My asthma used to anger my mom

My daughter's experience with the asthma beast last night reminded me of my own childhood experience. 

My wife made a neat observation:  "Some parents might actually be annoyed when their daughter woke up at midnight coughing and crying and acting restless.  They might have been annoyed because they wouldn't have known their child was having an asthma attack.  They might have thought their daughter was just being a brat and keeping her parents up."

I think my wife was surprised by my response.  I said, "I think that happened to me.  With no disrespect to my parents because they weren't medical professionals and they didn't have asthma.  But my mom used to wake me up when I was coughing and make me lie on my side.  Then I'd fall asleep and an hour or so later she'd be waking me up again because I was coughing.  She'd make me lie on my side. It got to the point that to this day I can't sleep lying on my back.  She had no clue my coughing was probably due to asthma.  I couldn't breathe and she was mad at me.

"I will never let that happen to any child of mine.  I don't want my two asthmatic daughters to have that scar."

I tried to discuss this with my mom once in a matter of fact way and she outright denied it.  She might honestly not remember.  And she might have done so in a completely innocent matter.

 It doesn't matter to me.  I was just curious.  I have an awesome mom and she was always there.  So I don't mean to make my mom look bad.  It's just something that she did that left a scar.  Yet it's something neat to write about. 

If any of my fellow asthmatic followers ever had a similar experience please leave a comment below. 

My 3 YO daughter's second asthma attack

So my reserved 3 YO daughter was fine when I came home from work last night, yet right around bed time she started coughing, retracting and with my stethoscope I heart inspiratory and experiatory wheezes.  She was tight and her words were short and choppy. 

I gave her a treatment.  It benefited her, yet she was still tight with wheezes.  I had a distinct feeling it was going to be a long night.  An hour later she was distinctly bad again and I gave another treatment.  She fell asleep in my arms, and when I set her in bed he head bobbed up and down on the pillow from her bodies effort to suck in air. 

Remembering my experience sitting up all night suffering from asthma and my parents not realizing what it was, I didn't want my daughter to go through the same thing.  So I didn't think I'd fall asleep.  Yet I must have.  At 11:30 I was awake and heard no coughing.  For a moment I though we had made the right decision not to go to the ER.  Yet then the coughing started.  Then...

"Mommy and Daddy," she yelled in a panicked voice.  I picked her up and she was unhappy I was around.  She was agitated.  She didn't know what she wanted.  She was retracting and audibly wheezing.  It was an easy call.  My wife got out of bed, snuggled our daughter in the recliner, and we made the decision it was time to go in for another steroid shot.

This time one of our regular doctors was working.  She was great. Here's what she charted:

child tends to have wheezing and over the past few weeks has been wheezing more frequently and was on oral steroids at one point.  over the past 2 nights she has been wheezing to the point of requiring breathing txs at home.  tonight she took pulmicort for the first time and this seemed to make the wheezing worse.  mom brought in for further eval. due to her sob.  dad has a hx of severe asthma and is a resp therapist at the hospital here. FREQUENT NONPRODUCTIVE COUGH, DIFFICULTY BREATHING.  Seen by pediatrician earlier in day for same reason.  active/playful/smiles, age appropriate attention, good eye contact, no apparent distress, not irritable, not lethargic Temperature: 98.6, Heart Rate: 140, Respiratory Rate: 48, Pulse Oximetry: 97, Weight: 28 (unable to get vitals previous visit).  x-ray normal.  child given 2 xopenex nebs upon arrival and decadron im.  after third neb child was much improved.  she had a p ox of 97% on ra and was talking well.  retractions were gone.  will give prelone for home and discussed close follow up.  scripts:  Prednisolone (Prelone) 15 Mg/5 Ml Syp  25 Mg OR DAILY (note:  Errors are the doctors.  I did not correct grammatical errors).

This doctor is one of our regulars and she also has kids, so that helped a great deal.  My daughter must have sensed she was a good person, because she actually let her assess her.  This just goes to show that if you're good in your approach you can even get the most reserved kids to cooperate in the ER.  Common sense, you know, goes a long way.

The doctor also said that decadron has a tendency to last longer than solumedrol, sometimes up to three days.  She said that's why she prefers to use it with kids, especially kids who don't like to take nasty taking prednisone pills. 

At 3 a.m. my wife arrived home and she went to bed while I stayed up with my sweety.  HM was hyped up from all the medicine and was marching around the living room chanting a hundred words a minute.  Finally she asked me if I'd lay down with her, and before my head hit the pillow next to hers she was sound asleep. 

Today she was back to normal.  This was a much better ER experience than three weeks ago.  It shows how smooth things can go when you respect the parent.  Or, it shows how smooth things can go when the parents and doctor use common sense.

My 3 YO daughter's first asthma attack

So I picked up my daughter's medical records today from her ER visit On Nov. 27.  My wife took her -- my little reserved 3-year-old -- to the ER that day because of an exacerbation of asthma.  It was clear to me it was asthma, although I can tell from what the arrogant and condescending doctor wrote she didn't necessarily agree.

Here's what the doctor wrote on the chart::

"Child has had cough and difficulty breathing for two weeks.  Mother is RN and father Respiratory therapist and they have been giving her xopenex and albuterol every two hours at home since 0300 today.  She has not been diagnosed with asthma.  Mother states "she hates people." Mother has called their pediatrician and report was called to ED to avoid drawing blood on the child.

"Duoneb times two and worked to get cooperation to take steroid.  After second neb still with wheeze inspiratory (scant) and full exp cycle.  CXR neg.  Solumedrol given IM and RX pediapred and atrovent for home.  Mom is RN and Dad is resp therapist.  They have home nebulizer and expressed preference to continue treatment at home.

Responds well to DuoNeb howevr still wheezing.  Added steroid and to send home on Albuterol and Atrovent neb and PO Pediapred.

I think it's pretty clear the doctor was irritated my daughters pediatrician called with recommendations on how to treat my daughter.   It was actually more us than our pediatrician.  My wife and I are minimalists, and we know by our clinical experience that ER doctors have to order a bunch of stuff just to cover their butts. 

Figuring my daughter's asthma is similar to mine, she didn't need a bunch of labs and an IV.  All she needed was the steroids.  I also had this distinct feeling this doctor wanted to admit my daughter too.  The doctor was also not one of our regular doctors, which may explain the poor attitude. 

And guess what.  The steroids worked great.

Related links:  My daughter's asthma attack and the arrogant doctor

The truth shall make your asthma better

I was on the job as an RT at Shoreline for only three months when I had an asthma attack so bad I was taking treatments every hour.  I went to the ER and was admitted.  

Sahara was a coworker of mine.  She took care of me when I was a kid, and I was looking forward to her coming to visit me.  After I was a patient for several days she finally came, and instead of sympathizing with me she lectured me instead.  She said:

"You did this to your self.  Every time I see you you're eating a Big Mac or a Whopper and you keep gaining weight.  You take poor care of your health and that's why this happened.  You did this to yourself."

I was so ticked at her I couldn't wait for her to get out of my room. I told my other coworkers about what she said and they agreed she was a jerk.   I barely spoke to her the next two years unless I was giving report.  Yet eight months after that lecture I started working out.  I also started eating well.  I lost 35 pounds and was feeling great. 

Since then I've continued to try to eat well and exercise and since then my asthma has been much improved.  So improved, as a matter of fact, that I haven't spend a day as an inpatient for asthma since that visit.

So that got me to thinking:  Sahara did me a favor by lecturing me.  Instead of sympathizing with me and allowing me to continue on the wrong path she took the bold step and told me I was a fool for the way I was living.

This goes to that old saying that the truth hurts before it makes you better.  For the lecture that set me on a path to becoming a Gallant asthmatic, I thank you Sahara.  Thanks Sahara.  

Thanks to my Brother Bobby

My brother Bobby once told me I was a useless piece of skin because I was sitting on the couch one afternoon when he wanted me to play baseball.  "Come on, Rick, we need one more person."

I wouldn't budge.  What he didn't know because I wouldn't tell him was that I didn't want to play because I was sick and tired of not being able to breath.  I was feeling sorry for myself that I had asthma. 

A few years later, however, I didn't give him a chance to say such a thing to me.  I played football even during an asthma attack.  I even remember it was Thanksgiving and I kept running in every 5-10 minutes during the second half to use my nebulizer.  

And while you might thing that was stupid of me, I thank him for that.  Instead of allowing me to use my asthma as an excuse he encouraged me to do something.  Because of him I became competitive. Thanks to him I stayed active, something we asthmatics should all do.

Thanks, Bob, you moron.  

Is it LAZY or ASTHMA?

My brother called me a worthless piece of lazy skin once because I couldn't play football with him.  Yet little did he know I was sitting on the couch watching TV because I couldn't breathe.  That was over 30 years ago.

Mom and I sat in a Chinese restaurant with two steaming hot cups of tea between us.  She said, "You were a good kid.  The only thing I remember getting mad at you about was your messy room."

We laughed as we reminisced about some of our fights.  Once mom took an entire drawer and dumped it onto my floor.  She wouldn't let me leave the room until the entire thing was clean.  I wish now that she would have taken a picture of it, because you wouldn't be able to see any surfaces.

When we were finished laughing I reminded mom of one other moment I remember better than all those fights.  "We were sitting at the kitchen bar after dinner.  Dad and my brothers were gone, so it was just you and me.  You said, 'John, I've decided I shouldn't get mad at you about your room anymore.  I was thinking that you spend more time in your room because you have asthma.  Instead of hanging out with your friends and your dad you become involved in creative projects in your room.  You draw and collect baseball cards.  Creative people are messy.'  You said that, and it meant a lot to me.'"

"I said that," she said, smiling.

"Yeah," I said, "And then you yelled at me about my messy room again."  We laughed.  

I think my mom had a point.  Even now as I look around at my desk I see a clutter of papers.  My desk at work is clutters, so it my car and so is my locker.  They aren't filled with a bunch of junk, they are filled with papers and books and things I've written ideas on for writing.  

There's this old saying:  A cluttered desk equals a cluttered mind.  Instead of doing things I've filled my mind with clutter.  In a way, I wonder if this is the reason so many asthmatics report being anxious.  The more you think the more you have to worry about.  Asthmatics tend to do a lot of time thinking.

There are times I feel lazy.  I have felt lazy the past two weeks since I had an asthma attack cleaning my basement.  I am afraid to participate in any cleaning activity, so my house is sort of a disorganized mess. So instead of cleaning I spend my time here on this blog.  

There's another saying that my dad used to say a lot when we were kids.  He said that if it weren't for lazy people nothing would ever get invented.  An example he gave was Louis Sands, a local lumbering millionaire who lived in the late 19th century and early 20th.  

He made a fortune chopping down trees and floating them down the river to the Louis Sands sawmill.    He had a sleigh he rode in the winter and he didn't want to get out of the sleigh to open the gate to his mansion on 5th street.  So he invented this thing where as soon as the sleigh rode over this ramp the gate automatically opened.  It, in essence, was the first garage door opener.

He invented it because he was too lazy to get out of his sleigh.  Yes indeed, lazy has produced a ton of inventions.  The horse carriage was invented by a person who was too lazy to walk, and so was the car.  The airplane was invented by someone too lazy to drive.  The lighter was invented by someone too lazy to take the effort to light a match.

So lazy isn't so bad after all.  Lazy has made the world a better place for everyone.  So the next time someone calls you lazy, just remind them of all the good things that have come about because of lazy people.

I jokingly reminded my brother of what he said to me 30 years ago and he apologized.

"Yet you were right about one thing," I said, "You were right that I am lazy.  I'm a lazy asthmatic.  And that's not such a bad thing."

Reminders...

Reminders are good...

• You still have asthma, it's just been in hybernation
• Your daughter still won't take her asthma medicines, which your reminded of as she starts wheezing and coughing again
• You still like working nights even though you've been on days the past two years
• Your boss is not your best friend, even though she's been kissing your butt lately
• Christmas shopping isn't easy, even though you knew what to buy months ago