Sonshine Has Asthma

Sonshine went to the ER with an asthma attack, so last Thursday we took him to FH's asthma/allergy specialist. The appointment was in the late afternoon in Salt Lake City, so we made an afternoon trip of it and took the whole family. Sonshine was diagnosed with asthma and given a sample inhaler and meds.

Friday morning I took the sample inhaler to the school, along with the paperwork to allow his health care needs to be accommodated (I had brought the paperwork with me to the doctor). But they told me they would not give him the inhaler, because it didn't have a prescription sticker with his name on it. The school nurse called the doctor to get details of Ben's treatment plan, called me to discuss them, and set up a Tuesday morning meeting.

So on Saturday I went to the pharmacy and spent the $25 copay for the inhaler, and the $10 copay for the children's inhaler chamber. I put them in a little fabric bag clearly labeled with Sonshine's name. I wrote the directions on the chamber and also on a card. And on Monday I brought them to the school. They told me that they STILL wouldn't give him the inhaler, because we hadn't had the meeting for me to train the school staff how to administer it. This really chapped my hide because it's not like he's the first kid in school to use an albuterol inhaler, and it's not like they didn't already have the instructions from the doctor laying out when and how he was to take the meds.

This morning we had our meeting and I showed them all how to use the inhaler and chamber. They all liked the chamber and said it was easier to use than the other kids' chambers. And they complained that they needed a bigger cabinet to hold all the inhalers and chambers. I was nice and I bit my tongue about how stupid it was that they supposedly needed a meeting to teach them how to do something they're already doing for a large cabinetfull of students.

Now I'm going to take the rest of the day off to be at home without other people whom I will have the urge to strangle.