My Life as an Asthma Mom

Do you ever have questions AFTER you  leave your doctor's office? Or on the weekend, and you just want to ask a few questions? Your doctor should be your first go to person. I can usually leave a message with my doctor's nurse and she will call me back with the answer to my question. But maybe you doctor doesn't have a great bedside manner or you want to talk to someone else?  Enter American Lung Association's Lung HelpLine. It's a free resource that is staffed by Registered Nurses and Registered Respiratory Therapists who can answer questions about "lungs, lung disease and lung health, as well as helping people quit tobacco." What is their background? ".....rehabilitation, education, acute care, emergency medicine, public health, neonatal care, home care and adult intensive care. Some staff members are addiction counselors who crossed over from drug and alcohol treatment programs to tobacco cessation, and we have staf...

Wouldn't it be nice if those of us with asthma could have a "simple cold" without it going into bronchitis? Yeah, wishful thinking! This was me 3 weeks ago. I knew it was coming - Hubby had bronchitis first, then it slowly went through all 3 kids and ended with me. Since I am a germaphobe and extremely careful at washing my hands, not touching my face, and disinfecting everything at home, I thought I had escaped the illness. No such luck. I knew I was in trouble one Sunday morning when I woke up and was still struggling to breathe even after I used my nebulizer . I had lost my voice and was also coughing up colored phlegm. I know from my Asthma Action Plan , that doc wants me on prednisone (oral steroid) and an antibiotic when that happens. But, what to do on a Sunday morning? I had a few options: My asthma specialist After Hours My primary care doctor After Hours Telemedicine (where I Facetime or Skype with a doctor) Urgent Care Emerge...

This month, I got bronchitis (again!) It had gone through the whole family and I thought I wasn't going to get it because I am a germaphobe and so careful with washing my hands. But, as soon as the scratchy throat started, I knew I was in for the long haul. With any medical condition that needs a prescription, it's hard to juggle medications and find one that won't interact with another. As my cold turned into bronchitis, I knew it was time for an antibiotic and an oral steroid. How did I know? I have an Asthma Action Plan that Asthma Doc filled out for me.  Asthma Action Plans are like stop lights - green, yellow and red zones. Each zone tells you what to do if you are in that zone. Green means "GO", or you are good and not having symptoms. Yellow means "CAUTION" because you are starting to cough, are short of breathe, wheezing, etc. The Red Zone means "STOP" and call 911 or go to the closest hospital. I was in the b...

For those of you that have kids with food allergies (or maybe you have them yourself!?) You know how scary it to be to try to eat out at times. I don't trust anyone! How do I know if they have the same cooking utensils on my chicken that they used on seafood?  Did they put my chicken on the same area of the grill as the seafood when they cooked it? Are there desserts that have tree nuts on the tray? If so, Son #2 can't eat ANYTHING on the tray because it is all contaminated!   Whew! It can be tiring to always be on the lookout for food allergies. If you have babies or younger kids with food allergies, that can be really scary. Because they didn't make epinephrine auto injectors for them - until now! The FDA has approved the 1st and only auto injector for babies and small kids. The needle length and dose of this auto injector is made just for them.  Kaleo is the same company that makes Auvi-Q, known as "the talking auto injector"...

Last week, I wrote a post on the "Most Common Inhaler Mistakes", which was mostly for older kids and adults. If you have a younger child, let's review the right way to use an inhaler. The first thing you may notice is that there is a mask on the end of the spacer (the spacer is the long tube that is attached to the inhaler.) So, you will have a spacer with 1) an inhaler attached to one end and 2) a mask attached to the other. See the photo above.  (One thing I don't like about this photo is that the child is using a spacer, not a valved holding chamber. Usually, you would use a valved holding chamber with a mask. You can learn more from The University of Arizona Health Science Center. ) The mask kind of looks like an oxygen mask. It helps seal the area around the mouth and nose to get a nice, tight fit so the kids will get all the medicine from the inhaler. (For all of you parents with squirming kids - you know what I'm talking about!) It'...

Last week, Hubby and I had a long awaited vacation to Hawaii. As we were waiting to board the plane, a woman near us started violently coughing and then used her inhaler.  Hubby leaned over to me and said, "She isn't using a spacer!" I leaned back and said, "She didn't wait one minute between puffs either." I wondered if I should say something? After all, if you don't use your inhaler the right way, you aren't going to be getting as much medicine as you THINK you are getting. But would you want a complete stranger walking up to you and say, "I couldn't help but notice you using your inhaler. As a Certified Asthma Educator, I can help you make a few changes that would you allow you to get more medicine from your inhaler. May I show you?"  I have found that there are Happy Travelers - you know, the kind who look amazing and are full of energy. Then there are those who have obviously had a little Dramamine or a few dr...

            Halloween is over for another year, and as usual, my co-workers did an AMAZING job decorating our office.  It's hard to come up with a different theme each year, and this year it was The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown. Each day when I would come back to the office, I would see something else they added.  And true to Halloween and pumpkin patches, they brought in cornstalks and hay. It looked amazing, but I was instantly over powered by the smell of hay and cornstalks. And avoided the front office. Within a few minutes, I had to use my inhaler. In fact, every morning for the past 3 days (since the cornstalks came), I have had to use my inhaler when I get to work.    That's unusual for me. My asthma is usually well controlled.  The cleaning crew walked in and the guy that usually vacuums for us stop dead in his tracks and looked at the floor. I shrugged my shoulders and told him it was just until Hal...

Well, it's that time of year again. Co-workers and family members are sniffling, wiping their noses and coughing. And I am trying to AVOID them.  Not easy when you live with one of them, and work with an office of sick people.  The possibilities for germs are endless. And I try to avoid all of them.  I use my sleeve to open doors (I'm not touching those handles!) I use my knuckle to punch the elevator button and then wash my hands when I finally get to my office. I wash my hands after I touch the handle to the microwave and office fridge. Seriously....does anyone else have one of "those " office fridges that no one cleans out? I am tired of being the only one to clean the fridge, and have left that to someone else. I know no one is going to take time to clean the fridge handle if they can't clean the inside of the fridge! And don't get me started on the people that don't wash their hands after they use the bathroom at work. ...

Why am I talking about the Teal Pumpkin Project? I mean, what does that have to do with asthma? Well, a lot!  70% of people that have asthma also have allergies (and many of those have food allergies, not just seasonal allergies.)   In fact, I was just telling my co-workers how our family has to inspect ALL of the food we eat - family parties, work parties, church parties and even restaurants. EVERY time I eat at a restaurant, I have to ask the wait staff to make sure that my chicken breast is not cooked anywhere near seafood. I also have to remind them not to use the same utensils on my chicken that they are using on the seafood. On Saturday, we went to lunch at a local bakery and sandwich shop and Son #2 ordered a gourmet grilled cheese sandwich. He knew that they make their own breads there, including some with nuts. So, he asked them to make sure there was no cross contamination. He told me that the cashier just looked at him with a blank loo...

Like many chronic diseases , asthma doesn't just affect the person who has it - it affects the whole family. When my kids were little, they were sick - a LOT! And they were hospitalized 12 times (usually with pneumonia .) And it was always a tough time for the whole family. And that meant plans went out the window. Sleepovers were cancelled, dinner was missed, and basic things around the house were neglected. When one of the kids was in the hospital, that's all we would focus on. Who would spend the day/night at the hospital, who would spend the day/night at home with the other kids. We would run out of groceries, the lawn would need to be mowed, homework would be skipped. Soccer practice? Nope. Scouts? Sometimes. We would fit in whatever we could. I remember driving home from the hospital late one night with Son #1 while Hubby stayed at the hospital for the night. (Son #2 and daughter Kitty were both in the hospital with pneumonia.) We were ...