Wednesday, May 25, 2016

The "A" Word

First, hello! It's been a while, hasn't it? Life with two kids gets in the way pretty frequently, and I'm just not able to do the things I once loved to do as much any more. #LifeOfAParent AM.I.RIGHT?!


Some things have been popping up, almost daily, and I've really been thinking about blogging about them, so, I guess that's why I'm back. If you're new here, I like to use this blog to talk: to express my personal feelings about things, to get some things off my chest, and to go more in depth about things going on in my life than I care to share in a status on Facebook.

This all brings me to my first topic. I've been thinking about blogging about this subject for, quite a while now, and after my morning, I've decided no better time than now.

The "A" Word.

Asthma.

It seems so.... simple? But it's the furthest thing from the truth.

When you think of a person with asthma (or at least I use to), you think of someone overweight who can't run without needing their inhaler. Boy how wrong I was.

When Little Dean was just about 2, we had recently moved to Catonsville (our in-between home from West Virginia to Carroll County). Little Dean had come down with a cold, and just couldn't shake this cough. I distinctly remember being over my best friend's house and Little Dean had fallen asleep on me. My best friend looked at me very worried and said his breathing wasn't normal and I should call her pediatrician (who we had planned to switch to anyway). So I made the phone call, and got an appointment.

When we got to the pediatricians, things were about the same as they had been all day. Our new doctor asked us about Little Dean's medical history, about allergies he had, any eczema (which I always thought was a funny question... 'what does a skin rash have to do with my son's breathing?!' but I'd soon find out) etc. Then, he took a listen, and said "Dean here has asthma! It tends to be the third thing that follows food allergies, and eczema. The triple threat. I'm going to have my nurse come in and give him a breathing treatment, then we'll get you all set up with a nebulizer to use at home, some steroids and you'll be set!"

Simple right?

No. Not at all.

I was freaking out. I knew nothing about asthma. Our pediatrician (Bless his heart, we ADORE him) kindly told me we'd be on a new journey now, and he'd be right there beside us the whole way. He has this way of speaking that you just....trust. Completely, fully, without a doubt.

The American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology describes it as "Asthma is a chronic disease involving the airways in the lungs. These airways, or bronchial tubes, allow air to come in and out of the lungs."

Little Dean's asthma flares up when he's exposed to a simple cold, his allergies (seasonal, animal dander, etc) or he's running around too much. He takes daily allergy medication to help with current seasonal allergies (pollen + summertime playing outdoors = KILLER), but still, it isn't always enough.

Just last night, only a few short hours after going to bed, Dean was up coughing. Just constantly coughing. The problem with asthma, especially at this age, is that you never know if it's an asthmatic flare up, or if it's just a common cough. But, now after working with his pediatrician for two years, I've become more of a "pro" with my kid and his asthma. Last night, I gave him an extra homeopathic dose of allergy medicine, and cranked his humidifier (which has to run every.single.night. in his room to keep his asthma at bay) up to the highest setting.

Dean and his buddy "Sami the Seal" AKA his nebulizer
This morning, the cough continued. I could tell by the way he spoke, by the way he breathed and hearing his cough closely, that this wasn't a common cough. This was an asthmatic flare up. So now, we use the nebulizer, every 4 hours. We take a steroid if it's bad enough, and we try to keep up with it. Asthma always creeps up and gets worse at night. No matter what. Sometimes, the nebulizer and steroid aren't enough. That's when we end up in the hospital. Hospital visits are never fun because they always result in high dosage breathing treatments, which means monitoring his pulse and his oxygen level, and shots (and really, who likes shots?).

After the most recent hospital trip, we had a follow up with our pediatrician. It was decided that our current means of maintaining Dean's asthma were good. But, if for some reason we can't keep it under control, we'd begin to look into and start taking a daily asthma control medicine. Something we definitely don't want to have to get to, or use.

Using Sami after an afternoon of playing outside

I have a few reasons for talking about this:

1) Please do not be offended or think we are high maintenance when we avoid you or your family if someone has a cold. I personally, have no problem with myself or my kids getting a cold. I truly believe that having more of the common sickness during childhood leads to healthier adult lives. I say this, but dealing with asthma, I have to worry about it now. A common cold for any other child can be managed with over the counter drugs and probably resolved within a few days. A cold for my asthmatic son, can result in attacks for weeks, and possibly even a hospital visit.

2) Please do not think we are overbearing or helicopter parents if we do not allow our son to touch or be around your pets. Pet dander is an allergen for Dean. As is seasonal pollen, which typically limits our outside time. Being around his allergens can be even worse for an asthma sufferer than the typical person that has an allergic reaction. I, myself, am allergic to certain cat dander. Being exposed to my allergens for any period of time makes my eyes itch, and even swell shut. I begin to have a difficult time breathing, and it's just a bad time all around. So add all of that PLUS asthma attacks.

3) PLEASE do not tell me to use things like this:
 

In fact, I strongly encourage everyone to sign petitions (like this one) to have things like these removed from store shelves, as they've been known to kill. Please also don't tell me to use oils, or other "natural" remedies. Oils cannot fix a broken bone, and they can't cure a chronic disease. I'll stick with my Albuterol and Prednisone ;)


And finally, if you have any questions about asthma, ask! This isn't a disease that can be spread, it's nothing to be afraid of. We just need to keep ourselves informed, and stay on top of it all. It's something that we try to manage and take care of. Something we have to be hyper-vigilant of. This is an exhausting and emotionally draining disease, but its nothing we can't manage.