O to the R to the A to the PRED

Summary:

So this weekend was a flurry of breathing treatments and rampant coughing from the 4 year old. Things started on Friday afternoon and just deteriorated from there.

Body:

On Friday Little Man’s breathing took a dip for the worse. He started coughing more and more and since he has “cough variant” asthma Wifey and I both knew what was going on. ‘Tis the silly season for asthma in the SRH household and the silly season has decided to hit for full effect this weekend.

Every year when the weather turns from summer to more fall-ish (autumnal?) weather Little Man’s breathing takes a hit. By “hit” I mean a “clocker to the noggin.” It has something to do with the radical shift in temperatures, the relative shift in humidity, the amount of leaf mold / vegetative rot in the air, and supreme powers that be deciding to test the limits of Little Man’s parents. It doesn’t seem, however, that Clan SRH is alone in this matter either.

In mid to late September I notice through the magic of this blog’s sitemeter that many of the random referrals I get tend to be about Orapred, or as we refer to it in our house “The ‘Pred.” This is a topic I have touched on before and I am not going to go into great detail about the medicine because I am not a doctor nor am I a pharmaceutical rep trying to hock wares. What I will mention about the Pred is that it tastes nasty. Is it that difficult to mask the hideous flavor of the medicine? Mountain Dew, Redbull, Jolt, and other heavily caffeine laden drinks hide the insanely bitter taste of caffeine, but The Pred has to taste like you are licking a medicine pop withy the lovely antiseptic aftertaste. It is supposedly “grape flavored.” I guess it is if “grape flavored” means tastes like “licking an ashtray.” I do have to say though the name brand version of Orapred ™ is much better than the generic. I swear the generic version tastes like distilled horse ass (or what I imagine distilled horse ass would taste like). Anyway… in mid to late September the Google searches for Orapred start up in earnest. I continue to get about 3 hits a day on search strings for Orapred related queries until late February and early March. So at least Wifey and I can take solace in the fact that we are not alone.

So Saturday it gets worse, and Saturday really becomes a battle between the Asthma and Casa De SRH sleep. Asthma won that battle. Sunday afternoon we call our pediatrician office to talk with the Dr on call. Little man’s doctor’s office doesn’t even need to see us now prior to prescribing the Pred. Of the 5 docs there, 3 recognize that we are on a really aggressive asthma regimen and can be counted on to have been doing his treatments correctly, we haven’t dealt with (to my knowledge) one of the remaining doctors and the other one we don’t like for various reasons.

So yesterday afternoon, Little Man got hit with 13 cc’s of the Pred, and Wifey and I figured at least the cough will go away and we can sleep. Around 12:30 last night the coughing started up again, and now we are on 3 nights minimal sleep. I am rather caffeinated and Wifey is running on adrenaline only since caffeine gives her headaches. Little Man and Wifey will be seeing the Dr at 11:50 today and hopefully we can get a handle on this flare up.
Recap:

To recap:
Little Man discovered a love of Ritz crackers this weekend
The buttery taste of Ritz? Those crackers contain no dairy
That ain’t butter? It is a bit scary to think that
I am tired of giving breathing treatments
Hey…. Wait a second, I am just plain tired
More Canada stuff tomorrow
If a cow and a horse were to**This just in we interrupt your regularly scheduled recap for this Little Man ailment recap update**
Wifey just got back from the Dr’s office with Little Man
Looks like it is most likely some kind of virus
The virus is causing the coughing
The coughing is not helping the asthma
He is going on a bunch of different OTC meds today
**back to our regularly scheduled recap already in progress**
and the lobster was with the octopus
What’s up with that?

And not a Spiderman in sight...

There are few words that are actually feared in the corporate world. There are words that instantly instill unbridled terror: downsizing… restructuring… company picnic. These kinds of words cause many a heart to burst, many a psyche to withdraw, and many a career to end. There are other words in the corporate world that instill a more ephemeral fear. They create a fear that is more mixed with loathing than with abject terror. Today dear blog readers, I will talk about one of these words… one these despicable corporate words… a word that induces eye clawing and teeth gnashing. Today, I shall bring forth the corporate word, WEBINAR!

Webinar is not a cartoon barbarian found in the distant future on an Earth that has been devastated by a runaway planet. That is Thundarr. No, a webinar is a seminar that is presented over the Internet or the World Wide Web. Web + seminar = Webinar.

Webinars typically do not present any earth-shattering (or moon shattering in the case of Thundarr) information. They are not used for presenting any kind of results to “real” research or studies. Webinars are a perfect vehicle for imparting intuitively obvious information in a wonderful PowerPoint presentation. Webinars are typically wastes of time with really intriguing titles.

Today’s webinar (1 1/2 hours of my life that I cannot get back, thank you very much) was on how land use planning and transportation planning should be integrated before decisions should be made about a community’s future growth. Now the webinar did not say HOW one should integrate land use and transportation. It just stated THAT those 2 topics should be integrated. Well thank you very much.

Words and phrases that are usually said during a webinar:

Synergy: check
Paradigm Shift: check
Growth Industry: check
Integrated Solution: check
Best Practices: check
Leverage: check


I though “webinar” referred to learning how to shoot webs and fly around the city a la Spiderman. I was sadly wrong. Tomorrow’s webinar is about Public Involvement. I am sure it will synergize public involvement into a integrated solution to leverage transportation planning as a growth industry by focusing on best practices and generating a paradigm shift in how consultants and clients interface with the public. Positive of it in fact.

To recap:
Little Man is going back on the Orapred
I cannot say that I am happy about that
I get it, but I am not happy about it
I need vast amounts of sleep
They shall not be forthcoming in the near future
Wifey gets home tonight
And none too soon
Her trip to Michigan was definitely worthwhile
That’s a sentence you don’t hear too often
Digital Thursday tomorrow, I hope to have something for you to see

Orapred 2K7

Orapred’s effect on the 2 year old Little Man of, well 2 years and less ago is vastly different than the effects on his 4 year old self.

That’s right this weekend was an Orapred weekend par excellence. Thursday’s sniffles rapidly devolved into a full on asthma flare-up, such that on Friday he was “On the ‘Pred.” There are some pros and there are some cons associated with this more mature response to Orapred.

Pro: Little Man is old enough to understand that even though he does not like the flavor of Orapred, he still has to take it to get himself feeling better. In fact, all weekend long he took this horridly flavored medicine like a champ. We just made sure that there was some water or juice handy after swallowed the foul tasting goop. This is in direct parallel to the 2 year old who faught us tooth and nail to not take the “Yucky.” We had to hold that little boy down and force the yellow ichor down his throat.

Con: Now that Little Man is a bit more verbal, the Orapred makes him quite the chatty chatterbox. I don’t think he knows just how close he was to getting himself killed on Saturday night just before dinner time. 2 years ago, he would just be maniacally running around the house only in his socks and giggling like someone was tickling a banshee. Both of those behaviors are tiresome, but one we could at least look on with bemused detachment.

Pro:
The 4 year old version of Little Man also understands that he has to be tethered to the nebulizer for as long as the medicine takes to come out. It is nice only having to answer his “Is it over yet” questions instead of bodily restraining him for the last 5 minutes of the breathing treatment. It is a wonder that he even likes us

Con:
I mentioned the talking, right? That kid will not shut up from the hours of around 5 to 7 PM. 2 straight hours of 4 year old babble. I know he is whacked out of his mind, but, by Beckham’s Fashion Sense, he needs to shut up before his parents throttle him something fierce.

So to make a long story short, he really is dealing with the process of an asthma flare-up much better, but he deals with it by jabbering away like a blibbering fool. Both Wifey and I are quite tired from all the late night early morning breathing treatments, but he is breathing better so it is all worth it.

To recap:
Little Man’s photoblog is in the works
We might make a photoblog using Blogger with an associated Flickr site
We might just use Blogger
Who knows we are crazy people
Crazy people with nothing to lose
HP VII is done
My template is going to get some work done this week, even though I am not sure what my final look is going to be
How about a poll in comments
All in favor of me changing the name of this here blog from “Under Construction” to something else say “F Yeah, It is time you changed this M-F’er up!”
All opposed say, “F No! It wouldn’t be the same if it wasn’t M-F-ing ‘Under Construction!”
Tomorrow’s 20 Questions Tuesday topic will be about “The Future”
Oooooooh scary.

2 Things

Three things:

Thing the first: It is Wifey’s birthday today, so if you have not already expressed birthday wishes to her, please do so now. She loves her some comments. That being said, if you leave her a birthday wish, leave a comment here as well, for I too love the comments. For her birthday Little Man got her a blender so she can make her “smoothbies.” I am not sure why the extra “b” is added, but it is, so you have to kind of deal with it and move on. He was very excited to get her a present for the birthday. So excited that he was chomping at the bit to drag his sick self (more on this later*) to “The Target Store” for the birthday present buying trip. He made me buy a purple motif-ed wrapping paper because he wanted to give her a “purple present.” He is particular like that. She really likes the new blender, and I am sure that many a smoothie will be constructed with it.

I got her a Japanese Steakhouse dinner, a night of shopping, and some kitchen shears used in making chopped salads more chopped salady-er. She has yet to use the shears, but enthused to do so. I am sure that salad will be on the menu this week. She got herself a present, but it has not come in as of yet, so I will not spoil any surprise there.

Thing the second: Or *later: Yes, Little Man is ailing again and therefore on the Orapred. On Thursday he was a bit snotty, Friday he was in the throws of a cold, and on Saturday is breathing went south. So, we are on Orapred again. It is not soooo bad as it has been because the dosage is relatively the same as when he was a 20 pounder. He has more than a 3 rd more body mass to spread the Orapred side effects around in. He is still ouchy and grouchy and quick to unhappiness, but he is not nearly as nutso as he was when the stuff really whacked him out of his mind. He will be riding the Orapred highs and lows until Thursday morning when it all comes crashing down.

Thing the third: I only have 2.

To recap:
Much sleep was lost Saturday
I am tired of giving breathing treatments
Little Man is really tired of getting them
Orapred tastes horrible
It is the aftertaste that gets you
Tomorrow’s 20 Questions Tuesday is the continuation of Sound

Comprimised

Little Man's breathing seems to have finally realized how crappy the weather is. Ergo, I am at home with his coughing self today. So far we are doing breathing treatments around every 3 hours, he is on Orapred, and he is still coughing. I think that very little of the coughing is the typical phlegmy cough that everyone has this time of year, but 19 of every 20 coughs is definitely the asthma-non-productive-dry-cough that we know so well.

We are really not that sure as to what to do. He is not responding great to the breathing treatments and o far I am unimpressed with the Orapred results. Usually that stuff knocks the cough on its ass, but... right now, the cough seems to be winning. I will be making an appointment with El Doctore soon, but his office isn't open yet, so I will have to wait a bit for that.

Needless to say (and yet still being said) I do not like this cough one bit.

To recap
Grandma D and Grandpa R are going to think they did something wrong
It is how they roll
It is picturesque as Hell out there
The roads are atrocious though
Soccer: US v Mexico tonight on ESPN2 at 9pm EST
I will be very interested to see this team play
Little Man's breathing is definitely compromised
Great a full day of Go, Diego, Go! and playing trains
Hopefully I will have a better report about his breathing tomorrow

Snuffily

So, Thursday Little Man decided it was nigh passed the time when he should get another cold. I has been 3 weeks of new year with barely a sniffle, so I guess he might be right. Don’t get me wrong, since about November Wifey and I have been giving him at least 1 rescue treatment a day, so it hasn’t been all roses, rainbows, and unicorn farts here in SRHville. I said “unicorn farts” not “Unicron farts.” There is a big difference:


Shout out to the Gen X geeks out there! “Holla! Holla!”

Anyway… Thursday Little man gets his first cold of 2007. I happen to get the same cold Friday morning. Friday evening Wifey decides that she is feeling left out and jumps on the cold bandwagon. This weekend was a sniffily, snuffily disgusting weekend of phlegm and inability to breath. Eventhough we had our ER bag packed Saturday night we were able to ride out the multiple breathing treatments necessary to keep the little one alive. The rule is 3 in a 6 hour timeframe and to the ER we go. We were at 3 in a 6.5 hour time frame. So we were 1 episode of ALF away from Orapred.

Hey, Willy!

To recap:
Unicorn farts = potpourri
ahhhh... orange peel and anise
Unicron farts = annihilation
My planet is gone!
It is a simple transposition of letters
Speaking of mis-types…
I accidentally hit the “t” when I type “busy” all the time as well
That makes for some odd emails to co-workers
“You sure look busty today, Bob.”

“Ummm… I don’t understand your email”

“You know, Bob. ‘You have a nice rack,’ or maybe I accidentally hit the‘t’ key. I am not telling you which is the truth though. I like to keep you guessing.”
20 Questions Tuesday tomorrow
Not sure what is for dinner tonight

The Weekend That Was

How should I start out this post? Oh yes, I know. Little Man is bat-shit insane. He is off his rocker. Loopy. Nuts. Manic. Coo-Coo for Coacoa Puffs. Frappé à la tête. Loco de la cabeza. He is wacked out of his mind on (wait for it…. wait for it…. ) Orapred! That’s right the 11 month hiatus from Insane Little Man is over. Little Man’s breathing took a nose dive Thursday evening. Friday morning, the doctor decided that it was, indeed, time to hop Little Man up on goofballs. But this is only the beginning of the weekend. There is more to come.

Wifey had a conference this weekend, in fact she is still at the conference right now. It is some conference about dialog facilitation at a resort outside of Boulder, Colorado. (she gets to go to all the best trainings and conferences)

Umm.. I make maps for a living
For those of you in the know, you know there ain’t nothin’ outside of Boulder, CO. For those of you not in the know, there ain’t nothing in the Boulder, CO area. She is in the sticks, the boonies, the middle of nowhere, the not in cell service area. (Her actually getting there was an event in it’s own right, but that is a story for her to tell, and she kind of already did.) Anyway, to make a long story tediously laborious I would have Dickens ghost write for me, but Dickens is dead ("ghost write"? "dead"? quite the unintentional pun), so that ain’t happening. I guess I will have to sum up via a time line.

  • 12:30-ish pm: Little Man takes a double dose of Orapred
  • 3:40 pm: we pile into the car to take Wifey to the airport
  • 3:50 pm: The “You need to buys some gas, Idiot” light comes on
  • 4:00 pm: Little Man and I start our trek home from the airport. Little Man is starting to cough.
  • 4:10 pm: Finally find a gas station. Little Man is coughing more.
  • 4:14 pm: Traffic sucks so bad we have to go the opposite direction of where we want to go. Little Man’s coughing is even worse
  • 4:20 pm: Still working towards home in a VERY roundabout way. Little Man’s coughing is nearly constant
  • 4:45 pm: Finally home. What is typically a 15-20 minute trip has taken 45 minutes. Little Man is really coughing now.
  • 4:46 pm: Little Man is getting a breathie (aerosol treatment with Xopenex and Attrovent)
  • 6:00 pm: Second dosage of Orapred
  • 6:45 pm: Coughing is bad again, time for another breathie
  • 8:45 pm: Time for another Breathy
  • 9:30 pm: Start getting bags ready for the trip to the ER
  • 9:45 pm: coughing just is not getting any better time to go to the ER
  • 10:00 pm: ER
  • 10:15 pm: ER triage
  • 12:30 am: Leave ER waiting room to go home and give Little Man a breathing treatment
  • 2:30 am: Little Man finally falls asleep
  • 3:00 am: Papa finally falls asleep
  • 8:40 am: Little Man is up and ready to go, but no longer coughing

By up and ready to go, I mean, nuts. Bonkers. Cracked. Unhinged. Balmy (is “Balmy” a synonym for crazy? It sounds almost right.).

This morning began day 4 of the Orapred saga. I am tired and cranky. Little Man is tired and cranky. Wifey is tired and cranky (for different reasons, she will have to get into those if she wants), and she will not be home until tomorrow afternoon.

To recap:
This is the second time Wifey has left me with Little Man in the throws of Orapred loopiness
Bat-shit insane, off his rocker, loopy, nuts, manic, coo-coo for Coacoa Puffs, frappé à la tête, loco de la cabeza, he is wacked out of his mind, nuts, bonkers, cracked, unhinged, balmy
I am exhausted
Mimma has been a lifesaver
Everything will be back to normal tomorrow
Right???!???!??!!!??

Orapred Information

Okay, a rare Friday post for me, but I think it might be worth it.

Little Man is doing fine. We are on Orapred, yet again. Our Allergist is not happy about having to place Little Man on this steroid again in such a short time frame, but it is definitely what is necessary. We expect Little Man to be bouncing off the walls in 2 days time. Oh goody. If we have anymore crazy shots of him they will most definitely be posted. I do not want people to think I have anything personally against Orapred. To the contrary, actually. I have nothing but the highest regard for this medicine. It has definitely kept my little boy alive. It does its job, I just wish we didn’t need to employ its services too often.

As a public service (lofty sounding, I know) I have perma-linked the Drugs.com page on Orapred as well as the Drug Digest, and BioMarin pages. These were the most comprehensive and still authoritative sites I could find on this medicine. I will also be linking this page and my other Orapred posts for all to view at their leisure. It turns out that about 2 to 3 times a week I get a hit on this site from someone searching for Orapred side effects. I do not want to do them a disservice by solely having this site be a cache of anecdotal information about Orapred’s interaction with my little boy.

Here is the Drugs.com information
Here is the Drug Digest information
Here is the BioMarin information

Here are my previous posts about Orapred

Sleep Perchance to Dream
Hospital, Hospital, Jiggity Jig
Orapred
Disharmonic Convergence
Update on Wheezy McAsthma
Little Man vs. Insane Little Man

To recap:
Orapred is a very effective drug for my little boy
I wish we did not have to use it as much as we do

Homecomings

My wife was on a business trip this week starting on Wednesday through this afternoon. It is amazing to have her back at home with the little one and myself. We both missed her greatly. although, I think the little one was a bit miffed when he first saw her in the airport. He warmed up on the drive home.

These 2 1/2 days without her, really makes me question how anyone is able to raise a child as a single parent. It is difficult enough with 2 fully commmitted parents. I do not want anyone to think that I was unhappy to parent our little boy on my own. It was a truly rewarding experience. He is so much fun, and we enjoyed ourselves as much as we could (he dealing with the Orapred and me dealing with him on the Orapred). He loves to let me build something for 20 seconds with his Legos, and then take it away from me and put it onto the window sill, or tear it apart. He giggles so much when we chase each other around our house, and that giggle is magic. That being said, he took a fairly constant amount of attention, and I was not able to have anyone run interference for mewhile I attempted cooking. I really never had much of a moment to myself, because on the Orapred, even when he was sleeping, it was not a deep and restful sleep. (side note: Orapred is done, he should be his normal self after he crashes either Saturday or Sunday) If I were wearing a hat, it would be off to the single parents out there. It is a rewarding job, but it is difficult.

Orapred

Orapred is the oral steroid that is adminsitered to young ones who are having or just recently had an asthmatic episode. It is the kid version of prednazone. There are some immediate side effects associated with Orapred, these are, in no particular order:

1. increased thirst
2. insatiable appetite
3. insomnia

These three effects cuase a fourth effect, crankiness. Needless to say, being the parent of a kid on Orapred is not the easiest thing I have had to do. Looks like I will have insomnia by proximity.