Cue my husband coming home from work. He printed out some paperwork that was emailed to him so I could have a copy for my records. It’s WRONG! No wonder I’m getting shit fits from EFMP and ECHO about getting services for my younger son. It’s all comepltely WRONG! One page says he needs no services, then the next says he needs speech, OT, and ABA (which THIS is what he needs). Then yet another page says he only needs a visit once a week. ONCE a week? That’s what he’s getting now through the local Intermediate Unit who handles the special needs kids and the services they need, and it’s NOT enough! GAH! But wait! Then yet another page didn’t even get sent. Then one with the signature of the EFMP coordinator. OH! OH! OH! And, no one from the pediatrician’s office bothered to send a copy of the neurologist’s report they’ve had since JANUARY. January. Are you kidding me?

The best is yet to come.I know we’re filling this out about autism, but there’s also a section about asthma. It says my son has NOT been treated in the last 5 years. Cue Linda Blair Psycho-ish head spinning and pea soup spewing. Um, then why do we have a nebulizer? Why do I have to check is pulse ox every time he gets a bad cough? Why does he see the allergist for allergies and – wait for it – ASTHMA? I get it. It’s more paperwork. You know what? Boofuckinghoo. I have a lot of paperwork I get that I have to fill out on these kids too. I do it, and I do it correctly. I don’t pass the buck because maybe I didn’t feel like it that day. Needless to say I immediately called Tricare and changed the kids to another doctor in our clinic who was recommended by the neurologist’s office, and is NOT the pediatrician. Unfortunately, I STILL have to deal with the pediatrician because it’s her office that all of the EFMP and ECHO paperwork goes through for our post so my kids can get services.

So now on top of dealing with all the health stuff I have going on personally, I have to clean up the mess this doctor has made for me. A special needs mom just doesn’t have time for professionals to not do their jobs correctly, but it seems like these are the people who like to screw up my days the most.

OK, so here I am, a parent that is an allergy and asthma sufferer. You’d think that when the general practitioner told me my 3 year old had asthma I’d know what to do, right? Well sort of, but not really. I know asthma is different for kids than for adults. I know he already had the allergy and eczema diagnoses. I was given scripts for a nebulizer, medications, and directions on how to use both, but only while he was sick. I was given no guidance on what to do after he was well again. Did I have to use this nebulizer 2-3 times a day EVERY day? That’s pretty time consuming to spend 40-60 minutes every day with the nebulizer. What about if he has an attack while we’re out and about away from home? What do I do then? Thankfully, I was able to get a referral to an allergist who could help us better with all these complicated questions, but only because my son ended up needing food allergy testing for a mysterious GI issue.

Having been through all that, here’s what I would suggest to parents now: when you get an asthma or allergy diagnosis, request that referral. Sure, a general practitioner could probably take care of your child’s asthma, but no matter how good a doctor they are, think of your GP as a jack of all trades, master of none. An allergist is a master of their trade, and that’s asthma and allergies. Also, get and read Asthma Allergies Children: A Parent’s Guide. I cannot tell you how valuable this book was.

I learned so much great information in Asthma Allergies Children: A Parent’s Guide. I honestly don’t even know where to start. Well, I guess I already did by saying that seeing a specialist is important. They will be on the up and up on all the newest and easiest to use medications, they’ll know what works best for what symptoms, etc. The allergist is a specialist in their field. Utilize them. In my opinion, a good allergist, will measure an asthma patient’s lung function at each visit and adjust medications accordingly. Your general practitioner won’t do this. They will ask you about symptoms, or about symptoms your child is having, and adjust that way. Not all symptoms are noticeable by the person.

Overall, the book, Asthma Allergies Children: A Parent’s Guide takes allergies and asthma, and their treatment, and explains it all in a very easy to understand format for parents. It’s a very easy and fairly non clinical read. There are anecdotal stories to illustrate points to give readers real life examples. Honestly, as the parent of two children who have allergies and asthma I cannot say enough about this book. If you also have children with allergies and asthma, this is definitely one you need for your bookshelf. If you’d like to ask questions of the doctors who wrote the book, visit http://www.asthmaallergieschildren.com/

*I was sent a copy of Asthma Allergies Children: A Parent’s Guide to read for review. All opinions and experiences are my own.

- We’re still fighting the good fight against allergies and asthma here.

- We’re barely into football season, and I’m still burnt out form playing fantasy football last year. Can’t we just take a whole year off?

- I ordered pizza for dinner last night. Thought it was handy to order online. My receipt said 30-40 minutes. 55 minutes later I’m calling the pizza place saying “WTH? Where’s my food?” Manager says, “That time isn’t accurate we’ve been telling people 45-60 minutes.” “That fine, but you have my phone number. You could have called when you got the order and told me that time wasn’t accurate. (dipshit)” So now I have a credit to a crappy pizza place because he wasn’t willing to budge and do a refund. It was a credit on my next order or cancel my order, and we needed dinner since it was on its way at that point. And by the way, this was our local Papa John’s (We ONLY ordered from them because Jigsy’s doesn’t deliver out here). With my track record with restaurants lately, I’m convinced it’s a sign for me to go to the grocery store and cook at home.

- Speaking of cooking at home, will someone please tell my fibromyalgia that it can’t render my body achy and useless at 4pm? The hours between 4:30pm and 8pm are my most active with dinner and getting boys to bed.

- And while we’re speaking to inanimate objects, can someone also speak to Mother Nature and tell her that I’ve had enough with all the various warm and cold fronts already? It’s wreaking serious havoc on my body, migraines, and sinuses.

- Zach informed my husband and I that the neighbor kids hate us. It’s because when we’re outside we make them follow rules if they’re by our house. Or maybe it’s because my husband yelled at them for throwing apples in the backyard, and almost hitting our patio table – the glass top patio table. Or maybe it’s because there was a group of them hanging out in our front yard when none of us were outside and he told them to go hang out in their own yard, and when they just stared at him in disbelief he had to reiterate that he was serious and they finally left. Where the hell are their parents? That’s a rhetorical question, don’t answer.

That about sums it up for me. Tomorrow we might take the boys to breakfast and then to the football game at the college where my husband works. My husband is the cadre member overseeing the canon crew for the game tomorrow. We’ll see what the weather and moods bring in the morning.

What are your weekend plans?

So where does this leave me? Lost and overwhelmed. You would think that being an asthmatic myself I’d feel OK with all of this. I don’t. I wasn’t diagnosed until I was 12, and I didn’t have a good treatment plan in place until just recently. I’ve never dealt with asthma in a small child. I know he’s a whole separate person and his triggers may be different from mine. I can’t just assume what affects me will affect him as well. I’m also a little freaked out by the fact that he’s too young to use an inhaler properly, so I have no portable rescue medication for him. Reading online hasn’t helped either. It has overwhelmed me with more information. And there’s so much information online. where do you even begin? The one thing reading about pediatric asthma has done is give me more mother’s guilt. I’ve read that reflux can cause asthma symptoms. Aaron’s had terrible reflux since birth. I know the co-morbidity rate of asthma and allergies is astounding, and he’s had moderate allergies since he was six months old. Add in an asthmatic mom, both parents and a brother with allergies, and the fact that he was preemie (everyone forgets this of the Jolly Green Giant Baby), and the poor kid never really had a shot at not having asthma.

So what do I do now? I do what I do best. I immerse myself in information, ask the pediatrician questions at his 3 year check up, and then ask my asthma and allergy doc questions on the side. I know that unless the pediatrician can’t keep Aaron’s asthma under control, he won’t get a referral to the allergist until he’s 5 when we do allergy testing on him (That’s the earliest they’ll do it. I keep asking).

Then Aaron was – wow – I don’t even know how describe him other than 2. He was your stereotypical 2 year old. I almost didn’t get us our shots and just left he was that bad. He settled down after awhile though. We read a book while Zach did his homework.

After the boys went to bed, I was checking e-mail and came across this article from Web MD about baby acetaminophen being tied to asthma in kids. Makes me wonder. Does it actually cause the asthma, or does it just bring it out in those already susceptible? Just like NSAIDS can bring on an attack for people who already have asthma. And the article does try not to be alarmist in saying that we shouldn’t stop using Tylenol on ourselves or kids. I just thought it was interesting. I can say that of all the symptoms the discuss of 6-7year olds, my 7 year old has eczema. BUT, he also has a mom that has eczema, asthma, and is allergic to everything except cockroaches and trees, and he has a dad who has the fall allergies (hay fever). My son really didn’t have a shot in hell at not getting SOMETHING out of that grouping. Sorry buddy.

And I did give him Tylenol is his first year of life, because let’s face it, teething is a bitch for them and us, the parents. I limited its use as much as possible, but who wants a toothache if they don’t have to have one, right? In my defense, I didn’t know about teething tablets back then, and I was told by a dentist and hygienist that the Anbesol gel makes the gums tougher for teeth to poke through. So Tylenol it was. So, if my son develops asthma, how much of it is genetics and predisposition and how much of it is from using acetaminophen? I’m taking what I read with a grain of salt until I learn more about the group they used for the study.