Your stories sound a lot like my 5, soon to be 6 year old son. He had his first asthma attack at the age of 28 months and was hospitalized for 3-4 days. His next hospitalization was in December 2006 a week before christmas for 2 days. He has had about 5 trips to the ER for asthmatic episodes since then. At first we noticed it seemed to be only when he had a cold but now he is showing signs of having episodes when being exposed to furry animals. He had a bad reaction to a dog once. He also has a peanut allergy and his other allergy tests at 3 years old came up negative. I plan on having him tested again in the near future. We use his flovent only when he shows signs of a cough or wheezing. He is also on ventolin during a flareup. He uses nasonex during the spring, summer and fall for seasonal allergies. All in all he is pretty managed but it definitely is frustrating and there is a delicate balance. When he is healthy and showing no symptoms the dr. prefers if he is not on the flovent so we try to keep on top of him and keep him managed.

Good luck to everyone.