Friday, January 29, 2010

Sad, Sad Boo

This is going to be an usually long post, so please bear with me.

This month of January hasn't been very kind to Boo (my niece) or her mother (sis).



Her month started on the 3rd with a whopper of continuous asthma attacks. She has everything that is needed to control these attacks. So my sister being the wonderful mother that she is, was getting up every 1 to 2 hours to treat Boo. This time it was different. More frequent attacks and more intense than usual. (Boo's asthma is the coughing kind, not the wheezing kind. Until she was diagnosed with it, I had never heard of coughing asthma.) My sister was really getting super concerned, cause you can only give breathing treatments (I think sis said) an hour apart. After a week an a half of barely getting by on those treatments, she suddenly had one ten minutes after her last dose.

Off to the emergency room they went. They fix her up and monitored her and send her home after feeling much better.

Later that same night, she was rushed back to the emergency room again. This time they pumped her up with steroids and kept her till morning, sent her home with some new meds.

I talked to her briefly the next day on the 13th. Her voice was so harsh from all the coughing, it sounded like she had swallowed a frog. She accused her mother and I of laughing at her voice. I admit it, it was funny!

A doctors appointment (5 day later) to check her over revealed ear infections in both ears. Five more days later, she was running a fever 103.6, after a nice bath and some more meds it got down to 101.2 by the next day.

The very next day (25th) she was complaining of sever pain under her arm, down her side. She couldn't lift her arm, do to the pain. Sis talks to her doctor and she sends them to the emergency room again. (She should have her own private room by now) They determine that while she was playing with her cousins, the hard headed doll that she got whacked with bruised the rib muscle.

Also on the 25th Boo got busted at school for giving one of her old inhalers to a friend. This girl conned her big time! She told Boo that she also had asthma but only had an inhaler for at home and needed one for school. My kind hearted and naive niece thought she would help her out.

Sister gets home that evening and niece tells her she needs to call the principal. Sis thinking..What now?! It has been a very exhausting month for my sister, my heart goes out to the girl. She was interrogated by the principal 3 times and the conclusion was that she was telling the truth and was very gullible (Okay! I threw in the gullible).


This trouble at school got her four days of In School Suspension and a months worth of grounding at home. Boo tells her mother that daddy said..No phone, no going to friends houses, no friends over or spending the night and no tv. Sis..the wheels are turning in her mind..NO TV! She has to plead with hubby for this one. If she can't watch tv, than niether can I! Thankfully for Sis's sake that was a misunderstanding! I do feel badly for Boo. She was honestly trying to help out a friend,(Not knowing she was lying) (which is what we want them to learn) but is having to get punished. Sad, Sad Boo!

Also on this horrible 25th day of January (which will go down in Boo history), Sis noticed something wrong with Boo's eye. Discolored with some red spots in the white area.

Finally that day was over, but wait there's more!

The next day Sis gets a call from the school nurse. Boo went to the nurse and said.. My eye is bleeeeeeding! (you can totally hear that whine, can't ya?) There is nothing to be done about it, the day went on. Boo gets home from school and complains of blurry vision. Sis looks at the eye, under the lid is nothing but blood. Not oozing, but filling up. Back to the hospital they go. The nurse says..You again?! All of the heavy coughing that she has been doing cause of the asthma, hemorrhaged a blood vessel in her eye.

Throught all of this time the asthma attacks were still present, just not as sever as the two visit to the hospital. Sis's hubby last sunday had noticed that the curtains behind the couch were about to fall. So after church he decided to fix it. Now, these are curtains that most of the time never get touched, since the window don't open. When he pulled them down, they found mold! It was all over the window frame and even on the curtains. The condensation had molded the whole area.

They proceeded to clean all curtains and bleach every window in the house, wether it needed it or not. Now, Boo's attacks are done to one a night, instead of every hour or two.

What a freaken month!! I think Sis might be due a vacation!



I also have windows that never get used, you can bet that in the morning I'll be checking behind every curtain. I might just go ahead and wash everything just to be on the safe side!

16 comments:

mch3n said... [Reply to comment]

I am sooooooo sleepy I what to sleep for a week!!!!!! I only get five hours of sleep a nigth without having to get up to do breathing treatments.

Love ya sis.

SuziCate said... [Reply to comment]

Poor things! I have heard that mold and mildew can wreak havoc on the body. I hope all is on the upswing for your family.

Tinkerschnitzel said... [Reply to comment]

I certainly hope she is getting better. My goddaughter has severe asthma, so I know how bad it can get.

Spot said... [Reply to comment]

I feel for your sister and boo! I had really bad asthma as a child and made countless trips to the ER because they didn't have the same home meds then. And I've been doing breathing treatments at our house since my kids were little. We still do them every time Sean gets pnuemonia. Poor both of them!!

Mold is awful. We have to paint all the rooms in our house with the Kilz primer to help reduce it. Because the kids and I are allergic. And the leaf mold in the fall will get you too!

My heart goes out to them...
♥Spot

Anonymous said... [Reply to comment]

Why do difficult events so often seem to snowball and build to an avalanche? I wish your niece and her undoubtedly exhausted mom sunnier days ahead.

Thank you for your comment on my guest post at IslandRoar. I enjoyed my visit to your blog.

Lucy said... [Reply to comment]

Oh my Heather, how awful for them both. This is what I keep preaching to my husband that drapes and so forth have to be washed every so often, windows and moldings washed down. Both of us have so many aches and pains we keep putting it off. Will get to it soon.

Angelia said... [Reply to comment]

YIKES!!! OMYGOSH!!! That is terrible! Who would have thought. That mold gets me good too. I'm gonna check all over Jason's house.

Poor Boo! Give her big hugs from a stranger when you see her. She is a doll!

Hope Sis has a better February!

mindy@thesuburbanlife said... [Reply to comment]

Poor baby girl! Here's hoping February is MUCH better for one and all! =)
Mindy
www.thesuburbanlife.com

Kendra said... [Reply to comment]

Me and the boy have asthma so I know how Boo feels. I hope everything goes much smoother the rest of the year and I hope Boo gets to feeling better! SHe has the internets love!

mch3n said... [Reply to comment]

AUNT HEATHER DID YOU HAVE TO TELL PEOPLE ABOUT MY INHALER? IT'S ONLY FOR THE FAMILY!!!!!

BOO

Anonymous said... [Reply to comment]

Well there is a rough lesson learned. Mold can kill - so sad the child had to go through all that...I'm surprised, well maybe not, that the doctors didn't think to ask about the environment. Curtains are dust collectors to start with.

Jen said... [Reply to comment]

My asthma usually presents as coughing fits, too. I'm so sorry she had to go through that.

Lisa said... [Reply to comment]

I've got to clean my house.

Mrsbear said... [Reply to comment]

Holy Moly! Asthma attacks are scary. Glad she's doing better and that the culprit mold is on its way out. What a month for them!

mch3n said... [Reply to comment]

I would like to say THANK YOU to all of you for the well wishes. Boo's asthma is doing better I have not had to get up dring the night for two nights!!!!!!

Maureen@IslandRoar said... [Reply to comment]

Just catching up with all I've missed. Your poor niece and poor sister! I hope it's been all uphill from here.