Visit to the Doctor

I forgot to post this last week, so here it is…

I’m not sure if I posted anything about Bear’s last appointment at the Children’s hospital or not…the appointment was back in April. At the time, the doctor felt that he could safely reduce the level of maintenance medications that my son takes on a daily basis without serious risk to his health. So that’s what we did. Roughly six weeks later, Bear began coughing. Nothing serious…just ‘clearing his throat’ is what he would say. As the weeks passed I noticed that he was doing it more and more. I considered calling the doctor but since we had an appointment coming up I decided to wait it out.

Normally my concern is that he hasn’t put on any weight or hasn’t grown any. Every time we would go to the doctor he would only have put on a few ounces. It is nerve-wracking because he’s so skinny…anyway, I never considered that lowering his medication would have a two fold affect. Just the other day it was time to go back to the Children’s hospital for a check up. In the three months Bear was on the lower level of maintenance he grew 3 inches and put on 4 pounds. YES! Finally! Significant growth! WooHoo! This is going to be a great visit!! When the doctor came in to examine Deacon he asked if I had any concerns. I told him that I was a little concerned about the coughing as it seemed to be getting worse over the past two months. The doctor gave him a once over and sent Bear for a lung function test (which we do every time we’re there). Here’s a quick background on lung function…people who have Bear’s level of asthma have a ‘normal’ lung function of 80% or better (meaning that their lungs do not function at 100%), when we first started seeing this doctor, Bear’s lung function was 48%. Bear’s lung function topped out at 76%, not even in the ‘normal’ range. Okay, back to normal programming. I really hadn’t thought that the lower level of meds would have such an affect on Bear…his lung function tanked 13% (which is why he was coughing so much) in three months, which, of course, is unacceptable. I was wholly disappointed. I wanted so much for him to be able to stay on the lower level of meds…but with this result it just isn’t possible. So, he is now on the higher level of maintenance medications again. Which makes me sad. It’s not an additional pill, or inhaler…just higher dosages of the meds he’s already taking. I know, at least he’s going to be able to breathe…I get that, but this has been such a battle for so many years, I thought that we were finally getting close to the light at the end of the tunnel…