Control

Asthma. It is one of those problems that no one should ever have to deal with. But unfortunately, until they find a cure for it, many people will have to whip their wheeze. Alex, of course, is one of those people. About a year ago, his doctor diagnosed him with the annoying little lung disorder. Josh and I were both confused and worried about how to deal with it. (I, being the more worried.) At first it was terrifying. The doc told us that he probably already had scar tissue in his lungs but we wouldn't be able to find out until he was old enough for the x-rays. So until that point, he had to go on a smorgasbord of medications to get it under control. So there I was with a pile of prescriptions in my pocket and a kid with out of control asthma. A worse mama, I could not have felt like. But I just kept doing what the doctor told me to do and it turned out that he was wrong. After switching to his new doc, we were merrily skipping along our new path of knowledge. I'll be honest. I was completely skeptical about the massive amount of medication I suddenly had to dose my kid up with. Visions of horrendous side effects on children danced through my head at all hours of the day and night. But by the end of month one, he was already about a million times better. By month two, he'd stopped flaring up altogether. By month twelve...we have total control. How do I know we have control? Easy cheesy. It goes something like this: Alex's main issues with the Big Wheeze (aka: Asthma) were allergens and respiratory illness (colds). Colds were the worst though. He was hospitalized multiple times from lack of oxygen with something as simple as a cold. So we stopped exposing him to other kids or places that he could pick up colds on doctor's orders. But despite my careful planning, the blasted buggies thwarted my every move and he still continued to get sick. I swear that he could just look at a germ from a mile away and it would invade his body without even stopping for directions. So we tried other avenues. He has a severe mold allergy and our house, being the old crusty matchbox it is, smelled like mold nearly all of the time. So one weekend of construction, two sore thumbs (blasted hammers), and a clean house later...I kicked our big mold issues butt. Amazing enough, I noticed that he stopped getting sick. Heck, even I, the queen of colds, stopped getting sick! Mold is some nasty stuff, I tell ya. The doc thinks that it destroyed all of our immune systems and getting rid of it was the key to our success. So for almost a year, Alex has been sick-free. However, I had no way of seeing if the controller meds were working until he got sick. Guess what? He just got over his first cold since starting medicine and I'm positively ecstatic to say that he got through it - wheeze free. Now, for you (my faithful reader) this may seem like small potatoes. But for me, it's an amazing blessing. For three years I've worried about Alex's lungs. Now, not only does he breathe easy, but so do I.

**deep breath**

Hallelujah, we have control.