My Life as an Asthma Mom

And....that's what conversation sounds like at my house.  Son #1 wanted to know if his number was higher than Kitty's peak flow number.  A peak flow meter is a small handheld device that measure how much air you can blow out in 1 second. It gives you a pretty good idea of what your "personal best" is. It also has green, yellow and red zones. When my kids were little, they use their peak flow meter every morning and every night. Then they would yell out their number. I knew what each kid normally sounded like when they exhaled as hard and fast as they could. And I knew their number.  There were days when I could HEAR a change in how hard and fast they could blow out. And their number would drop. Now, keep in mind that Peak Flow Meters are "effort dependent", meaning some kids will "fake it" and have a low number so they can skip school. My kids were in the hospital 12 times, and they HATED missing school.  Wh...

If I have one pet peeve, it's when people act like they are an expert on asthma, and they give out advice (that may not be the best.) I've heard all sorts of "interesting things" from people that mean well, but the advice they are giving is wrong. Do I consider myself an expert? NO!  I don't think ANYONE can know everything there is to know about asthma. But I try my best to keep up to date.  Yes, I have a lot of personal experiences over the last 20 years, raising 3 kids with allergies and asthma (as well as battling allergies and asthma myself!) And I share those stories here.  But - I am also have professional training and I am a Certified Asthma Educator (AE-C). I have to keep my certification current by earning Continuing Education (CE) credits.  Here are some places to find accurate and up to date information: Allergy & Asthma Network has monthly webinars that are free (and given by experts in the field.) I also listen t...

It seems like every time I turn on the news, there's a story about the Coronavirus. And people are confused. I have heard people are searching for more information about the "beer virus." Hmm, okay.....I guess Corona is a brand of beer!? What are the symptoms of Coronavirus anyway? According to the World Health Organization (WHO): "..... respiratory symptoms, fever, cough, shortness of breath and breathing difficulties. In more severe cases, infection can cause pneumonia, severe acute respiratory syndrome, kidney failure and even death." The latest stats for Coronavirus  (as of February 4th, 2020) are: 20,438 cases in China 420 deaths  11 confirmed cases in the United States.      Coronaviruses are usually transferred from animal to human. But, there are cases here in the U.S. where it has transferred person to person. Why are so many people worried about Coronavirus? Well, it is more deadly than the flu. Coronavirus has a 2...