Addison had a cough for years, and at about age four, the cough started keeping her awake at night. Her life was so impacted by it – she would cough so much that she’d vomit during the night, and then be exhausted in the morning. She was “failure to thrive” from being so exhausted. Our pediatrician kept saying she would grow out of it but I felt it was something more. So I took it upon myself to go see an allergist. It wasn’t until we went to the allergist that we found out Addison had Asthma.
I didn’t think he could have Asthma so young
I don’t think I was surprised when I found out Tyson had asthma– I’ve heard from other people what asthma is, I have cousins who have asthma, Tyson’s father has severe asthma, and I personally have a little bit of asthma– so I knew about it. But I didn’t think he was going to have asthma so young. I didn’t think that at the youthful age of one year old that he could actually get asthma.
Every time he got sick or a cold it would start up in his lungs…
Tyson would wheeze and every time he got sick or a cold it would start up in his lungs. He would start coughing and the cough wouldn’t go away. And he would get dark circles of blue under his eyes. And he would get really tired he’d want to lay down.
We were there getting his immune system checked out…
I think Brian was about three years old when we found out he had asthma. We’re an interesting case! As a baby, he had numerous ear infections, which at eleven months led to bacterial meningitis, which led to hearing loss, which led to a cochlear implant. Then he was hospitalized several times with pneumonia. We were concerned he had immune system issues, so we were referred to a doctor to check out his immune system. And while we were there getting his immune system checked out, she checked him out for asthma and allergies as well. And that was when we found out about the asthma.
The first time I thought Toby might have asthma was when he was about 15 months old and he had pneumonia. With it, he had a fairly significant amount of respiratory distress. I remember calling the pediatrician’s office at 9:00 a.m., when they first opened, and we were there by 11:00. Kids can have wheezing associated with a lung infection and not necessarily have asthma, so they weren’t willing to call it asthma at that point. But later we found out he did have asthma.
Her brother has it, so I wasn’t shocked
Lucy was born with a runny nose so we automatically knew she had some type of allergies and then she started to form eczema as well. Then when she got a really bad cold, she would just wheeze really bad. I’ve been through it before, too– I have a 22 year old son who has asthma, so I wasn’t as shocked. I knew what I was dealing with. But when Lucy has it, she has it twice as bad as my son could ever have it.
He had symptoms that were future indicators of asthma
When Evan was a little over a year old, he had a really bad cold that turned into pneumonia and he had to be hospitalized for it. At that time asthma was brought up by the doctor, but we were told that he was too young to be diagnosed with it. After that, every cold he had seemed to give him breathing problems, but nothing too bad until he was hospitalized again three months later. At that time he was put on Intal via nebulizer for maintenance, and given steroids to get over that episode. We were told that he likely had asthma.
Looking back, Evan had other symptoms as a baby that at the time I didn’t recognize as possible future indicators of asthma. He had eczema, and though he doesn’t seem to have that anymore (he’s eleven now), he continues to have very dry skin. He also always had very rosy cheeks as a baby and toddler. Sometimes just rosy, but often they would be more irritated and sore than just red. His asthma was so overwhelming and scary at the time. When he was given a nebulizer to use at home when he wasn’t even a year and a half old, I didn’t know how I would handle it. The respiratory therapist came out to show us how to use the machine and give us information and that was scary too.
An allergic reaction triggered her wheezing
Katie was diagnosed with asthma at age three. We were in Kansas visiting my parents, who live on a cattle ranch. While we were there, my father’s dog licked her in the face. She got hives exactly where his tongue had touched her face, and then she started wheezing. And I took her to the emergency room. So, she had an allergic reaction that kicked in the asthma and caused the asthma attack.