My Life as an Asthma Mom

  One thing that always bothered me over the years with our family of 5 is where to stay for the holidays. We would usually travel hours to see a family member, who insisted that EVERYONE stay at her house. No matter that there wasn't enough room.... She would tell me that my kids could sleep on the couch, or buy an air mattress and sleep on the floor.  How is that a fun thing for the holidays? I will have kids that are sleep deprived and cranky from trying not to roll off the couch.   And 5 of us are fighting to use the one guest bathroom.  Was that a status thing for families? It was some sort of badge of honor to have children and grandchildren all under one roof? As many as you could squeeze in? One time, Family Member wanted 4 families (and their kids) to all stay at her house.  While Family Member had the luxury of a large master bedroom, complete with a walk in closet and full sized bathroom with a jetted tub.......all to herself?  Yet we were supposed to crowd in one small

 Our family has always been VERY cautious around other sick people. With a family of 5 (4 of whom have asthma), we have a habit of getting very sick - very fast. In fact, my kids were in the hospital 12 times when they were young (two of those were ICU stays.) Needless to say, we are all germaphobes. And we were germaphobes long before COVID reared its ugly head.  Since covid started, we have avoided church, family parties, receptions, weddings, and baby showers. In fact, we had friends that were supposed to come over for Thanksgiving dinner. But, the daughter was sick and coughing.  The parents said she would wear a mask  - but I knew she would have to take it off to eat. I would have to watch her like a hawk and as soon as she took her last bite of food, I would have to tell her to put her mask back on.  Either way, it would expose my family to her respiratory illness. She didn't have asthma, but she was coughing. I could just imagine how bad our cough would be if we caught the s

  It’s that time of year again, the holidays! There are so many allergy & asthma triggers that can make our family miserable. We are a family of 5 – all 5 have allergies, 4 have asthma, and 2 have food allergies. So we try to be careful year round – but there are more challenges during the holidays. Christmas trees I see so many commercials or holiday ads with people driving their car with a Christmas tree strapped to the top. That must be nice I mutter to myself as they drive by. We are all allergic to live Christmas trees, so we have an artificial tree. I know it’s not the same as the smell of a freshly cut tree, but we can’t have one in our house. Instead, we have a fairly good looking artificial tree that is scent free. So that works for us. Stress and strong emotions Stress is another asthma trigger that gets to me at the holidays. This year, we have decided to take a trip instead of buying sweaters and socks of other ‘stuff’.   My kids are all adults, so none