ALLERGIES AND ASTHMA
Written by Leona NielsenPublished on January 2018
Waking up to the warmth of the sun were the flowers, peeping their heads through the ground. While in the sky the birds were doing their own dance of joy for the arrival of spring. Winter had been long.
Baby woke to a sweet smell in the air.
“WAKE UP EVERYONE, SPRING IS HERE!” Baby shouted
Annie kept watching the door, waiting for it to open. With a disappointed look on her face she said, “I guess she’s not coming”
“Who’s not coming Annie?” Baby asked
“You know, Spring”
“Spring! Spring who?” Baby looked puzzled
“The one you were so excited about a few minutes ago”
“Annie, that’s spring”
“I know that but where is she?”
“Baby, shake your head…. a girl’s name” Joseph added
“Oh I get it. No Annie, it’s not someone coming. Spring is something that happens”
“Happens how?”
“Scout, I think I need help” said Baby
“Baby
is right Annie, it’s something that happens. We have 4 seasons…winter,
spring, summer and fall. Winter has left and spring is here for a bit.
Wait a minute, Annie you have never seen spring. You were just born
last year. Wow this is your first spring!! No wonder you didn’t know”
replied Scout
“How many have you seen Scout?” asked Annie
“Seen what Annie?”
“Spring”
“Oh more than I want to count”
“This will be Scout’s 41st spring.” Joseph yelled from his stall
“Joseph, that wasn’t very nice. Maybe Scout doesn’t want others to know how many springs he has seen” Baby replied
“It’s alright Baby, it’s time to celebrate”
“What are we celebrating?” Annie wanted to know
“Spring Annie, the warm weather and good green grass” Scout replied
“Okay, but how are we going to do that?”
“We are going to run around, roll in the grass and make a lot of noise.” Scout answered
“I like the way that sounds” Annie added
Annie was dancing up and down waiting for her turn to go.
“Let’s go. I want to do all those things”
Scout smiled as he thought about how the young mind works.
Baby
and Joseph were waiting their turn when they saw Scout was out rolling
and rolling in the field. When he got up there was a lot of his hair on
the ground.
“Scout you are losing all your hair. Scout do you hear us? Don’t roll , you will be bald !!!” shouted Baby and Joseph
“I am getting rid of winter. It feels good and I’m contributing to nature.”
Baby and Joseph looked at each other.
“Nature?”
“I’m confused” Annie answered.
TC just happened to pass by when she heard the confusion the Little Ones were having.
“Come
closer and I’ll explain. When winter comes we have heavy coats to keep
us warm when it is cold. In the spring we shed it just like Scout was
doing.” TC explained.
“What’s this about helping Nature?” asked Baby
“Baby, it’s not polite to interrupt when someone is talking” Scout replied.
“Sorry TC”
“You
see, nothing in nature goes to waste even Scout’s old hair. The birds
will come and gather it up for the nests they are building. Just
watch.” Sure enough the birds flew in, picked up the hair and flew away
to start their nests.
“Joseph, we’ll have to help Nature too.” Baby said
Annie had been checking out her belly as she was listening.
“That’s alright for you to say about helping the birds out Baby” Joseph added
“Oh come on Joseph, you aren’t going to be stubborn and not give the birds any of your hair, are you?” Baby asked
“I can’t, well not yet anyway. Remember, I have to be shaved. A donkey’s hair is harder to fall out.” Joseph replied
SHHHHHH!!!!! Joseph”
“Wow I have a lot of winter on my belly for the birds. Why do they need nests anyway? Shave, what’s that?” Annie mumbled as she continued looking
“Well”…that was all Baby could say before Scout stopped him.
“Annie, we will explain later” answered Scout.
“It’s always – I’ll tell you later or you are too young! – I want to grow up!” Annie said as she stuck her head in the corner.
“Just like a girl” Baby whispered to Joseph
‘Yep”
Moments
later, the celebration had begun; Baby and Joseph had decided to have a
race to the end of the field and back. Annie was standing near another
pile of hair on the ground waiting for the birds to come back.
“They will tell me why they need to make nests” Annie thought to herself as she stood waiting.
“We should have another race Baby.” Joseph said as he lined up to start again.
“Okay Joseph. Just one more”
Off
they went as fast as they could. Joseph touched the pole first and
started back. He turned around to see how close Baby was when he saw
him still at the pole.
“I’m going to win Baby” Joseph shouted but Baby didn’t move.
“I better see if he is alright. I hope this isn’t one of his tricks to win.” Joseph thought to himself as he started back.
“Afraid I’m going to win so you stopped?” yelled Joseph
“I wish.” said Baby as he tried catching his breath.
“What’s wrong?”
“I can’t breath very well” Baby said in a broken voice
“SCOUT!!”
When
Scout heard Joseph yelling, he knew it had to be serious. Scout took
off running with Annie close behind to see what happened.
“Scout, Baby can’t breathe well.” Joseph said with a worried look on his face.
“Can you take a few deep breaths for me Baby?” Scout asked
It took only a few minutes when he knew the vet would have to visit.
“What happened to Baby, is that part of spring?” Annie asked
“Well, now that you brought it up, it is, in an indirect way Annie.” answered TC who came over to join the rest.
“How?” Annie replied
“When
spring comes Mother Nature sends the signal to the trees to wake up as
well. When they do, some of them give off pollen that causes people and
animals to get what is called asthma. Then, there are the allergies
that cause the body to get itchy.” TC told them
Annie pulled her head close to her body.
“Annie what are you doing?”
“I don’t want that pollen to get me TC”
“You will be fine Annie”
“How do you know TC?”
“Missy taught TC all the tricks about looking after us” Baby answered
“Thanks Baby, it was nice of you to say that” TC added
After
a rest Baby was able to walk back to the barn. The owners were doing
some repairs when they noticed everyone coming to the barn at once and
it wasn’t supper time. It didn’t take long for them to realize that
Baby wasn’t feeling well. They immediately put Baby in his stall and
disappeared. Next, the sound of the truck could be heard in the
distance. Scout peeped around the barn and reported to the others that
Dr. Doubleday had arrived. Everyone stepped out of the way so she could
get to Baby.
“I hope this doesn’t mean a needle Joseph.” Baby said in a low voice.”
“She doesn’t have her big bag, only the thing around her neck to listen to your breathing.” Joseph told Baby
The owner told Dr. Doubleday what they knew and that wasn’t much.
“Why doesn’t she ask us, we can tall her everything?” said Annie
“Annie,
remember we can understand them but they can’t hear us. I do know that
she will make Baby feel better. She is a nice person and good vet. Plus
she understands what we need.
“She got here quick wouldn’t you say TC?” Scout added
“That she did”
“Where did she come from?” asked Annie
“It is a place called Avon Animal Hospital”
“I would like to go there and visit” Annie said
“I don’t want to see it” answered Joseph
“Me either. When you go there wthen you are very sick” added Baby
“Yes indeed, Baby does have some congestion in his lungs. I’ll give you some asthma medicine for him” she told the owners
“Joseph, that medicine is going to be in a needle. I just know it” shouted Baby.
“Stay calm Baby so you can breath” said Joseph
The Doctor returned and handed the owners 3 small bags giving them instructions on how to use it.
“I guess you dodged that needle Baby”
“That I did”
Annie was again staring at her belly.
“What’s wrong Annie?” asked Scout
“I think I got the allergies on my belly. It is itchy.”
“You just want attention” said Joseph
“NO I DON”T JOSEPH!!!!!. My belly is really itchy!!!! Doctor look at my belly please”
“She can’t hear you Annie, let TC have a look” said Scout
Well…. Annie may be right, there are tiny bare spots”
“How are we going to get her to look at Annie?” asked Scout
“That shouldn’t be hard with Annie and her girl charm” Joseph said in a whisper
“That
wasn’t very nice Joseph. I do have an idea. I am going to roll in my
stall and she will say I’m cute. She will walk over and when she does I
will make sure she can see my belly. Sure enough Annie did exactly what
she said and so did Dr. Doubleday.
“Annie has an allergy. It isn’t too bad she will have to be bathed in a special shampoo.”
When Joseph heard bath, he started checking himself out.
“What
are you looking for Joseph? Never mind I should have known, you hear
the “bath” word and now you are looking for bare spots”
“You got it. Me and baths aren’t friends you know” replied Joseph
“Stand still Joseph and I’ll take a look at you. No bare spots” added TC
Joseph gave a big sigh of relief.
By
the time Dr. Doubleday finished, it was supper time. Everyone waited
around to watch Baby take his medicine. The owners mixed it with his
grain.
“Go ahead and take a taste Baby” said Joseph
“Not yet”
“The longer you wait the harder it will be” said Scout
“Okay if I have to……..YUCK!” shouted Baby
“Just think about it as being a juicy apple”
“Yea, right”
Baby had a hard time with his medicine but he finally finished it all. Now it was Annie’s turn to have a bath.
“That felt good Joseph.” said Annie
“I’ll take your word for it Annie”
Things started settling down for the night. Annie wasn’t itchy and Baby had survived his medicine.
“What a day this has been” TC said to Scout
“TC, did Dr. Doubleday look any different this time than from the last visit?”
“Hmmmmm” replied TC
“What’s wrong with the Doctor? asked Annie
“She’s just a little bigger than before.” Baby added
“So what’s wrong with that?” Annie asked.
“It’s not from eating too much; it’s a different kind of big
Annie. You see, the Doctor. is having a baby. That’s why she looks different.”
“A BABY!!!! She’s having a baby everybody. She will have her baby when she comes again.”
“Well ,you may see babies sooner than that Annie”
“Oh?”
“Yes, the birds”
Annie stopped for a moment.
“OH!!
I get it. Scout’s hair, building nests. The birds are having babies
too….I figured that one out all by myself. Does that make me a grown up
yet?”
“Not
quite. It takes a lot of steps to get there. You certainly are a few
steps closer. Little Ones, I need to get some sleep” said TC as she
rubbed her nose across Annie’s back.
“Baby, you will start to feel a lot better after about the 4th dose of medicine.
“WHAT!!!!!! Shouted Baby
“Good night all”
Hi
everyone, we hope that you enjoyed our story. In this one we learned
that both people and animals can have some of the same things. Show
respect when someone is talking as Baby did. Also, we wish Dr Doubleday
the best with her new arrival. School is coming to an end. Vacation and
play safe. Our next story will be a surprise; who knows what trouble we
will get into over the summer. See you then
Baby, Joseph, Scout and Little Annie