You Know It's Bad When...
the pharmacist at Target recognizes you and knows you on a first-name basis. Since October, Lily has been on 10 different medications. It's a lot, not to mention the co-pays. Some days I feel like I just open my purse and watch the money pour out. The pharmacist at Target is a young, hip-looking lady with the Cheshire Cat from Alice in Wonderland tattooed across her chest. I always feel like I'm staring at her clavicle when she gives me instructions for medicine.

Her: "You'll want to make sure you take this with food first thing in the morning, okay?"
Me: Staring at the cat on her chest. Is it grinning at me? I nod back at her to show I'm listening.

So it was almost funny (almost) when Carver came down with asthma-like symptoms last week. After visiting the doctor we scurried off to Target to fill yet another prescription. He has an inhaler and will use it before exercising, and we will see if that helps. He has track practice this afternoon and he should know pretty quickly if the inhaler will do the trick. I don't have much experience with inhalers. We practiced a couple of times this weekend, just to see if he could get a little breathing relief and to make sure he understood the pump, breathe, repeat instructions. It's hard not to know exactly what it wrong with your child, and to not know if a medicine will help them or not. I can't tell if he's suffering from allergies or true activity-induced asthma. He passed the breathing test at the doctor's office, but that doesn't explain his shortness of breath last week, each episode occurring after running. I thought the inhaler would really help. How do you know what to do?

Do you ever feel like parenting is just winging it?