My Life as an Asthma Mom

  My city is inundated with wildfire smoke right now.  I woke up to see golden light shining through the blinds - and instantly panicked.  I know that a golden tinge in the air means the wildfire smoke from hundreds of miles away has drifted to my city.   Checking air quality  Did you know that you can check the air quality in your area using Purple Air ?  Purple Air uses data from 35,000 air sensors around the world. They are low cost air sensors that people can buy and attach to their house.  Are they as good as EPA's expensive air quality sensors? No.  But, does EPA have enough air quality sensors across the U.S.? Also no.   Health effects of wildfire smoke on asthma  Wildfire smoke is filled with tiny particles, called PM 2.5. (PM stands for particulate matter.) PM 2.5 is so tiny, you can only see it with a microscope. It's 1/30th the size of a human hair.     Those tiny particles can get down deep inside the...

  Yeah, yeah.....I know it's summer and people are at the pool or lake.  But school is just around the corner!  You may be shopping for school supplies like clothes, backpacks, pens & pencils, scientific calculators, etc.  School supplies vs medical supplies   But - what about medical supplies?  Does your child have enough puffs in their inhaler for the school year? When does it expire?  Are their dual pack of epi auto injectors still in date? Epi also expires!  Can you carry inhalers and epi in drug-free zones?  Yes - and no    When my kids were younger, they couldn't have acetaminophen or ibuprofen in their backpack. And my daughter definitely couldn't carry Midol.  But - if you have the proper medical forms filled out at the beginning of each school year, your child can carry their inhaler and epi (instead of leaving it locked in the nurse's office)  Did you know that it's legal for students to carry their own ...

 All 3 of my children have left home and gone off to college. Two have graduated, and my youngest is finishing her degree. I mean, they've gotta get good jobs to support us in our old age. Haha.  Sending kids to college is a little different when you have kids with eczema, allergies, food allergies, or asthma.  Since the chemistry in our body tends to over react when we are around dust, mold, strong cleaning supplies, etc. My kids have to be more careful than the average college students.   A few things we looked for when my kids went to college: Apartments without carpet    My daughter and her friend went apartment hunting. She was so excited to show us the apartment she found!     I recognized that carpet - from the 70's. It's a style and color they don't even make anymore. I mean, like totally rad! Can't believe we talked like that back in the 70's...   I was worried about her living in an old apartment (built in the 40's) with ...

      The new list is out!    And guess who's on it?    Again?!   Not bad for a little 'ole asthma mom just trying to help other families  I can't compete with companies who have full time staff that run analytics, create posts, and graphics 😆 It's just me creating graphics and writing posts!   I started this blog back in 2010 to help other families who are struggling with asthma  Thanks for reading over the years and supporting me.   If I have helped over the years, drop a comment!      

 As the 4th of July weekend nears, I'm VERY worried about fireworks smoke. We live in a cul de sac, and the neighbors like to put on a BBQ with fireworks and dub the party  "The Cul de sac of Fire" Can I tell you how much I hate fireworks?  Am I old and cranky? Well, yes - but that's beside the point  Firework smoke almost killed my son When Son #2 was in elementary school, his asthma was almost impossible to control. This was before asthma biologics were available for those under age 12.  He was on multiple daily, anti-inflammatory inhalers.  He also had allergy shots in the hopes that controlling his allergies would control his asthma.  And our home was allergy & asthma friendly.   We were also germaphobes WAY before COVID.  We tried everything to keep him healthy.  Every minor cold morphed into pneumonia for him - and another hospital stay.  RSV also put him in the hospital for a week (at age 5). Yes, 5. 4th of July fire...

  This is the first time I got a sneak peak at a new product, and was able to try it out.    A rep from Monaghan Medical contacted me on my social media accounts for My Life as an Asthma Mom and asked if I wanted to try out a new valved holding chamber for my inhaler, called Aero2go I don't think I'm that cool or that many people follow me on social media (I'm probably the only person that's not on TikTok!) 🤣 But I was flattered that they trusted me enough to try it.  I've had asthma for 25 years, and sadly all 3 of my kids inherited my asthma.  The youngest two were hospitalized 12 times when they were younger - 2 ICU's.  So we have tried a LOT of inhalers, spacers, and valved holding chambers over the years.  But the Aero2go valved holding chamber is different from anything else I have seen or tried.  What I like about this spacer (valved holding chamber) A valved holding chamber (VHC) is different from a spacer because it has a one-way valve ...