My Life as an Asthma Mom

So, it was only a matter of time until one of my teenagers came down with a cold.  Colds are miserable enough, but with colds can come sinus infections. How do you know if you have a sinus infection? Well, it may feel like a cold, but Webmd explains it as: Some of the primary symptoms of acute sinusitis include: Facial pain/pressure Nasal stuffiness Nasal discharge Loss of smell Cough/congestion Additional symptoms may include: Fever Bad breath Fatigue Dental pain The Webmd page lists these symptoms for an acute infection (meaning it will only last for a short time.) It says if you have two or more of these symptoms, and also have a thick, yellow or green discharge - you may have a sinus infection.  When that happens to us, we call asthma doc to see what he says. There are different ways to treat sinus infections   Some doctors will suggest you use a decongestant, steam inhalation, nasal sprays or antibiotics. Your doctor will dec...

Yes, I am ALWAYS reading...anything and everything. The latest article I read was in Family Circle magazine's September issue. It's called "The September Epidemic." The website version is called "Everything You Need to Know About Asthma" In the article, Dr. Stanley Szefler, director of the Pediatric Asthma Research Program at the Aurora's Children's Hospital Colorado said that:  "More schoolkids are admitted to the hospital for asthma attacks in September than in any other month." Dr. Szefler says that it is known as the September Epidemic . There are a few reasons they mention:   It could be because kids head back to school and share germs with all the other kids in school.  It could also be because kids go on vacation during the summer, not just from school, but from using their maintenance medications. They are not in a school routine, so they forget about it. Or maybe Mom thinks she can keep an eye on the ki...

I am REALLY worried about a new virus that has hit 10 states already,  made over 1,000 kids sick so far and hospitalized numerous kids - including many in ICU (the intensive care unit.) My stomach has butterflies in after watching the story on ABC news called "Unidentified Respiratory Virus Likely To Hit Kids Across Country." I have asthma, as do all three of my teenagers. When they were younger, Son #2 and daughter Kitty were hospitalized 12 separate times for asthma - 2 of those were in ICU. So when I hear about a new virus that is affecting kids with asthma, I am VERY nervous. The story says that children under 5 are at the highest risk of being hospitalized, but even teenagers are ending up in ICU.  One teenager interviewed in this story, was a little sick one day (he had a runny nose and a cough) and the next day he was in ICU. That teenager turned blue on day 2, was rushed to the ICU and was given an emergency breathing tube (a ventilator.) Scary stuff...

I was watching some videos on Youtube from "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon Show." He has a segment each week where he reads off tweets from the weekly hash tag. One segment was called Hashtags: Dadvice It's pretty funny to watch him read off the tweets. This episode had advice from dads to their sons.   This is what one tweet from @mikeruss39 said  "After the first time I got drunk my dad told me to be careful. 'Alcoholism doesn't just run in this family - it gallops.' "  I thought that would be the perfect thing for me to say about asthma in my family.  Asthma doesn't just run in our family - it gallops! My parents, siblings and I all have asthma. All three of my teenagers have asthma, as do many of my nieces and nephews.  The same can be said for Hubby's side of the family - grandparents, parents, siblings, nieces and nephews all have asthma.  So, when Hubby and I married, it was the perfect storm. Our k...