Poor little Gabe

It's been a really, really long day. Gabe went from bad to worse last night. We were so close to taking him to the ER. His breathing was so raspy and ragged. He spent most of the night whimpering and laying on either Douglas or myself.

As soon as the doctor's office was open I called and they could get him in right away. He was so weak from lack of oxygen and just had no energy. You could see how hard his chest was moving as he was trying to breathe.

We had done several breathing treatments during the night. At the doctor's office we did two more breathing treatments with a higher dosage of his medication. The doctor came back to listen after each time. By the end he was feeling a little better and wanted to play with the school bus in the exam room. They gave us a Rx for Prednisone (which is a 5 day liquid medication) and we scheduled an appointment for later on that afternoon with our regular pediatrician.

Gabe and I hung out at the grocery store and had a donut together while we waited for his medicine. We went home, had lunch, did some packing and headed BACK to the doctor. Our pediatrician hadn't officially given him the asthma diagnosis (I think they leave that for the specialists) but he has a slight cold that has triggered an asthma attack.

We did yet another breathing treatment (we did one at home too before we had gone in) and she did a pulse oximeter test (a way to measure the amount of oxygen in his blood-we got really good at this when Leona was on O2). After all of these treatments it was only around 93/94 (normal is 100). Anything 90 and under and we would have been in the hospital. I would guess that he was there earlier in the morning.

Our pediatrician said that Oct and Nov are horrible months for asthma here in Boise. We start to get a little more rain and the air is a little bit more moist and heavy and this causes problems. Add in some pollen and the start of the cold season and for someone like Gabe it doesn't paint a pretty picture. She also gave us a prescription for Pulmicort which is something we will be doing as a breathing treatment with his nebulizer every morning and every night for the next few months. The Pulmicort is supposed to prevent these asthma attacks. The previous medicine, albuterol is used to treat attacks.

So BACK to the pharmacy I went. This was my THIRD trip to Albertson's in 24 hours. They know me pretty well there and everyone was concerned. He seems to be doing a lot better this evening. Doug's upstairs giving him another treatment before we head to bed.

We've been telling the boys how Mommy and Sister are going to see Grandma on the airplane. I know that we will miss the boys a bunch but we are sure excited to spend some time on the farm! We leave tomorrow morning and we come back Tuesday. If you are in the area stop in and see us in South Dakota. Or if you are here in Boise stop in and see how busy the boys are!