APRIL 2006
Well, Callum’s cough hung on and on and then progressively got worse. He had no other signs of illness so we just assumed that, as he’d had a cold recently, it was just being a little persistent. However, the cough worsened, and over the Easter weekend we ended up at the hospital GP clinic with him thinking that he had a chest infection. We were very surprised to be told that it was most probably a persistent asthma attack and he was given steroids and anti-wheeze medication.
Callum was supposed to be going to stay with my Mum and Dad at the coast, but we were unsure whether we should take him. We were going to be going through at the weekend, staying a night or two, and then leaving him on Monday so we could go to work from Tuesday and return on Friday.
Although we knew the coastal air with much less pollution would do Callum good, we also thought he needed to be at home for another day or two. We decided to just take him through and drop him off on the Monday (provided he was well enough). By Monday, the medication was starting to work and we could tell Callum was starting to get better, so we took him through as per our revised plan.
I still find it very hard leaving him and was rather tearful when it was time to go. Once home though, I handled it a bit better (most of the time) and we took the opportunity to get on with getting things ready for our holiday in a few weeks time.
On the Friday, we picked up my brother Andy and his son Luke. I was so excited at seeing Callum again. When we got there, he was much better and more like his usual self… in fact, he was looking better than he had for a long time! Also, seeing Luke always cheers him up.
That Friday evening we had a belated celebration of my Mum’s birthday… we had put it off until we would all be there.
Callum and Luke were really enjoying each other’s company as usual, and when it came to bedtime, all our plans of who would sleep where went to pot. Obviously, Callum was going to be sleeping with me and Shaun, but Luke wanted to be in the same room (and same bed!) as Callum. So, Shaun ended up in the twin room with Andy, and with a bit of ‘topping and tailing’, me, Luke and Callum slept on the bed made up in the lounge. However, by 2am, I was aware that Luke was going to the bathroom, and then the poor lad started to be sick. He wasn’t ill as such, he had probably just eaten too much at tea-time and had a bit too much excitement. Luke handles being sick so well – he just gets on with it bless him! If only I could be more like him… I’m a real baby when I vomit!
Andy ended up joining us in the lounge by taking up residence on one of the sofa’s. It turned out that Shaun had the best night of all of us… not only his own bed, but a room to himself too! Until Callum woke up at 6am and wanted his Daddy!
We returned home on Saturday, leaving the others behind, but Callum was really missing Luke. They really do get on well.
Although Callum seemed to get better when taking his medicine and steroids, once he ran out, he started again with a bit of a cough. With only a week to go before flying to Majorca, we decided we should get him checked by on of our own GP’s.
The GP we saw was one I hold in very good regard, and he was fantastic with Callum. He has a particular interest in asthma, so was the best one to see. He checked Callum over thoroughly and came to the conclusion that he did not think that Callum has asthma, he said it was more likely that it had been a persistent ‘viral wheeze’. However, to be on the safe side given the family history on Shaun’s side, he prescribed some Bricanyl syrup for us to take away with us.
We are really looking forward to our holidays now. Callum is getting quite used to the idea that he will be going on an aeroplane and keeps asking to go. Hopefully we will all enjoy the flight and the holiday. As it is Callum’s first time abroad and his first time flying, we decided just to book for a week to see how we get on… especially as I am so sensitive to the sun… we don’t want him blistering like I do.
Well, better go get some Euro’s.
‘Til next time,
Amanda xXx
