M.B.
Frequent pneumonia with asthma? My daughter gets this! she's 6... BUT this regimen that our Dr put her in has TOTALLY given her freedom. First we kicked pneumonia to the curb with an albuterol Neb every 4 hours (even at night) for a couple days, then we did every six hours for a couple days... Along with that, she was given a liquid medicine that she took for the first five days (can't remember the name-sorry). Then we gave her the inhaler (albuterol) during daytime hours, then she just takes it as needed.
After she did 5 days of neb treatments, dr checked her out just to make sure it was working correctly. Her dr (I call her a dr, but she's a nurse practitioner) specializes in asthma and allergies. She's awesome. In addition to taking albuterol as needed (she maybe needs it once or twice a week now), We also give her a single puff of Qvar before she brushes her teeth at night. (qvar is preventative medicine)
My 6 year old also had to do a LOT of coughing up and spitting out while she had pneumonia. She was very persistent about getting it out of her system, so she was pro-active and cooperative. I have heard from other parents that their kids hate coughing up and spitting out mucus. BUT it is soo imperative!
I live in the opposite side of the country, but there ARE asthma specialists out there as well, maybe your nephew should go directly to them, and skip trying to find a regular dr for now. We haven't gone to a specialist because I'm so satisfied with her nurse practitioner.