Antibiotics, Steroids, and Asthma! Oh, My!

I really, really hate asthma. I know I've mentioned it before, but nothing is worse than taking your child to the doctor thinking he's getting better and the doctor says, "This is bad."

Today was our follow-up appointment for Youngest Boy's double ear infection (including perforated ear drum) of one month ago. That was awful, but at least I knew going in that it was going to be bad. I mean, typically you don't have goop draining out of your ear for two days! But today I was not prepared. I honestly thought his "virally-induced" asthma episodes were getting better. Last Thursday evening he woke up coughing, choking, having trouble breathing and pretty much freaked both me and Mr. MOTH out. We administered his rescue med (Albuterol Sulfate) via nebulizer and prepared for the worse - an ER visit. Thankfully, it calmed him down and he slept in bed next to me until the wee hours so that I could constantly monitor his breathing/breaths per minute/pulse. Following typical protocol, I gave him his breathing treatment every four hours while he was awake and also in the middle of the night if he seemed in distress when he woke up - which happened twice. I didn't call the doctor because I knew we would be seeing her on Tuesday and it was unlikely that she would have seen us any sooner.

When she first listened to him she immediately noticed the wheezing (which, apparently, you need a stethescope to hear - anybody looking for a good birthday present for me?) and then she poked around some more. Apparently, he sounded like pneumonia but when he changed positions whatever the sound was went away. Good, but scary! So, because he is not responding to the Albuterol alone, we have to add an inhaled steroid - Pulmicort - which we've not used before (shh! Don't tell! I think we were supposed to use it last time but I felt he was getting better without so I axed it.).

And, of course, his right ear is still infected so we have another round of antibiotics - this time Biaxin instead of Augmentin. I hate using two new medications that we haven't tried before at the same time. If there's some kind of reaction, I'm screwed because I'll have no way of knowing what's causing it.

On a more positive note (at least for him), Youngest Boy has finally graduated to a "big boy" car seat! He is absolutely ecstatic because now he gets to sit next to his big brother! Woohoo!