Sunlight Peeks Through

The weather is finally tolerable here, at least in the evenings and mornings, and so tonight KayTar and I decided to go out for another early evening walk. Yesterday's was such a big hit, I'm still hearing about it. "See cat. Where cat? Cat! Meow!" You'd think she'd never seen a cat before, but I guess repeated exposure doesn't make them any less marvelous to admiring little eyes. Perhaps it is the elusive quality of cats that draws children in, they are frequently in sight, but rarely in reach. Dogs on the other hand are all too accessible. BORING. When we were in the hospital last time, they brought dogs around for pet therapy and KayTar would have none of it. "No dog! Bye!" in her shrill chirp. I think she would have preferred feline visitors.



We looked around for orange kitty, but he was out carousing. The breeze was blowing and the sun was just warm enough, so we walked back home to invite Josh and BubTar to accompany us to the nearby park. It feels like it has been months since we've been outdoors, like the camping trip was our last hurrah and we've been snowed in since then. Instead of being trapped in the house by the external force of snow, we were trapped indoors because of the internal force of illness. It was so nice to feel the sunlight on my skin. KayTar made it three or four houses down the block before descending into the grunt-like breathing that signifies she is having trouble getting enough air. I had to scoop her up against her will and carry her the rest of the way.


Last Thursday she started having difficulty breathing, she was grunting every time she took a breath, her skin was retracting around her ribcage, she couldn't manage to drink her bottle and keep up with breathing simultaneously. We watched it on Thursday, because her color was good and we saw a bit of improvement after naptime, but she wasn't doing good enough by Friday for us to chance the weekend. The pediatrician said she was wheezing and her left lung sounded a bit worse than the right. She gave us a script for an inhaler and spacer mask and KayTar has been taking 4 puffs every 4 hours. The first four times she took it, she emptied her stomach all over me, but now she is an old pro at it. "Messin time? Count!" Because we count her breaths while we hold the mask on. She plops into her Baby Papasan willingly and takes her medicine like a big girl. It has made such a difference, not only with the apparent breathing difficulties, but at night, too. She is finally not coughing until she vomits at night, and she is going to bed at a decent hour again. I hate to think she's been having breathing problems for a month and I only just caught on. Ack. But she is sounding better now, so that is what matters, I suppose. She still sounds junkie in the morning and anytime she exerts herself, but for the most part she is doing well with it. I think we overdid it by going to the park, because in spite of the medicine, she's been having a rough go of it this evening. She has been coughing and grunting quite a bit, even though she had just had a dose of medicine an hour before we went outside.

We had a good time at the park, lots of swinging and sliding. We stayed just long enough to get a quick fix and then headed home. Even though, it was a bit much for KayTar, we still enjoyed it. Just being out in the sun together for a bit felt good. It felt healthy, even though we aren't quite there yet.