It finally hit us...

Last winter (2010-2011) was terrible!!! We had one sickness, after another, after another.  I think I could count on my fingers how many days our whole family was well at the same time that winter.  We continued to get sick during the summer and into the fall.

Last October Tyler caught a nasty cold and ended up in the Urgent Care with rapid breathing, wheezing, and labored breathing.  After afew neb treatments, Tyler was looking good enough to send us home with an Albuterol Inhaler.   Later that night he was getting bad again and I gave his Albuterol treatment earlier than they prescribed.  Luckily he responded well enough that I didn't have to take him back in again. That illness stressed me out and made me think...I'M NOT READY FOR WINTER AND MORE SICKNESS!!!

Last September when Tyler caught a cold he did something similar with fast breathing and wheezing, but not so severe.  When I mentioned that to the doctor he mentioned the possibilty of being diagnosed with asthma if this continues to happen.  Then I start remembering all the nights Tyler is up coughing.  Almost everytime he gets a cold he gets dry, non-productive coughs especially at night.  Sometimes the night time coughing is the first cold symptom and even a couple of time he has coughing fits at night but the next day he is perfectly fine...no cough, no runny nose, no sneezing.  So I was concerned that asthma could be in the future and wondered how Tyler's health would be over the winter.

November...nothing.....December...nothing....January....nothing....February...nothing...March....nothing...April....well, we can't go forever without a cold.  Our family of four was able to avoid respiratory illnesses for 6 months! The 6 months when germs are the worst and most prevalent. (Although Tyler and Jeff had a stomach bug once.) So Tyler broke our respiratory wellness streak when he caught a cough/fever.  I had my stethescope out several times listening, but he continued to sound good.  yeah!

Tyler taking a nap...he had two naps that day...poor guy

I wish I knew how we stayed healthy for so long so I could repeat it for next winter.  My only guess is that our systems have antibody overload from our illnesses last winter and any germs that enter our body were fought off without a chance.

Jeff is the only one doing something different.  I bought him ImmunExtra capsules last summer and he has been taking them ever since.  Several times he has felt like he is coming down with something (runny nose, etc), and the next day he is symptom free.  When Jeff gets sick it usually hits him hard so to have symptoms for a day or less is a miracle. 

I'm crossing my fingers that good health continues!