Counting them one, by one.....

For the rest of the week I am counting my blessings here for the whole world to see. I will start by telling a story....

At the end of July my son developed a cough. It did not seem serious, more like an irritation than a sickness he had no fever and was not complaining of any pain nor acting abnormal. I chalked it up to the fact that we have had an extremely dry and hot summer. A couple of weeks later it changed. It sounded deep, and it started to be productive, he was coughing through the night and waking frequently. The change happened over the weekend and I told myself that I would need to take him to the doctor on Monday. That Sunday night he spiked a high fever. At the doctors on Monday, my son was diagnosed with asthma. I was stunned. He had never shown any signs until now. The doctor prescribed and antibiotic, a steroid and an inhaler. He told me that the nighttime coughing should be gone in about 3 days and that the daytime cough should be cleared up in 5. I was told to bring him back in a week if he did not improve.
One week later we returned, he was worse. The coughing had intensified and he had a clearly audible wheeze. When he was out playing he would come to me and tell me his "heart hurt" and he just wanted to sit and rest awhile. We saw a different doctor who preformed a chest X-Ray. The X-Ray showed an infection in his lungs. The infection was causing an asthmatic episode. The antibiotic he had been prescribed was not effective for this type of infection. ARGH!!!
Over the last 5 weeks my son has take 3 antibiotics, 2 bottles of Robitussin DM, 2 rounds of steroids, and an inhaler 3-4 times a day. He has endured 5 trips to the doctor, 2 X-Rays, Chest Therapy exercises, and blood work. I will never forget his words after the nurse at the lab drew his blood. He looked at her with tears in his eyes and said "That was so painful, that I will never come back here again." I cried.
As you can imagine, these weeks have been terribly frustrating and often times I have been near panic. I have played the "woulda, shoulda, coulda" game over and over. Everyone in our family, and our church families have been praying for him. I chide myself for not asking for prayer from my friends in blog world. Being new to blogging I was reluctant. I now know that had I requested, you would have responded in earnest, I am grateful for that, and I will not hesitate again.
Yesterday, he went for the his 5th doctor visit and his lungs are clear. The nightmare is over.
Through the combination of medicine and the countless prayers offered in his name, God has extended his healing touch and I praise him from the depths of my heart.