how do you spell relief?

G-R-E-E-N Z-O-N-E

Ok, so again dating myself by referencing said commercial, but unless one has been the parent of a super sick child, it's hard to understand the palpable sense of relief you feel when said child is getting better. Today, when Girly got home from school and told me "I blew 250!" I almost fell over.

Let me explain:
She is now old enough to use a peak flow meter to monitor the efficiency of her lungs. Anything in the red zone (120 or below), we call the doctor; yellow zone (120-180) we use nebulizers and emergency inhalers at home, and in the green zone (180 and above) she is considered fine (although I sometimes wonder if she always walks around with less oxygen than the rest of us, and so doesn't realize she's always struggling.) She has spent the week at 120-140, and we've been nebbing ever 4 hours and in a semi-freaked out state. Yellow zone tends to mean no school because she really can't move much at all and still get enough oxygen to cope, and that was certainly true this week. So today, when she reached the green zone-- even after having had a neb-- it was cause for celebration. I made her repeat it an hour later, just to be sure it wasn't a fluke. No fluke. I'll need to see her in the green for over 24 hours before I completely relax, but relieved? Yes, I'd say so.

Add to this celebration good news from a friend, grades being done, LT meeting a thing of the past, tomorrow being Friday and vacation a week away... yes, I am quite relieved.

***UPDATE***
She is in the kitchen, dancing around with her brother. That tells more than any peak flow could...

(Dennis, my heart goes out to you... I pray it'll get better as she gets older...)