Kids with asthma know how stethoscopes work!

My last post was about something only another asthma mom could understand. This one is about what only kids with asthma understand. 

We were at Pediatrician's office this week because daughter Kitty has the usual gunk that goes around in the winter  - sore throat, fever, headache, upset stomach, etc. I wanted to get Kitty's throat swabbed to check for strep. Most parents know that  part of the exam includes listening to the lungs with a stethoscope. 

When the doctor asked if he could listen to her lungs, Kitty said, "how do you want me to breathe? deep breaths, or normal?"

That's when Pediatrician laughed and said, "Every time I have a kid that comes in with asthma, they always know how to breathe!" I said, "yeah - well..... they also know how to do chest x-rays!" 

Kitty has been hospitalized 4 times for asthma, her brother (Son #2) has been hospitalized 8 times for asthma. Those were some VERY stressful years of my life.

Once, when Son # 2 was five years old, we were in the emergency room (again!) I followed the x-ray tech as he took Son #2 to get x-rays. "Don't worry, he knows how to do x-rays." I could see the x-ray tech thinking 'yeah, right lady!' But as they came out of the x-ray room, he said, "You weren't kidding. He knew all of the different angles that needed to be taken and which way to turn." 

"Yep, told you so."  Kids with asthma can spend a LOT of time at the pediatrician's office, asthma specialist's office, after-hours clinic or emergency room. They quickly learn how to "breathe" for the stethoscope and how to stand for the x-ray tech.

In fact, one of the times when Kitty was hospitalized, the nurses were laughing hysterically because Kitty asked them about their "stek-a-scope." The nurses said that it was the cutest thing they had ever seen that a 3 year old would even know what a stethoscope was!

Yep, welcome to My Life as an Asthma Mom. And now you can see things through the eyes of a kid with asthma.