Tuesday, September 04, 2007

Mad mildew marauders

Spent an hour yesterday morning madly cleaning out the bathtub and the shower curtain, which despite being "mildew resistant" was not, in fact, mildew-proof. I thought it might help to remove one source of mildew in the house, because the boy is having another asthma episode.

He spent a lovely morning over the weekend, puttering around with his Papa in the basement. The basement that is rather mildewy and is in the process of being organized and cleaned out in anticipation of a possible move this winter.

The puttering was lovely, the mildew was not. He's been having (as we all have had -- thank you, goldenrod and wild molds) lots of gunk in his throat, but over the weekend he developed asthma.

Seems like these episodes come on so suddenly. It would be one thing if he was one of those kids who has to take his meds every day, but overall was functional. That at least would have some rhythm. SillyBilly is functional for a few months and then WHAM! something sets it off. Usually a virus -- this time I think the mold.

So we saw the pediatrician today after loading the boy up with far too much albuterol, sometimes even double doses twice as often. Bad sign, that. We resigned ourselves to giving him the evil pink stuff. As our wonderful doctor put it, giving the boy a bit of it every few months and heading off these attacks before they really go full bore is a sight better than giving him lots of steroids all the time.

We're still working with the homeopathic anthroposophical remedies, but they're kind of supplementary when the wheezing gets too bad. This time it was bad enough that he had a hard time talking and vomited a few times. Almost a trip to the ER, but we worked through it.

Sigh.

Update: The boy is much better. We gave him two doses of evil pink stuff, and that seemed to put the brakes on things. Still lots of congestion, but he's not fighting for air any more. And he got to go to the first day of daycare after all. Now I just need to figure out how to get him to take naps when he's sick....

9 comments:

Henitsirk said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

I have to go on mildew patrol this weekend or sometime very soon. Poor ventilation has ensured that I'm too scared to open most of our drawers and cupboards. I've tried vinegar but that hasn't worked too well so I'm looking for something more effective.

I'm glad you didn't have to make the trip to emergency and I do hope that SillyBilly's asthma improves soon.

Anonymous said...

It's so scary, isn't it? I hope he feels much better soon. I'm sure mildew and mould trigger Kikzy's asthma too. His bedroom is mouldy and since I've been airing it as much as possible his chest has definitely improved, but it could also be that the weather has got warmer. It depresses me, quite honestly, because mould is so hard to get rid of. The doctor even advised us to move house but how easy is that?! He was playing with a toy the other day and started wheezing and I realised the toy was covered in mould. Mould seems to get everywhere! I felt so bad and whisked the toy away immediately and he was fine after that. Now I'm wondering whether to wash all his toys... great, more housework.

I hope you're OK!! Please take care!!

Papa Bradstein said...

Yeah, that sucks. I think the only way to get the gunk out of our bathroom is to retile the shower. Charming. I was debating all weekend if we were all having colds, or if something from the bathroom had gotten sucked into the central air and blown out into all of our snouts. I went with "having colds," since the alternative is just too disgusting and scary to contemplate for long.

Henitsirk said...

Kerryn: I have a very scary cabinet that will have to be dealt with soon...onions stored in a spot too close to the oven, so they were too warm and rotted! Urg.

Helen: Mildew is such a bigger problem here than in California...it was quite arid there and we get rain or snow 12 monts of the year here in NY. And I'm a lazy bathroom cleaner, so it's a problem.

Papa B: I thought the boy was just having allergies like the rest of us, and I'm not convinced that isn't part of it. But now the girl has a cold, so maybe it was a virus after all. I hate not knowing!

Charlotte said...

Glad to hear he is on the mend. You must be very relieved.

My own little wheezer had a wonderful two weeks in tinder-dry Tuscany, but has a congested chest now that we're back in damp Germany. And after three days in kindergarten she already has her first infection. Not funny.

victoria.lambert said...

It could be allergy AND virus, couldn't it?
My husband has asthma (allergic asthma) and when he has a cold the ashtma allways gets worse.
But its a very sneaky thing, and differs for everyone.
"Good" news is that he says it's not AS BAD an experience (having ashtma as a child, he's had it since he was 2) as it looks. (It's very hard to believe.) I still have constant fear for our son to develop it, for all my husband's family has it. :(

victoria.lambert said...

always not allways

Henitsirk said...

Charlotte: I hope your little wheezer is feeling better. They say that kids are simply "growing" their immune systems just like the rest of their bodies...but it doesn't help it feel any better!

Vero: Yes, I think for my son it's both. He definitely has allergies, and most of his asthma attacks are initiated by viruses. I have asthma too (though only diagnosed since I was 17), so I'm not surprised he has it. Though, my daughter has nothing like that and is extremely sturdy (knock wood). So it is sneaky and varies wildly.