At the age of two, after three months of breathing treatments, x-rays, and antibiotics, long sleepless nights, doctor visits, Ellen was diagnosed with asthma. No one understands the world of asthma until you live it. Each asthma patient has different triggers, different symptoms and different treatment. For Ellen the trigger is weather....Hot summer days are great until we have one cold damp morning. She starts with a runny nose. She gets dark circles under her eyes. Her mood settles and she is quiet. Her breathing shortens. She asks for medicine and a breathing treatment. Fall days are fine too, until we have foggy damp days followed with hot windy days. She starts with a runny nose. She gets dark circles under her eyes. Her mood settles and she is quiet. Her breathing shortens. She asks for medicine and a breathing treatment. Winter days are fine too until out of the middle of no where we have a warm day. She starts with a runny nose. She gets dark circles under her eyes. Her mood settles and she is quiet. Her breathing shortens. She asks for medicine and a breathing treatment. Then there are Spring days the worst days of all. In Spring there are cold days, hot days, wet days, windy days, every day is different and these types of days really throw Ellen for a loop. Each episode she has usually lasts a few weeks if we are lucky, but often they last longer. She has had pneumonia a handful of times in her short five years.
She has amazing strength. Last week, after being up for over two hours, breathing treatment done, she was coughing and coughing, gagging and spitting up, she asked if I would rock her and play her music. Since she was an infant she has had a music machine, like a mobile. She listens to it every night. It plays for 15 minutes then shuts off. Her music machine plays the same classical song over and over. (what? I do not know. Remember I played flag in High School) It is slow and has a constant beat.
I rock slowly. Her breathing slows. She is calm. She stops coughing.
She whispers, "Sorry I keep you up at night mom. I Love you."
She sleeps.
