A little piece of heaven

I took both Nathan and Izzy to the doctor yesterday for a follow-up.  Izzy still has an infected ear (that she’s had for over a month!) and the doctor believes she may also have allergies.  Nathan’s ears looked good but we talked about his ongoing asthma/respiratory issues and she shared my concern.  He seems to always be congested, which sometimes affects his breathing, especially at night.  It also affects his eating, as the congestion makes it hard for him to swallow.

Doc prescribed a med called Singulair.  She claims it is awesome and both kids should take it.  I asked her about side effects, and she said that of all the hundreds of kids that she’s prescribed it to, she’s only heard of 2 kids who had side effects – bad dreams.

I googled it and here are the side effects I found:

• SINGULAIR may cause serious side effects. Behavior and mood-related changes have been reported: agitation including aggressive behavior or hostility, bad or vivid dreams, depression, disorientation (confusion), feeling anxious, hallucinations (seeing or hearing things that are not really there), irritability, restlessness, sleepwalking, suicidal thoughts and actions (including suicide), tremor, and trouble sleeping. Tell your healthcare provider right away if you have any of these symptoms while taking SINGULAIR.
• The most common side effects with SINGULAIR include upper respiratory infection, fever, headache, sore throat, cough, stomach pain, diarrhea, earache or ear infection, flu, runny nose, and sinus infection.

http://www.singulair.com/montelukast_sodium/consumer/allergies/index.jsp?tcode=S266W&WT.mc_id=S266W

Nathan’s been medication free for a couple of years, and I am loathe to add in a medication that could cause other side effects, especially as he can’t tell me what/if he’s having them.  And with Izzy being so intense I’d be terrified that this will affect her behavior.

Thoughts? Ideas?  Would love your input.

When it came time to wrap up all the gifts and get them ready for the kids, I felt so sad, so ashamed. There were about 20 gifts for Isabelle, and just 3 for Nathan. It broke my heart. It’s not that we have favorites. It’s just that Isabelle loves anything and everything, she is so easy to buy for. She loves arts and crafts and dolls and music and .. well… pretty much everything.

What can you get a little boy that is too smart for simple cause and effect toys? Too physically impaired to manipulate toys that are more cognitively appropriate? He loves to play with toy guys (he loves shooting people) so we got him 2 of those. He likes playing with cars so we got him one of those. He already has a gazillion books (he loves being read to) and every single disney movie and kids movie in the planet (I am not exaggerating). He already has a tricycle, which he decided he doesn’t like after all. I would love to get him so many things – an electric car, learning toys like leapster, dinosaurs like his cousins like or some of the cool toys out on the market…but he can’t play with them.

I’m realizing that we’re entering a stage now where there isn’t a quick fix for these things. Yes, I’m going to make it a mission to keep an eye out all year for toys that he might like for next Christmas. But this is the reality of Nathan’s condition. This is one of those inevitable side effects of paralysis.

On a good note, he enjoyed his Christmas very much anyways. He had a blast shooting people with his nerf guns. That boy has such a naughty sense of humor.