More Medical Profundities

As you will know from my last post the baby and I made a visit to the doctor yesterday. And my dear Dr. told me the most interesting thing I've heard since I was informed that having lots of babies could kill me. ;)

As you may also know the main reason the bambino and I were in to see the doc was because the baby has a cough again.

So our Dr. K takes a look at him asks a few questions and says to me.

"He sure has had a lot of respiratory problems this year. Is this typical or is it new?"

"Oh, it's new, last winter he seemed to be fine, that I can remember."

"Hmm, well I'm a little concerned that we might be looking at something asthmatic. Especially with the other symptoms you've been telling me about."

(he does a lot of coughing after we put him to bed at night... regardless of whether he's sick or not)

Dr. K continued, "So is there a family history of asthma?"

"Yes, well, my sister has asthma but she wasn't diagnosed with it 'til she was an adult."

"Hmm, any allergies?"

Odd question I thought, but since I'm not one to withhold interesting bits of family history:

"Yes! My mother is allergic to penicillin and aspirin. I'm allergic to bee stings and milk and my other son is allergic to milk as well."

He scribbles down some more notes. "Okay and what about ezcema?"

I'm thinking at this point he knows my family history quite well for having known me for 6 months:

"My daughter has it pretty bad, yes."

More notes ensue and then he drops his little information bomb. That would be one of those little lights above the head that make everything that's ever happened make sense all at once.

"Well those are all interrelated, all from the same gene pool. It's likely that if you have a family history of one, you're going to find the other two within the same family line. So seeing eczema and allergies so strongly and close to your son I'm more inclined to think that we've got some asthmatic issues going on here."

At that point I've totally stopped caring about whether my son has asthma. I'm to fascinated by the fact that those three things are related!

What a combination.

So I looked it up...

Allergies are relatively common. Both genetics and environmental factors play a role.
Allergy is caused by an oversensitive immune system, which leads to a misdirected immune response. The immune system normally protects the body against harmful substances, such as bacteria and viruses. It reacts to substances (allergens) that are generally harmless and in most people do not cause a problem.
But in a person with allergies, the immune response is oversensitive. When it recognizes an allergen, it releases chemicals, such as histamines. This causes itching, swelling, mucus production, muscle spasms, hives, rashes, and other symptoms, which vary from person to person.
. . . .
Some medical conditions, such as eczema and asthma, are linked to allergies....

Fascinating. Utterly fascinating. I've always thought my kids drew the short stick when it came to all the little things they deal with (Kazia your baby seems to have drawn the stub and we all love you for how completely brave and strong you and your girl are).

I've decided I like the doctors around here quite alot. They have so much information to offer and I've come to the conclusion that it's because of the medical school (which is right here as well). There is sure to be a lot of new research if you are trying to keep your school at the top of it's game. And I'm sure the doctor's within our little town are all involved, in some way or other with the school. How could they not be?

I'm learning so much just by interacting with them. I really do enjoy it.

Any how, so when Iyawin gets done with this cold of his we are supposed to keep track of his coughing. Dr. K says if he's having more than two episodes of night time coughing a month then that is unacceptable and he will probably put him on some daily medicine to try to stave off any lasting repercussions.

*sigh* Poor kiddo. I'd hate to have a constant cough.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

P.S. This work of art is by Van Gogh and is called most creatively "Portrait of Doctor Gachet"

Comments

Chelsea said…
I'm sorry for your baby boy. I would hate to have to cough all the time as well. I am glad you were able to educate yourself on the matter.
Claire said…
I remember the first time I ever took Rejeanne to see him. She has this tinsy little pit in her skin by her ear and I mentioned it and he looked at it and said "does she have any kidney problems?" I almost fell out of my chair because she had severe kidney problems back in California and I hadn't told him that. Turns out the ear and kidneys form off of the same part in the womb. Fascinating fo' sho'. I'm convinced he spends his free time reading medical journals and nothing else.
Jessica Bair said…
Yeah, Dr. Krell is pretty awsome. We have been in to see him at least 2-3 times a month this season, between the 3 kids. Anyway, Joseph was diagnosed with asthma by Dr. Krell and was put on a daily nebulizer treatment of pulmicort. He is finally off it and seems to be doing well. I hope everything works out for you. It sucks to have a kid that is constantly up coughing or struggling to breath.
IB said…
Hi Cannwin,

I haven't been by for a couple of days so I just noticed your blog design. I like it! When did it change?

When I read your post today I laughed at this: "At that point I've totally stopped caring about whether my son has asthma. I'm to fascinated by the fact that those three things are related!"

Funny stuff!
Jamie said…
Dude, what would that be like? I like my doctors and everythign, but most of what we figure out is at least 30% by my own research, so they should give me a 30% discount.

But, yeah--isn't the immune thing interesting? I have had the same experience with my mom and her rheumatologist in St. Louis. He studies rheumatology hard core and quizzed all of us who were aroun back in 2000 when she was diagnosed with RA (after being diagnosed with sprue, now called celiacs, while I was in HS). He asked me about my anemia, my always testing positive for mono and syphillis, the series of viruses I had in my formative years, my eczema, lactose intolerance, and psoriasis, then predicted that in my 30's I would be diagnosed with at least one more auto-imune diesase, if not several. I also had a light buld moment then, when I realized that on my mom's side 9her dad) three cousins have lupus (one has died from it), my Gramp had rheumatic fever as a boy and now has the worst psoriasis/eczema known to man, my mom has sprue, RA, fibromyialgia, and just beat lymphoma (for now). So I guess it pays to make the connection early and do the preventative things like having a fabulously nutritious diet, avoiding infections, exercising regularly, etc., cuz now I have a raging auto-immune disease and bad inverse psoriasis. YAY, me. But I wouldn't trade all the other good genes I got in the deal! ;)
Jamie said…
PS: I really hope iyanwin (or however you spell it) is okay. I didn't mean to belittle the problem by yammering on about myself...having a sick baby is just hard, no matter how common the ailment. And tell the rest of the -Wins hello from us. We miss you like crazy, although I think Heidi must have anulled her marriage to A because she tried to marry her cousin Jack this weekend. ;)
Cari Hislop said…
Love the blog Esperity! I hope your little man is feeling better soon!!! I had no idea that asthma, allergies and exema were related though it sort of makes sense. In the last couple years I've developed exema and I've had various allergy/immune problems all my life (I thought the exema was ring worm...looked like it! I was greatly relieved to know I wasn't being attacked by martian-fungus.) But I also noticed that the exema is related to what I eat...starting this past Monday I'm back on the MEGA healthy diet...I should start to look human again soon...hopefully.

Finding a good doctor is like finding a big diamond in the sewer...we finally found one after the last one tortured my poor Goblin with the wrong diagnosis. We now almost always see Dr Angus McDonald (unless we can't get in because everyone else wanted to see him). He has an English accent, but that's a Scottish name! He's knowledgable and human...a diamond-doctor!

And Jamie...I know I'm a complete stranger, but I hope you're feeling better too!!! Love your attitude. I think it is our attitude that determines how happy we are regardless of our circumstances or condition. When life seems a bit grim, I know if I just remember that my lot in life could be a WHOLE lot worse...the sun tends to come out and I know it's good. The attitude...it could always be worse...I could be dead...or worse...dead and not missed...or worse dead and not missed and wishing I'd appreciated all those sunny moments...or worse dead and not missed having missed all those sunny moments and regetting never getting to go to Paris...no, that would be Hell!
Cannwin said…
Claire- That's wild! He is pretty cool that way. I haven't taken in my girl child yet but I keep meaning to, she's had such a problem with constipation (I bet she'd love me telling everyone that) since she started on solids and it's never gone away. And what's worse we've never had a doctor give us anything more than "oh, she needs more fiber." or "just put her on mineral oil, she'll be fine."

It makes me want to scream because none of that has fixed the problem. I'm starting to think that Dr. K is a beacon of light in a dark tunnel. Hopefully he can be that way for her too.

IB- Yes, I changed things around... again. I like the three column thing and have longed to return to it for a while. My only issue is I don't want to much going on so that it overwhelms my readers and makes them not want to read (or not be able to find the blog) which is unbelievable a constant concern for me.

As for the part you liked, yes, I'm not so concerned about childhood ailments as I once was. You have a few kids and you learn to roll with the punches. When my older son was diagnosed with a motor-speech delay (which is code for "we don't know why, but his speech is about a year behind) I probably cried every night. Now I've learned that they still have however many decades left and that things have a tendency to work themselves out.

Jamie- A keeps complaining he doesn't have any friends here. It makes me miss you guys all the more. But not the job market there, or I'm sure the housing market. Wow could your economy have crashed worse?!

Hope you are feeling well though, I know you've had a pretty rough year let's pray this one's better.

Cari- Diamond-doctor! that's what I'm calling him from now on. lol

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