It’s September which means Old Mom really can’t sleep. It’s not from being back to school. I’m on my feet all day dancing with the school kiddos and running around trying to get everything done around the house for the few hours a day that I am home. My body is absolutely exhausted. I really can’t sleep because September is an awful month for Sweet Boy health wise. Some years it’s croup. Some years it’s asthma. But Sweet Boy always has a hard time in September.
As a teacher, I’m fortunate to have a good bit of sick time. I rarely used it for the first 15 years. I only see my students once a week. Sometimes they get a sub for me. Sometimes they don’t. But my students very rarely have a quality musical experience when I’m not there. So I always feel pressure to be at work unless it is an absolute emergency. Not from my fellow teachers, but from the sweet faces that ask why I missed their music day.
Then came my boy. My Sweet Boy who suffers from Asthma, Acid Reflux and complications from a cleft in his larynx. September is a nightmare for him. Here in Connecticut, it can be 45 degrees when you wake up in the morning and 80 when you go out to play in the afternoon. And we get a lot of very humid days. And the ragweed makes allergy sufferers miserable. The rapidly changing temperatures and poor air quality are a nightmare for children with breathing problems.
It all starts with the first sniffle or sneeze. From that point, my ears are on high alert just waiting for the worst. I know that his coughs will be at their worst at night, so I always feel like I’m just waiting for the worst. As soon as the first cough arrives, the nebulizer treatments begin. The preventative treatments, for lack of a better word, SUCK! They keep him awake way past his bedtime, but they also make him very moody. His usual demeanor disappears and he starts arguing with everyone- family, friends, teachers.
Sometimes the preventative meds work and the cold will pass after a week like normal kids. But it never seems to work that way in September. Usually, the September cold turns into croup and we end up in the ER. We’ve been pretty blessed this year that his cold has “only” turned into an asthma week. His cough escalated to the point where he struggled to breathe and would get red in the face. Time to start the next level of meds.
This is the crazy kind of relief that only an asthma parent can really understand. I always feel a bit relieved when it’s time to move him up to the Albuterol treatments. Crazy right? But I know that if that doesn’t help him in a few days, we’ll be off to the doctor to get him the high-dose steroids that will quickly knock out the cough. I also like the Drunk Squirrel version of hyper-boy much better than the Angry Bull version of hyper-boy. But with either medicine, he struggles to sleep. Or should I say, we struggle to sleep?
Eventually, October comes, and Sweet Boy starts to feel better. We put the medication back in the cupboard and we both get some much-needed rest. I try to play catch up at work and give my all to those sweet kiddos who missed their music day. I feel like the teacher who flakes out every September, but I know I’m really the mom of a boy who needs me every September.
Photo by Andreanna Moya Photography 