Back to the hospital… and a new asthma medication

We were curious how far into the fall season we would make it before our first cold… well, now we know!  It’s not surprising, of course.  Between preschool, playgroup, motoring munchkins and music group… we’ve been fulling enjoying being 31/2 years old :).

So, we spent the day in the ER.  Boy is it busy on a Saturday afternoon!  After waiting about an hour for a room (and we were triaged first priority) we started the asthma protocol.  Henry’s wasn’t doing that bad this time as he’s already had 9 puffs of Ventolin at home, and we took him at the first sign of difficult breathing.  He had one dose of Dexamethasone and then we waited to see if that was enough.  The ER doctor was hoping we wouldn’t need more Ventolin and Atrovent, but in the end we did.  But only one round each (5 puffs Ventolin and 3 puffs Atrovent) and then he was stable enough to come home.

Nice!

We are also starting a new medication – Advair – which replaces his Flovent.  From my understanding Advair is one step “up” from Flovent because it is a little stronger and contains two active ingredients: salmeterol and fluticasone.  These work to keep the air passages of the lungs open by relaxing the muscles and by reducing inflammation, swelling and irritation.  It is steroid medication, which makes me a bit nervous… but it seems to the best option to control Henry’s breathing.   Advair is a long term medication designed to help prevent asthma symptoms; it is not a rescue medication for it he is already having symptoms.  Dr Seear, our Respirologist, recommended trying Advair as Henry has been repeatedly admitted due to his asthma.

This year we are also going to try taking the Advair on a more regular basis.  While last year we only started the Ventolin once Henry was already having trouble breathing, this year we are going to use the Advair continuously over the winter.  We have two choices, and haven’t decided which one we’ll try first.  Either he takes one puff daily all winter.  Or he takes two puffs daily at the first sign of a cold.  We were leaning towards the second option as we thought it would involve less medication overall… but if he is continually sick it may not work out that way.  So we’ll see how it goes.

In the end… we know he’s going to get sick and we’re going to keep having fun anyways! We don’t believe in living in a bubble… so if the consequences of having fun are colds and a few trips to the doctor – then so be it :).

 

Cheers, Shelley

 

 

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