Sam

Sam has had a cough for over a month. It started out as dry and hacking when he exercised and at night. Then last week he started getting congested. I have been asking him if he coughs becuase he can't breathe, or becuase he feels like there is something in there he needs to cough out, and he would look at me like, "What's the matter with you, mom?" and just say, very patiently,"I can't breathe when I cough". Which didn't tell me anything. So I started asking if it hurt him to cough, and he always said no. When he quit going to Kid Fit Camp, saying he was too tired, I figured it was time to take him in. It turns out he has bronchitis, and the doctor wants to see him in a week to make sure it is cleared up, and then evaluate him for asthma. He sent us home with 4 different meds; one is an inhaler. I was a little nervous about it, but he takes it just fine. He only needs someone to push the button for him. He told me today that he is going to take his inhaler to school so his teacher can help him use it when he coughs too much on recess. I hope it's only bronchitis, but since he had the dry cough for at least a month, they think asthma is a possibility and want to rule it out. I get so frustrated with this child of mine, becuase he seems to have a high tolerance for pain. It makes it hard for me sometimes to know when he is really sick or not!

The good news is that our family doctor and the other doctor in the practice are good doctors, (we saw the other doctor yesterday) and they relate well to kids, so they are able to get more information out of Sam. The doctor we saw is young and has a ponytail, and he makes the boys laugh. He told me to disguise Sam's gross medicine in chocolate syrup, which Sam finds delightful, and he told Sam to cough stuff up, spit it in the toilet, and see if it sinks (which means he's still pretty sick) or if it floats (which means he's getting better). Sam thought that would be a pretty great trick!