This and that...

I know it has been an age since last I wrote. Unfortunately even now I'm not entirely sure what to write. Life whizzes by each day leaving me feeling tired and a little breathless. And yet, for all that I live in a whirlwind I don't feel like I get much done. Why is that? "Women's work is never done..." Well, I'll have plenty of time at night this week to hammer out a note or two. Tyler left for Washington D.C. this morning and I miss him already. I'm not sure what to do with myself in the evenings when he is gone. Hence my posting at 10:30 when I should be in bed.

I guess I'll tell you about my frustrating experience last week for lack of anything else to tell you. (That's your cue to skip to the end, unless you really want to know...)

Andrew has had a cough for about 3 weeks now. About the time Katherine was battling Strep Throat, Andrew had another attack of croup. This has happened once or twice a winter since he was about 18 months old, so even though the attack itself is terrifying, this is old news and we just get on with life. The croup is ALWAYS followed by a nasty sounding cough, but since it isn't contagious I haven't worried all that much about it. Besides, it usually goes away in a couple of weeks and we move on.

So, last Wednesday I get a call from the school nurse - they are concerned about Andrew's cough. It seems to be really bad and sometimes he has a hard time controlling it when he comes in from recess. So, I explained first about his history of croup and coughs and then pointed out that since my son is gone from home 7 hours every day I can hardly be expected to know how bad the cough really is. After all, when he comes home he generally stays inside (hence the cold weather doesn't aggrivate the cough because he isn't out in it) so the only time I really hear him cough is for 10 minutes or so after I send him to bed. Not so bad, right? Well, the nurse feels the need to say that she "would think that, as a Mother, I would be more concerned about my son." Basically, she told me that I'm a terrible mother because I didn't run to the doctor the minute my son had a cough and ask him to prescribe some medicine he can take for the rest of his life. (I beg leave to remind you that he has a history of this.) She then proceeds to beat about the bush informing me that I need to take Andrew in to see the doctor (a conclusion I had more or less reached on my own the day before, and only lacked the time to in which to do it).

Now, I had had several people ask me if Andrew has asthma - apparently his cough follows that kind of pattern. I said, honestly, that I didn't know. But I wasn't in a hurry to have him diagnosed with asthma either. It wasn't so much that I didn't want to face facts as that I didn't want a hasty diagnosis to be made that would chain my son to medication that he may not really need for the rest of his life. Long story short(er), Andrew and I spent 3 hours in the Doctor's office on Thursday while the doctor listened to him breathe and administered a nebulizer treatment. He was cautious about diagnosing (cold weahter induced) asthma on the grounds that it takes a year or more to establish a pattern of "behavior." I was grateful for that. In the meantime he has to have 3 nebulizer treatments a day and take his inhaler twice a day for the next two weeks. After that we have to document when he needs treatment to establish a pattern. The doctor gave me some helpful information, and Andrew does seem to be improving with the treatments. However I must state uncategorically that I deeply resent the aspirsions cast on my character!! I'm NOT a bad mother! I'm NOT a bad mother! I'm NOT a bad mother...