and wheezing really bad. 

We get to the appointment 20 minutes early and then we waited at least 30 minutes past our scheduled appointment time before we were called back.  The nurse got some information from us and the reason we were there.  You could easily hear his wheezing.  She did a breathing test on him and he did miserable.  Because of those results, they decided to give him a breathing treatment.  The breathing treatment lasted about 6 minutes and then we had to wait another 10 minutes or more before she could re-do the test.  He did better with the second breathing test but was still having trouble.  We met with the allergist and she was hesitant to do the testing because he was having such a difficult time breathing.  She decided to give him another breathing treatment to see if it would get him somewhat under control so that he could be tested.  No such luck.  He was still wheezing after the second treatment. 

She decided to try and get it under control with medicine and his inhalers and we would try again.  Poor kid...he's taking an oral steroid in the morning for 8 days, his nasal spray, his regular inhaler and his rescue inhaler (until the wheezing stops) and then at night we substitute the steroid  with Singulair.  We learned so much at this appointment.  For example, we weren't cleaning his chamber correctly, which in turn changed the static charge, making the medicine stick to the sides of the chamber instead of being delivered to him.  His rescue inhaler probably didn't have any medicine in it and what I thought was medicine was just the propellent.  He should be using his regular inhaler every day, even if he's not having symptoms.  You would think over the past 4 years someone would have told us some of this! 

We paid a lot of money for an ENT to treat his allergies with injections and no one ever told us any of the things we learned at this one appointment.  It really makes me mad to think about it.  Why didn't they tell us to use his regular inhaler everyday?  All they did was make sure we had a rescue inhaler and an epi-pen.  And, when we quit going, cold turkey, they never once called to check on Jacob or find out why he hasn't been in the office. 

After being at their office for over four hours, we left with several samples, four prescriptions and an appointment for testing.  I'm happy to report that he's not wheezing so something is working!