It's Been 20 Years

Otter was diagnosed with asthma the Christmas before her 4th birthday.  Today, it's 20 years later (short a few months but still 20 years.)  Today was her annual lung recheck at the allergist/asthma specialists office.  This is the 3rd doctor she's seen for it.  The first one diagnosed the asthma - although we already knew what it was and her then-pediatrician only sent us to the specialist to shut me up because he insisted that Otter was fine and there was no trace of asthma.  The specialist said she was on the verge of pneumonia and basically he said that a blind monkey could have seen that she had asthma - a fact I took great pleasure in telling the pediatrician!  Otter was really in a bad situation, her asthma was very bad and it took us a long time to get her to a stable place.

There were a few times when we thought it was possible that we would lose her.  We had many sleepless nights.

We had an insurance change and that meant a new doctor.  We were able to start using one of the better known specialists in Tulsa, he was a friend of The Teenager and we had originally wanted to use him but he wasn't on the insurance plan we had when she was diagnosed.  But the doctor that first diagnosed her was good and we were happy with him.  The 2nd specialist is the one who also pointed out how much her scoliosis was worsening (something else the idiot pediatrician refused to face and told me that it was not ever going to be anything to worry about!) and he's the reason she was referred to an orthopedic specialist.  She took a few years of gymnastics and had some specialize exercises, which strengthened her upper body muscles enough and the scoliosis progress was halted and it is not an issue now - although it would have been, and possibly it would have been very severe given how fast it was progressing when she was so young.  The 2nd asthma specialist suggested we consider allergy testing and we eventually did. She had about 4 years of allergy shots through his office and she responded very well to them.  Eventually, she was able to stop the daily nebulizer treatments.  A nebulizer essentially turns liquid medicines into a mist that can be inhaled.  She was having 3 or 4 treatments per day at one point.

Then specialist # 2 retired.  He referred her to the doctor she's seen for the last few years.  She had been improving but then the karate got to a really hard part in the lessons and we realized that her asthma had also become exercise induced.  She was able to get the first level Black Belt but she never could go any further because she literally could not breathe.  There was one specific class that resulted in her nearly needing to be run to the ER because she was taking in so little oxygen - grey lips and blue nail beds are not indications of good things!  At that point, she was seeing # 3 twice a year and on a couple of different inhalers.  Once she quit karate, she made a rapid improvement and was able to start seeing him once a year.  That's what it's been for the last few years.  She had a daily inhaler which she has been using for 3 or 4 years with nothing else needed unless she had a cold or bad allergies, and then just seeing her doctor in the spring to follow up.

But all that ended today.

Otter's asthma has improved to the point that she is as close to not having it as is it is possible to be.  

It's incurable, but it can go into remission and basically go to sleep.

Otter's asthma has done even better than going to sleep.  It's very nearly turned itself to OFF.

She is off all medication, she hasn't used her daily inhaler for the last few months because she basically forgot it.  Her peak flow readings were almost off the charts today.  He said that progress like hers is almost unheard of.  As in SHE IS DONE WITH IT.  It's still in her system and she might have the occasional issue with it, such as if she has a cold or gets the flu.  But even when she's had a cold or when she had the flu a couple of years ago, she had hardly any asthma at all.  That's probably what she can expect in the future.  Little to none.

Yes, we do believe in Miracles.  And we have had one.