There is one thing he did that made my Dad (Pop to him) particularly proud. He was wearing an IV since the Emergency room on that Thursday night. By Sunday, the needle had come out on it's own and the nurse went to ask if he even still needed it. He overheard her telling us that was where she was going. When she came in and announced "the Doctor said we can take that out" he just took it off himself.
My Dad was an Engineer (Research and Development) for BD in his career days and developing better needles was part of his job. Doctors and Phlebotomists look at me like I'm related to a moderate level celebrity when I tell them. For me, showing him my blood work results feels like turning in my report cards used to. This felt like a parenting report card.
Zach left the hospital with two different puffer medications that Sunday evening. In the time since we have learned a lot about managing Asthma. It's been pretty routine until this upcoming visit on Friday. Every three months he goes to the Pulmonologist to have his lungs checked. He's been doing well on both medications and even was taken off the twice daily medication for the Summer. This time I will have to ask for a third puffer and a spare emergency medication prescription. He starts Kindergarten in September and I will be registering him after the doctor fills out the paperwork this visit.
Older kids and adults put the inhaler in their mouth directly. Inhaler Edit: At the Doctor I was told that the puffer is supposed to ALWAYS be used no matter the age of the patient. Most older kids and adults put it directly in their mouths. I didn't know until that visit that they weren't supposed to. The instructions are in the link below. Little kids can't do that.
Let me start by explaining a puffer. There is a device called a puffer that you put the medication in. It has a mask at the other end. you pump the medicine once, he takes five breaths, then you pump it again followed by five more breaths. He's figured out how to do this all by himself. We still supervise him but he gets it right. He might not need the puffer when he starts Kindergarten but it's worth bringing up.
Using an inhaler without a puffer in pictures:
http://www.wikihow.com/Use-an-Asthma-Inhaler
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| Puffer, Zach uses this |
Qvar 40mg:
This is the medication he takes twice a day.
http://www.qvar.com/
Ventolin HFA (Albuterol):
This is his emergency medication. If he's coughing a lot, struggling to breath, diaphragm pain, and wheezing. If he has a cold he has to get it. Usually, it's only needed once but if it's needed twice, like when sick, it has to be taken when he wakes up and before bed. Early on he also had to take it with lunch but he rarely needs the emergency inhaler now.
http://www.ventolin.com/
How do you manage Asthma? Mainly, by keeping an eye on either your child or yourself. It's better to give/take the Albuterol in iffy situations then not. In the mornings, if he looks like there might be a problem coming, I give him the Albuterol anyway. He's never needed it at school and only once needed it with my parents for babysitting. Luckily, he mostly knew what to do on his own and I was able to talk my very scared Mom through it.
Albuterol works quickly but Zach mostly needs comfort during and after an attack. It's scary for us all. I was scared when he was at camp this year. There was only a fan and the door was open the whole time. Even when it was in the high 90s and very humid. When it's very humid you need air conditioning. One of the High School student councilors had Asthma himself so I made sure Zach knew to go to him if he had trouble breathing. The adult in charge is a neighbor and watched me carefully. He never got it at camp but there were a couple of days he said he had trouble and they "forgot" it. When he's away from me I can't monitor if he needs the Albuterol or not. I think when he does camp this year on particularly humid days I'll give him the Albuterol before camp anyway just to be safe. I'll talk to the Pulmonologist about that.
WebMD:
http://www.webmd.com/asthma/default.htm
American Lung Association:
http://www.lung.org/lung-disease/asthma/taking-control-of-asthma/
Asthma triggers are usually things like smoke, exercise, and pets. Zach is very active but in his case it's connected to his allergies. He's always had allergies. No one around him regularly has ever smoked and he's only had the rare encounter of smokers outside a business we were heading into. Some kids grow out of it and some don't. It's too soon to know for sure.
Asthma is hard to diagnose. They usually wait until three attacks to formally diagnose it but will medicate. Zach's attack was so severe that he got the diagnosis basically right away. He's very active so it doesn't seem to stop him and he doesn't complain about chest pain. Sometimes he'll say his belly hurts and put his hand on his diaphragm. We first determine if it could be a belly issue and once that has been ruled out we give him his Albuterol.
To manage Asthma you use the daily medication as prescribed and always be on the lookouts for signs of an attack:
http://www.webmd.com/asthma/guide/asthma-attack-symptoms
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