My Life as an Asthma Mom

Of the 12 times Kitty and Son #2 have been hospitalized for asthma, they needed oxygen each time. Yet there are different ways oxygen is administered.   Hubby was telling me about being in the hospital last week with a family member. Because of our many experiences with having a child in the hospital for asthma (made wore by pneumonia, RSV and wildfire smoke,) Hubby watches oxygen levels on the monitor.  Hubby noticed that the family member's oxygen rate was only at 89%. It should be closer to 100%. This family member was sleeping, and was using a nasal cannula (a thin horizontal tube with a small nozzle that fits inside each nostril). Hubby noticed the family member was breathing through their mouth - instead of their nose - so the nasal cannula wasn't helping.  Hubby notified the nurse and asked her to switch the family member to an oxygen mask. This ended up being a better delivery system, since the mask covers the nose and mouth.   This only worked because the n...

Tip #3 One thing Asthma Doc taught us was to NOT store anything under the beds. He said most beds are very dusty underneath, rarely get vacuumed, and can be a problem for those with dust allergies. And it can trigger asthma attacks. When was the last time you cleaned anything out from under your bed? Be honest......the last time you moved? And then you were forced to clean it up?   Under the bed storage is handy. It's out of the way, you don't trip over anything, and it's a great hiding place.  But when was the last time you had to retrieve something from under the bed, how was it? Full of dust? Did you sneeze and cough?  We follow Asthma Doc's instructions and the rule in our house is 'nothing goes under the bed!'  If you look at the graphiic, you can see how easy it is to vacuum under the bed and keep it clean.  If you have ever woken up with a stuffy nose or itchy eyes, this could be one of the reasons. Or if you wake up sneezing at night, which daughter Kitt...

    We had a little family emergency last night. We are worried about one elderly family member who is in the hospital caring for their spouse. The reason for our concern is that the caregiver has asthma -  and stress can actually trigger an asthma attack.  I wasn't even thinking about that last night as we were discussing the situation with our kids. But Son #1 brought it up. We were worried about the caregiver's coping skills, you never know how people will react in an emergency. Son #1 said, "I hope she's okay and doesn't get so stressed out that she has an asthma attack".  Oh yeah, that. We reminded Caregiver to take her inhaler with her to the hospital. Belly breathing can also help your stress level or anxiety if you have an asthma attack.  I taught a workshop in daughter Kitty's school on behalf of American Lung Association. The workshop is called "Open Airways". They are short 40 minute lessons about asthma and how to self manage. One o...

       Flash back Friday- fires There's a beautiful historic building across the street from me that is on fire. I saw the news coverage this morning during breakfast. The area here is swarming with people taking photos. It's freezing cold outside, and the area smells of smoke. I can smell a little bit of smoke in the main part of the building where I am, I am watching through a window. It's a shame to see beautiful architecture lost to fire, we're all hoping if can be saved and renovated. I'm not so sure. But I am lucky to be able to watch it from inside another building. If the cold didn't trigger my asthma, the smoke definitely would. It always makes me a little uneasy. Smoke from a forest fires several years ago blanketed the valley where we live and almost cost Son #2 his life. It all happened so fast. He was outside playing with friends, and we didn't notice how smoky it was.    You know little kids-if they're have fun, they won't come in for a...

    As much as my historic home drives me crazy (there is always something leaking, flooding, shorting out, breaking, etc), there is one up side - we have original wood floors. We had to rip out all the carpet when we moved in and Hubby refinished the wood floors. It's a big job, but you can watch videos online to learn how to sand wood floors and rent equipment at specialty store.  Hubby looked with satisfaction at his handwork and declared, "We could play a great game of basketball in here!" I love my wood floors, especially for allergies and asthma. They're easy to clean, plus I can actually see the dirt and dust bunnies. Helllllooooo vacuum!  I love to vacuum -weird, I know. There's something about the monotonous work of vacuuming. My canister vac (equipped with a HEPA filter of course) allows me to vacuum the area rugs, then flip a switch and use it on the wood floors.  Then I switch attachments on the nozzle, and can clean all the edges of the rooms...

  I was listening to an asthma webinar the other day by two pharmacists.  I'm not suggesting you disagree with someone with medical training, but I will anyway..... A listener asked him if you should change things in your home to make it more allergy/asthma proof. He said no.  He has a family member with asthma, and he had removed his carpet and replaced it with wood floors. But he said it would be too expensive for most people. I think he missed the boat.  There are a lot of things you can do to make your home better. One the biggest things you can do to make your house allergy & asthma friendly is to take your shoes off at the door.  Removing your shoes at the front door  You use a basket, small bookshelf, big plastic bin - use whatever works for you. As a former Interior Designer, mine has to coordinate with my beachy vibe, so I use a large wicker basket. So, what's the big deal about wearing shoes in a house?  Well, everywhere you have been d...

  I was thinking back to the time when Son #2 was diagnosed with asthma.  Pediatrician admitted my son to the Pediatrics ward of the hospital when the respiratory therapist told me my son had asthma. I still remember the shock, thinking 'wait a minute!' I already took my son to the pediatrician clutching my wrinkled magazine article about asthma from a parenting magazine.  Something just didn't seem right when the Pediatrician said my son didn't have asthma - that it was just a virus. I still felt unsettled with that diagnosis. The day my son was admitted to the hospital, I had taken my son to the doctor because he was sick AGAIN, with a cold and cough. But my son's color was really off - he looked very pale, had purple circles under his eyes, and his lips were a burgundy color.  He looked terrible and I just felt something wasn't quite right. So, off we went to the doctor's office. The physician's assistant came in first, then suddenly the room filled...

        I think Hubby may have finally fixed the mysterious leaking washing machine. I spent time laying on my stomach on top of the washing machine, with a flashlight trained on the pipes to see if I could isolate the leak. How hard can it be? Very difficult, it turns out. I gave up at one point. Then, as I was running a load through the washing machine, I heard a loud splash. Both Son #2 and I looked at each other, said "Uh oh" and simultaneously and jumped up to check the washing machine.    Still puzzled.    I had Hubby take a photo of the pipes and head over to the plumbing supply store and to see if they could help him figure out the problem. They suggested there may be a blockage and recommended a product to clean out the pipes. He had already tested that theory, he stuck the garden hose down the pipe and turned it on full force.    No blockage.    He actually figured it out on his own, he deduced that there was an ...

        Do you get a real Christmas tree, or a fake one? We used to get real trees when the kids were little. But we noticed non the kids had non stop sneezing and coughing.    That was when the kids were first diagnosed with asthma and we were still learning. My kids have multiple triggers (basically, they're allergic to anything that's alive). Trees, bushes, flowers, grass, dogs, cats, horses. Oh, I exaggerate. There is one animal that Kitty isn't allergic to.....    Shot Nurse was laughing when she said there was one animal that didn't show up on Kitty's scratch test (skin test to see what you are allergic to).     A rat.    She said we could get a pet rat!    Very funny. Not happening.   Some people may think it takes the fun out of Christmas when you have a fake Christmas tree. Real Christmas trees do smell wonderful! Along with the gingerbread house and sugar cookies.    But, what do you do i...

      F lashback is just from this week. I had another asthma attack, this one on Wednesday night. Problem is, I can't for the life of me figure out what set it off. I remember sneezing quite a bit, and my family laughing and saying, "are you done yet?"but instead of answering, I just sneezed some more. Then I started coughing, and coughing, and coughing. I could feel my chest tightening up, then started coughing up mucus. Fun times! So, as I was sitting on the couch in my big furry bathrobe, I had to try to think back to what I had just done. I changed clothes in my room, washed my face, then went in and retrieved a book from my nightstand. That was it. I had to analyze each action. Anything in the bathroom that would have set it off?    How about the nightstand? Was it too dusty?    I remember the curtain catching on my bathrobe as I passed. Hhmm, it was the 'winter curtains' I had in the store room. I had changed my bed set to put the winter colore...

      As I was using my asthma disc the other day, it dawned on my that my asthma has been well controlled lately.     Hhmm. I was looking over the 'step wise' approach listed in the national asthma guidelines a couple of weeks ago. One of the recommendations is to 'step down' medications if your asthma has been in control for 3 months. I think I'll set an appointment with Asthma Doc. I'm on a combination medication right now, sometimes people can step down on their doses or strength of their daily controller inhaler. Or - they may be able to step down to an inhaled corticosteroid.    Check with your doctor and see if they think you are ready. They should do a pulmonary lung function test to see your lung capacity and review your use of Albuterol to determine how your lungs are.    As I look out the window at the snow and cold weather, I wonder if this is a good time for me to step down. We're headed into flu season (and pneumonia season...

More water damage in the house. When we signed on the dotted line for the house we're in now, things started going wrong. We've had numerous floods in the basement, electrical shorts (which have nearly started fires)  gas line leaks, etc.    Looks like the washing machine is leaking now.    I saw a puddle under the washer last week, hubby AKA 'fix it guy' worked on things for a while and we thought we had it fixed. Then Saturday, I noticed a bubble in the paint on the kitchen wall (located next to the laundry room. ) I knew that wasn't a good sign, and as I was feeling the wall to see if there were any soft spots, my hand went right through the wall.    Yep, definite soft spot! So, here we go again. I have this natural aversion to water damage and mold. In our previous house, we had a leak in the roof over our sun room.    It took 3 months to fix.    They had to tear the wall down to the cinder block, then sand it, bleach it, and us...

      Many of you may be traveling during the holidays. The first thing I pack is all of the kid's asthma medications and equipment.    The last thing I want is to get stuck somewhere without the nebulizer. The last time we went on vacation, we packed all the maintenance asthma inhalers, quick relief inhalers, albuterol vials, and the nebulizer. The only thing we forgot was the liquid fever reducer medicine and cough medicine.    And of course, we ended up needing it. It's common to think "'we won't need that". But when you're on vacation, it's difficult to try to find a store, especially when you're in a strange place and don't know where things are located.    So, now we pack everything, and if we don't need it, that's okay. I believe in Murphy's law (if something can go wrong, it will). So, I use my own logic and pack everything, thinking if I bring it, I won't need it. If I don't pack it, I will be kicking myself b...

  I'm volunteering with American Lung Association and teaching an Open Airways class at Kitty's elementary school. It's a 6 week class that teaches kids age 8-11 how to manage their asthma. It's really fun, I know most of the kids from volunteering at the school and working there for a few years.    Since everyone with asthma is different, it's been fun to teach the kids about asthma triggers, when to take their inhaler, how to get help, how to use their inhaler, etc. I hope it helps the school nurse. Since she has so many schools to cover, she's only available on Thursday mornings for a few hours. So I tell the kids "if you're going to have an asthma attack, make sure you do it Thursday mornings!"    Only kidding, things never work out that tidy, do they? With the unpredictable nature of asthma, who knows when an attack will hit. When we are done with this workshop, the students will know they're not alone - other kids in the school have asthm...

      I think it's important to remember that asthma can be unpredictable. I can remember one time when we thought we would take Son #2 to the ER "just to get some chest x-rays and make sure he was okay" An hour later, I was standing in his hospital room in the Pediatrics wing, wearing a skirt and high heels. I hadn't thought to change after work, because I was certain he would be treated and released from the Emergency Department.    Well, that's what I get for doing my own thinking. I had to ask the nurse for a set of scrubs and some slippers that I could sleep in. They also brought a toothbrush and toothpaste and took care of me too.   Since that time, I have learned to plan ahead. If I'm really worried about Son #2 or Kitty, I quickly change into a pair of workout pants, long sleeve t-shirt, sports bra, and socks with sneakers.    It's a comfy out fit to sleep in next to the kid's hospital bed, and I can still be be presentable when the staff ...

I was watching the video "Ever After"and there's a great line from Anjelica Houston. She is the deliciously evil step mother who says to Cinderella (Drew Barrymore): "We must'nt feel sorry for ourselves, must we? No matter how bad things get, they can ALWAYS (insert shrill trill of the tongue sound) get worse" Photo cred: IMBD  https://m.imdb.com/title/tt0120631/mediaviewer/rm710188545/ That has been our family mantra. With three kids with asthma (inherited from me), we have had countless visits to Asthma Doc, Urgent Care, the ER and 12 hospitalizations (2 of those were ICU admissions.)  I sometimes have people ask if we think "Why me?" It always surprises me when people say that. No we don't say 'Why me?' I'm a fixer.  Like most women, when something's wrong, I want to fix it. So, when we're in the doctor's office or pharmacy, or I'm pacing the floor because one of the kids is really bad with their asthma, I think, ...

      Let's face it, many moms have to nag their kids to do things.  I have to be watch my son when he's on a course of Prednisone, I have to make sure he is taking the correct dose morning and night. That's not a medication where you can afford to miss a dose - from what I know, it affects your adrenal gland.  And that can cause some major problems if you stop taking it suddenly. It's important to take it EXACTLY as the doctor prescribes, including tapering off the medication. As for my kid's daily, controller inhalers, I feel like I'm always watching to see that the kids take their inhalers. If their asthma disc or asthma spacer & inhaler are in the exact same position on the kitchen counter for a day or two, I know they're not taking their medicine.  It's hard to get kids to do anything on a regular basis - and all kids want to cut corners. I tell them "nice try, but you can't skip brushing your teeth and chew gum instead". 😑 The s...

   This #2 writing under my mother's account. She asked me to write about how I feel about asthma, seeing as how it's easier for me just to write about having asthma instead of telling my mother everything and having her write it, heh. So to start, I'm answering some questions, and I'll try to throw in anything else I feel someone may need. #1. How do I react to having asthma? Well, to be honest, it sucks. I hate it with the all the burning passion of 10,000 Twilight fans. But, I realize there are people with worse problems than me, and I know several of them (i.e. diabetes). There are some times when I wish that I didn't have it (I'd be insane not to), but most of the time I just kinda accept it and move on. #2. Do I ever ask "why me?" Sometimes. It's not too often, but most of the time it comes from having to miss certain events that I could attend otherwise, such as a Scout activity where we'd be going somewhere cold, and I had been having p...

      Don't get me wrong, I love my insurance company - except for a few little details. They seem to treat asthma as a one size fits all disease, which of course it's not. Their medical board has decided to no longer cover Xopenex (levalbuterol). It's more expensive than Albuterol, so of course they want everyone to use the cheaper version. Son #2 (severe asthmatic) is sick again. Asthma Doctor was out of the office, so we went to the Pediatrician. He sort of squinted his eyes at Son #2 and said:     "I know how sick your son gets with asthma, we better start him on Prednisone."    I looked at our family's medical file in the doctor's hands, it was shocked to see it was about 3"  thick!    He's on to us.... He knows he has to be aggressive in treating Son #2. The only problem is my son's Xopenex inhaler and nebulizer vials have just expired. And insurance is no longer covering them. Pediatrician suggested I call the pharmacies and ...

  I just read an interesting little paragraph in Reader's Digest magazine. It was talking about a new book that had come out, called Stress Less: The New Science That Shows Women How to Rejuvenate The Body and Mind, by Thea Singer. The article talks about repeated stress, and how most people know that it puts them at higher risk of multiple diseases.    But here's the quote that caught my eye:     "What we didn't know till now was that it actually physically ages us - all the way down to the DNA in our cells...Chronic stress literally gnaws at our DNA- it's tips or "telomeres" to be precise- speeding up the rate at which our cells age by an alarming ten years or more."    YIKES! I had heard that research years ago on one of the national news stations, but it's good to hear as a reminder. So, what do we do as asthma moms? Find what works for you to relieve stress: lunch out with friends movie night with hubby or friends watching a funny movie gett...

Another asthma attack in the family    This time it wasn't me, it was Son #2. I have to rewind a little to explain. I don't go to the salon that often, but my naturally curly hair is getting a little wild, so I decided it was time for a trim. I had an hour where I thought I could fit in a trip to the salon. Well, no sooner was I under the sink and had a sudsy head, then my cell phone started to ring. I apologized and told the stylist I needed to check my phone because my kids have asthma.   I was sure it was Hubby calling, or a friend but thought I better check just to make sure. But, it was Son #2. He has severe asthma and has been hospitalized 8 times (2 of those were ICU admissions.)   Once in a while, he will send a text from school during lunch if he needs something.    This was a phone call, so I knew something was up. I called him back, and he was having problems and some weird symptoms. So, now what?    I'm sitting in a cape with dripping ...

      Some of the things I find in common with other moms is that asthma really controls all aspects of your life. You can plan a vacation, night out, family outing, etc - and all that can go out the window when one of the kids has an asthma attack or is sick with a respiratory infection. I still have times that when I hear my kids cough, my heart starts pounding. I say, "Who's coughing?!"    Sometimes the kids will say "Mom, chill! I just swallowed wrong!" Other times, I can see by the worried look on their face that something is seriously wrong. Things aren't as bad now, but when they were little, I would have to carefully screen who came over to the house to play. A friend with a runny nose? Coughing? Sneezing?    Nah, y'all go back home   I would have to call the parent and say, "please come get your child." I would try to explain that a cold to a 'normal' person is just that - a cold.    For someone with asthma, it often times can...

         Calling all asthma moms! I would like to hear from any moms of kids with asthma. What are your stories of managing your kid's asthma? I was visiting with two fellow asthma moms the other day, and we found that we were all experiencing similar problems and stresses with our kids and their asthma.    Respiratory infections, After Hour trips to the Pediatrician, trips to Urgent Care, trips to the ER, and hospitalizations for asthma.    Spring and summer allergies and allergy shots (immunotherapy) Asthma attacks at school from other students bringing pet dander on their clothing.    Monthly visits for an expensive injectible asthma biologic   I would like to hear what other asthma moms think and feel. Do you feel uneasy when one of your kids start a runny nose, thinking 'I know what's coming next, an asthma flare, doctor's visits and probably a trip to the hospital. Do people think you are a paranoid, hypochondriac mom th...