My Life as an Asthma Mom

Susan Tatelli is one brave tween! She has life threatening allergies to peanuts, tree nuts and soy. Her mom recorded Susan using her Epi Pen and uploaded it to Youtube. She also interviews several allergy and asthma doctors who talk about when and how to use an Epi Pen. This tween does an AMAZING job using hers!! Susan wanted to show other kids that it's not so scary - that others can use their Epi Pen if they need to. She has had a LOT of experience using her Epi Pen because she was part of a peanut allergy trial. While she was in the trial, she had 6 anaphylaxis reactions. She used her Epi Pen herself 5 out of the 6 times. Way to go! I learned something from watching the doctors she interviewed. Dr. Sakina Bajowala of the Kaneland Allergy and Asthma Center shows how to hold the Epi Pen in your palm with your finger and thumb stretched out.  Then she wraps her thumb around the Epi Pen first. Then she wraps her fingers around her thumb.    She...

I was at a conference and I saw a display from a company that makes a valved holding chamber that you can use with different age groups. (Basically, it's a tube that connects to your asthma inhaler. You spray the inhaler in to the tube, then you can inhale the asthma medicine out of the tube and it will go into your lungs.)  You can use it: as a valved holding chamber with an older child add a mask for a younger child add a mask and pacifier for an baby You can watch a video to see how it works   Has anyone tried this yet? With the pacifier for a baby? It seems like companies are always coming up with something new! I always used the nebulizer for my kids when they were little. I'm wondering if the valved holding chamber and pacifier would work just as well? Any comments from anyone that has tried it?

M any of you who are regular blog readers know that my kids have been hospitalized 12 times for asthma (thanks to pneumonia and/or smoke from forest fires.) Over the years, people have said, "Don't you wonder Why Me ?"  No, not really. It is what it is, the kids inherited allergies and asthma from Hubby and I. So there you have it. It's my job to deal with it.  In fact, because of what we have been through, we have been able to help MANY families over the years. I am very familiar with asthma triggers, signs and symptoms of an asthma attack, asthma medications, how the environment affects asthma, etc.   I am also familiar with hospital monitors and oxygen levels. This came in handy this weekend when we received a phone call that a family member had fallen. We took Family Member to the Emergency Department to get her checked out. While there, we noticed Family Member's oxygen level was dropping down to 76 (you should be close to 100.) If my ...

Last week was The Dreaded Surgery. I had been hoping to avoid surgery, but The Knee was being a LITTLE cranky and wanted some attention. This getting older stuff really stinks. So, despite trying physical therapy/elevating my knee/keeping ice on it, The Knee decided it had had enough. So, surgery was the next option. I would rather do just about anything rather than have surgery. (I mean anything - defrost my freezer, scrub the toilets, wash out my disgusting garbage cans.....) I know from past experience that my lungs do NOT like surgery. I also know that I need to stay on oxygen for a while after surgery (which I carefully explained to the nursing staff.) It seems like they are always in a hurry to get you off oxygen, and to send you home after surgery. "Look at the great progress you are making!" So, despite my best efforts, The Lungs were not happy after surgery. The oxygen monitor kept going off, and The Nurse was saying, "Take a breathe. C...

So, Independence Day is this weekend. I can't seem to sing The Star Spangled Banner without getting a lump in my throat, and tears in my eyes (it must be from allergies, right?!) The one thing that really worries me about celebrating the 4th of July is fireworks. Once again, it seems like asthma has to get in the way of having fun. Grrrr. Our city celebration was last month, but we were gone that night and missed watching those fireworks.  So, Hubby will want to light off fireworks in the street in front of our house. The only problem is that all the other families on our street will also be lighting fireworks - and the street gets REALLY smokey! In fact, a long time ago when Son #2 was young, he ended up in the hospital (in ICU) thanks to smoke from a forest fire and from fireworks. The one thing you never want to see is one of your kids in the hospital for asthma - especially when they put the heart monitor on them, then we know we are in BIG trouble!!  The...

Do you ever have people tell you that you will outgrow your asthma? I do!!! I have people say, "My brother had a room mate in college whose sister had a best friend that played on a softball team with another girl who outgrew her asthma. So you will too!!!" (It's always some variation of a long story like that......) I'm sure they mean well, but it gets REALLY annoying. I have to tell them, "Well......I'm almost 50 years old - and I haven't outgrown my asthma!"  I just read an article on WebMD called "Can Kids Outgrow Asthma?" The article says that if a child has asthma like symptoms that disappear around age 5 or 6, it isn't asthma. The article says it's a temporary condition that doesn't turn into a lung condition. The article goes on to say: "Most kids who have symptoms like wheezing and shortness of breath beyond that age are considered to have asthma, and they may always have it....

I was watching a video the other day on Facebook, and it showed  a police officer who had pulled over a car. The officer had returned to his police cruiser to write a ticket. When the officer went back to the car, the driver had stopped breathing and had turned blue. The dash cam was still turned on in his car, and it shows the officer trying to get the person to respond. He then pulls the person out and starts CPR. A passing motorist (an emergency room nurse) stops to help. The nurse asks the officer what happened. The officer doesn't know, and the nurse asks if the driver has a medical alert bracelet. Then it hit me - I should be wearing a medic alert bracelet (or necklace, or some type of jewelry) to show that I have asthma! They also have medical alert jewelry for food allergies (I am allergic to seafood and carry an EpiPen).  When Son #2 was younger, I always made him wear a medic alert bracelet. You know - the kind that you can get at the pharmacy. He wa...