My Life as an Asthma Mom

  The dentist Da da dum. (Cue dramatic music) I have always prided myself on having strong teeth. I get my teeth cleaned twice a year and rarely have any cavities. So when my tooth started hurting last weekend, I was a little concerned. The dentist office was able to find room on their schedule to see me a few hours after I called on Monday morning. Was I in for a shock! My dentist originally thought there was a piece of debris in between the teeth. I knew it wasn't that simple, I floss my teeth and hadn't noticed anything. He started tapping on one the right side molar to see if it bothered me. Nope. Then he tapped on the left molar. Maybe a little discomfort. Then he got a piece of ice and held it on the right side. No problem. Then he held it on the left side molar. I about jumped out of the chair. The dentist's little blue light showed a crack in my molar. All of a sudden he was injecting me with numbing medicine so he could start drilling out my old filling. Then he...

      I was looking at bright, new colored purses for Spring, but have a hard time finding one big enough to carry my inhaler and spacer (along with everything else a mom has to carry-wallet, bandaids, fingernail clippers, chapstick, lotion, Dramamine, Advil, cough drops, tissues, etc.) It's funny how Hubby and kids always expect me to magically have everything they need tucked away in my purse. You can see my inhaler and spacer peeking out of the top of my purse-that's probably the most important thing I carry. I make sure I ALWAYS have my inhaler and spacer with me, you never know when an asthma attack is going to hit. I take a daily controller medication, but I still have asthma attacks. This weekend, we were driving to visit family who live 5 hours away. About half way through the trip, I suddenly started sneezing. Then I could feel my chest tighten up-slurp! Then the coughing started.    Here we go again, another asthma attack. Of course I had my inhaler wi...

The top photo is what my daffodils looked like on Saturday. The next photo is what the daffodils looked like on Monday. Huh? Covered in 6 inches of snow?! This is typical weather for where I live in the spring. One day can be warm and sunny, then the next day can give us 6 inches of snow on the lawn. We are expecting the same thing to happen this weekend. I searched through my dresser yesterday to find my shorts and will happily wear them this weekend. But on Monday, the weather is supposed to drop 20 or 30 degrees and it will rain and snow again. This can cause problems with asthma. Many people don't know that changes in weather can be an asthma 'trigger' - or cause an asthma attack. My lungs are wondering what is going on! First it's warm and dry, then suddenly it's cold and wet! My lungs Do NOT like that much change. Even though I am on a maintenance medication (one I take every day for asthma) I still have 'twitchy' lungs. My lungs feel really irritated ...

I was just reading an article in the March 2012 Family Circle magazine, entitled "Not Just For Kids."  The article, written by Christine Mattheis, mentions things adult can experience, not just kids or teenagers-lactose intolerance, acne and asthma.  Of course the asthma section caught my eye. One thing I found interesting is the article is that changing estrogen levels during menopause can cause inflammation in the airways.  I haven't heard that before, I would like to read the research behind that study. Another thing it mentions is that adults that are newly diagnosed are more likely to have problems daily. Lucky you! They may have: pressure or tightness in the chest dry cough-especially at night difficulty breathing wheezing (a little whistling sound when you breathe out) a cold that seems to go 'to the chest' or lasts longer than normal The article goes on to tell readers to talk to their doctor and see what medication will work best for them. Some peopl...

      Insurance Companies.......aaarrgghhhhhh Yesterday, I took daughter Kitty to Asthma Doc for her annual checkup. Her Singulair prescription had expired, so I realized it must have been a year already since her last check up.  Of course, we're in the office every week for allergy shots, so I didn't realize it had been so long since an "official" visit. I had to take time off work, check her out of school, and drive to their office in another city. After her check up, I thought that as long as I was there, I might as well have her do her weekly allergy shots. But, nooooooooo. Insurance Company won't pay for a doctor's visit and an allergy shots on the same day.  Can someone explain to me why they won't?! This means that now I have to take time off work again today, pick her up from school again, and drive to Asthma Doc's office in another city. AGAIN!!!!  This makes no sense to me. Why do I have to come back on another day? Take more time off work? C...

      Hubby is making progress on Neighbor's wood floors. If you have been reading this blog, you know that Neighbor has a Little Dog who also has a little bladder. Little Dog has been peeing on the nice, thick carpet at Neighbor's house.  Neighbor wanted to see if she could get one area of her carpet clean that the professionals said wouldn't come clean. We decided to check it with a black light and see if all of the pee came out. Well, we both about passed out after the majority of the room lit up with pee. Neighbor decided to take out the carpet and refinish the wood floors that are original to the home. This is what they looked like over the weekend. Hubby has been applying the varnish. Yes, all of the windows are open and the furnace is turned off. It is a bit chilly, but Neighbor didn't have a choice. That carpet had to go! This is the first of 3 or 4 coats of varnish. Once the house is aired out, then Neighbor can move her furniture back in. I am curious to se...

Goodbye carpet, hello wood floors! Neighbor has asthma and has a cute little dog, but Little Dog seems to have a little bladder. Neighbor was shampooing her carpet (after the professional cleaning company had already tried getting the carpets cleaned.) She was determined to get them clean and she wondered if she had missed any areas where Little Dog may have gone to the bathroom. So we decided to look with a black light and see if any areas glowed. Well, there were more places that DIDN"T glow on the carpet. Little Dog has been very busy over the last 7 years. After we recovered from the shock of seeing how much urine was on the carpet, Neighbor decided to pull it out. That's Hubby pulling up the tack strip and loading up the back of his truck with a load of carpet for the landfill. That should stop Little Dog from going to the bathroom on the floor. We noticed that in the areas where there the wood floors were bare, Little Dog didn't seem to use those areas as her persona...