Caring For My Sick Child

children, children allergies, children health, mum's thoughts, Jared

It is one of those days again when my little man is down with something and what I wouldn’t give to be the one feeling sick and taking all the inhalers instead of him. It is true that for the most part, my little man is such a healthy little boy, teeming with boundless energy and always up and on the move. But there are one of those days, and I am really thankful that they seldom happen, when he fell ill and lose the energy and his usual jovial mood. He had various allergies and they get worse because of the hot humid weather condition.

Yesterday, he was not being himself lying quietly on the sofa while watching his favorite Disney movies on the telly, instead of making a mess of his toys and just being one big energetic toddler. I was observing him and asking him if he is okay and all I get is a reassuring nod, as if telling me not to worry and that he was fine. I noticed that he was also coughing bad. One big problem with my son is that you cannot make him drink any medicine, no matter how good tasting they might be. So to say that I hate for him to be sick is really such an understatement.

I had the scare of my life during nighttime when the little one finally fell asleep {he had a couple of naps in the afternoon, which certainly wasn’t the usual, but would wake every too often because of his nasty cough}. I noticed that he was having labored breaths, as if he was catching them. And his breath has an unusual wheezing sound. I got so scared thinking that the little man was struggling to breathe and it scared the living daylights out of me.  It was too late to bring him to his pedia by the time, so I decided to bring him the next day. 

children, children allergies, children health, mum's thoughts, Jared

Our pedia, knowing Jared’s track record with taking meds, prescribed that he take two brands of inhalers for his pseudo-asthma attack {I refuse to acknowledge it as a full-blown asthma, given the fact that they do not usually occur too often, this is just his second attack in 2 years and I pray it will be the last}, since we will really struggle in letting him drink even half a spoonful of his anti-asthma cough syrup. Apart from the 2 inhalers, our pedia also prescribed two brands of cough syrup for the little man. We were told to go home immediately so that we can start giving Jared the nebulizers to relieve him of his labored breath.

Getting my son to take the inhalers is no easy feat, either. He simply dislikes the whooshing sound the machine makes and fusses about the white smoke that comes out of the tube inhalers. It actually breaks my heart to see him cry and beg me to stop giving him the meds!  😥 If only I could take those medicines for him, I would. If only I can take his pain and sickness away, it will definitely be most ideal.

Just like what our pedia said, I’ve seen quite a noticeable improvement and the little man’s breathing was back to normal just after taking one nebule. He must’ve felt very relieved that he was back to his usual playful self in no time and although he still coughs, his appetite is back and is taking his usual round of milk in bottles and is no longer throwing up after every feeding. Thank goodness!

Giving him inhalers is such a nightmare, but after a few tries, I guess, he was getting used to it and would only give just a little fuss. Hopefully, before the 3-day prescribed period ends, he would have grown accustomed to it in time. None of my siblings nor my parents had to take inhalers and this is really quite foreign to me. Even when i was diagnosed with respiratory problems when I was a young girl, I am certain it wasn’t asthma but just a number of allergies.

I am missing sleep more than ever and feeling rather frustrated when the little man refused to take the nebulizers and I really hope he gets better really soon. I hope that he outgrows this condition sooner, too!

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