Kyle Update

Asthma stinks-there I said it and now I feel better! It is torture watching your child struggle to breathe. Thankfully he is responding to the oral steroids some, but it will be a long recovery for him. He is struggling this morning, but hopefully all his medicines will kick in soon which will give him some relief. He looks so pitiful-gray and pale with dark circles under his eyes. He has not moved from our bed sine we got home Sunday afternoon. Mike and I try to sit with him because he often does not have enough breath to yell for us if he needs us. He really does not even have enough breath to tell us more than a few sentences.

We are so thankful for good doctors that have taken such good care of Kyle-his doctor called yesterday afternoon to check on him which was a good opportunity for me to ask for an antibiotic for Mike! Mike stayed home yesterday, except for a few hours in the middle of the afternoon when he went in to work. He came home feeling terrible with a bad sore throat:(

This has been such a test of faith as we sit by and trust that Kyle will turn the corner. I have personally never cared for a child this sick and it has been gut wrenching. I have never prayed so hard for my children than this past week. I have not been able to do much except sit with Kyle, distribute breathing treatments, give medicine, and cook a little dinner last night which has given me lots of prayer time.

Our wild man David is still home today. He had a rough afternoon, but I believe another day at home today will get him on the mend enough to go back tomorrow. He still has a bad cough, and actually slept most of the day yesterday.

Thanks so much for the emails, calls, and prayers for Kyle. I feel like we are in a time warp watching for signs of Kyle to get better. After all this is over, Kyle's doctor wants us to visit with the allergy/asthma specialist at UVA for another consult to discuss maintenance medication that will hopefully keep him from getting this sick again. Thanks again for all the calls and emails-it is so wonderful knowing that we have such good friends and family:)

A Long Weekend

Our weekend of fun in Roanoke was curtailed by sweet Kyle's asthma. We headed to Roanoke Friday night for a weekend of swim meet and family fun as we were planned to hook up with my brother and his family plus my parents. Kyle got sick Friday morning and I took him to the doctor. He was put on an antibiotic and the doctor told me to start the breathing treatments. It was really cold here over the weekend, so the cold blustery air did not help the situation.

Kyle did not swim Saturday morning in his events he was so sick. He ran a fever on and off all weekend and despite the fact that we were giving him all his asthma meds, he was still having issues breathing.

Sunday morning we woke up in the hotel and Kyle bounced out of bed and was ready to swim. We let him swim the 50 freestyle, 50 breaststroke, and 25 backstroke. From watching him swim, you could tell he was not himself, but he still placed in his age category. Have I mentioned lately that my boy is a tad competitive??!!

Anyway, by the time we got home he was really struggling to breathe and after a consult with our doctor over the phone, we were able to keep him out of the ER on Sunday night by giving him all the medicine we could find in our cabinet from previous croup and/or asthma episodes.

This morning, Mike and I took both kids to the doctor since David spiked a fever last night and started barking like a seal. The doctor listened to Kyle and is very concerned about his asthma and also diagnosed pneumonia on top of the asthma. He is to lay down all day with minimal talking and eating only little meals-basically no exertion at all to stay out of the hospital. We are doing oral steroids and breathing treatments every four hours-he is a sick little baby.

Mike and I have such guilt in our hearts that we allowed him to swim yesterday morning. He did bounce out of bed ready to go and he begged us to let him swim, but we should have known better. Kyle's asthma has been infamous for hiding the symptoms until it gets really bad. I never want to keep Kyle from doing something he is able and desperate to do with the asthma diagnosis, but in hindsight he never should have exerted himself yesterday. Our asthma specialist at UVA taught us years ago to never let Kyle use asthma to keep him from doing something, but again you have to respect it as well.

We will chalk this one up to a learning experience-Kyle's asthma has not really reared its ugly head for over a year. It started about three years ago when he was exposed to whopping cough that morphed into asthma. After this nightmare is over, we will talk with the doctor about some maintenance medicine for Kyle that will keep him from getting this sick again. Asthma is a dirty word in our household:)

David is also home today with some coughing and gunk. He was such a big boy at the doctor's office today and so far has cooperated with the breathing treatments and oral medicine. David is typically not a good patient, but we were so proud of him today! If you try to call our house today, we might not be able to hear the phone with both boys needing so many breathing treatments, our nebulizer is working overtime!

Biographies and Pretty Piggies

Sometimes in the drudgery of the week, you receive little gifts and blessings that help you get through the week:) This week, I decided to pamper myself a tad with a massage and pedicure! My piggies were desperate for some TLC, and as I posted earlier, this pregnancy has done my back in. I just had to show off my piggies to the blog world, because it will be at least another month before we can break out the flip flops here in VA!



I also had to show off some of my Mom's hard work on the pink precious things that have come into this house. This is the only touch of feminine sweetness that our house has for now, but little Princess' bed is all made up with tons of gowns and blankets waiting for her to wear:) Have you all seen a newborn diaper lately?? I have some now and it baffles my brain how tiny they are:)


This touches my heart so... Two days ago, I was cleaning out Kyle's backpack and in the bottom of his bag I found the sweetest little biography that he had done. He had drawn a picture of himself, etc.. but in the middle of this little book, he had filled out his family information. I know we are adding a little baby girl to the mix, but it blew my mind to see it in print! I will treasure forever this little biography done by Kyle as we anticipate his baby sister joining our family. I will also treasure his first grade inventive spelling and will relish this forever!


Let me help you translate his "likes." According to Kyle, he likes to play basketball, play video games, swim, math, and watch TV!!:) I just love it!