Sick Day... Make That Week

We've had our ups and downs with Oliver's health this year. It started out rough with two visits to the ER within six weeks at the beginning of the year for wheezing. Both times he was in such bad shape that he skipped triage and went straight back to be seen (it's never a good sign when your kiddo is the sickest one in the ER). After those scares we went to his doctor to try and get his breathing troubles under control. We ran some allergy tests (turns out he's allergic to grass but not to animal dander) and the doctor put him on a preventative steroid regimen - two breathing treatments a day for a year. And since then he's done great. A few colds here and there but nothing too serious and no wheezing.

All that changed this week. He started feeling sick on Sunday and by Monday morning was coughing and wheezing so badly that I had to keep him home with me. We did an albuterol treatment and the wheeze cleared up but he still wasn't feeling great. Tuesday morning was the same story. By Tuesday afternoon we thought he'd be able to go back to school the next day but then he spiked a fever. Wednesday he stayed home with Brian and they went to the doctor. She said it was probably viral and only time would take care of it. Fever spiked again Wednesday night and he was home again with Brian on Thursday. He seemed to be getting better Thursday but then started throwing up and threw out a super high fever Thursday night. So, no school on Friday either. Luckily my stepfather was able to watch him on Friday so Brian and I could get some work done (thank you, thank you, thank you, Richard!). And the weekend seems to have given him enough time to recover so we'll be back to our routine tomorrow.

He's never missed more than two days of school in a row before so this week was stressful (Brian and I are both really looking forward to a normal work day tomorrow). But, even though he was pretty sick this week, he never had an asthmatic episode like he had been having earlier this year - the steroids really do seem to be helping even if it was extremely difficult to recognize that this past week.