Kristin, most places will negotiate payment plans. And while even with insurance, the health system is made of lame, your health is WORTH IT.

Lillian is 3. Mal turned 3 last month (he's 3 weeks older than Lillian). Owen is 4, as is Annabel. They were basically due date twins. (Lillian and Isaac were also due date twins!)

Aidan turned 5 in February.

{{{Kristin}}}

Do you get whistling in your chest when you breathe? When my asthma was really bad a couple of weeks ago, I'd wake myself up with the wheezing.

The inhaler may not be getting down far enough into the lungs if there's crud or stickiness in the air passages at the bottom of the lungs.

I'm going in to the Urgent Care. That co-pay is doable. I'm probably fine, but you're right, better safe.

Definitely better safe, Kristin. Sounds like you need more ABs anyway, and something the cough. Poor baby. Health~ma, babe.

Kristin, best of luck at Urgent Care. You're definitely better off being safe. Take care.

Aidan is FIVE? Good lord.

Of course, now that it's 11pm, my migraine is gone and I'm kinda hungry and bored...and not too sleepy cause I napped for four hours earlier. OY.

And I have a feeling annoying trainer woman will not let us out early enough to make the "get in at 7:30" flight instead of the "get in at 11:30" flight. Fingers are crossed, though.

I have no pneumonia advice other than crossing my fingers for you to feel better soon. Damn!

Poor, miserable Kristin. I hope the doc in a box people help. Sometimes it takes a while for an inhaler to kick in.

Have you tried breathing steam and keeping something warm on your chest, like a heating pad? I use one of those buckwheat pillow things you heat in the microwave. It can ease the pain in your chest. I have an electric face steamer that's well worth it for breathing steam. Standing in a hot shower several times during the day also helps, as does anything that increases humidity. I'm also a devotee of Vick's Vaporub, but I suspect that's mostly psychological, since it's what my mother did when I was sick.

As the queen of the respiratory infection, I have an entire arsenal to field against it.

the machines they use at the ER/hospital or doctor's office are way more effective than an inhaler. I think vw has a nebulizer at home. I know for me when I went in it was two treatments before I was breathing well and I had to go back to the doctor's at least once for another.

I've had to go to the ER twice for asthma, both times when I was sick already, and I *knew* I couldn't breathe. Both times I got the nebulizer thing, but also an adrenaline shot, which burns like HELL but works almost immediately. Also, when you go in and say you can't breathe, they don't tend to make you wait, especially when they can see you turning blue. Yuck. Scary.