Memory Monday

May is Asthma & Allergy awareness month.  Please see this website for the FACTS.  Chances are you know someone with one or both.  Chances are you have heard the cliche "Oh don't worry, they outgrow it".  For some that may be true....or it could remain dormant and show up again in adulthood.  Vance was diagnosed with Asthma at 4 mths which is the first time he got sick with a respiratory infection (he was vaccinated for RSV for several months over his first winter because he needed oxygen for so long after birth.  A condition known as Bronchopulmonary Dysplasia).  Thankfully he never got RSV.  He was aggressively treated after birth for his respiratory distress.  He was sent home and kept on oxygen for 5 weeks.  He has not had any symptoms of asthma since 2008.  Alorah, on the other hand, developed Asthma after a bout of RSV in Feb of '04.  She had just turned 2 when she got sick.  Several trips to the urgent care, chest x-rays, etc. she was not aggressively treated.  She did not get a nebulizer until several respiratory infections later, and it was not her crappy ped (that she had before her current ped) who prescribed it.  It was Urgent Care.  For years she was able to take a break from maintenance meds for the entire summer.  Her attacks were intermittent.  In the past few years they have become worse, much scarier, and she has anything but outgrown them.  She has coughed so hard she has turned purple on several occasions.  She seems to develop a new trigger every time I turn around.  Her Asthma is severe, persistent, and downright (at times) terrifying.  As I look back on Vance's experience with Asthma and Alorah's it is hard not to draw comparisons. My "theory" is that she has scar tissue from the RSV.  No doubt allergies also play a huge role in her Asthma but the trend of her getting worse as her she grows worries me very much.  They both have had to deal with Eczema (a very common issue with Asthmatics).  I have found that plain, organic, unrefined coconut oil is amazing for it.  As I have watched Alorah's life essentially be taken over by her Asthma and Allergies I have struggled with what to do to help her.  I am constantly on the look out for anything that may help.  Traditional medication, even at crazy doses, has not kept her it under control.  We made it through April without steroids and that is fantastic...but she cannot stay on these doses forever.  Trying to make life safe for her is a constant battle.  I let her play outside for a few hours on Saturday.  Pollen levels were not overly high and the wind was down....on Sunday we paid for it.  Low pulse-ox, crabby, moody, unreasonable.  When she is exposed to too much-watch out.  It is not pretty.  It left me upset and unsure of what to do.  Obviously she can't even go outdoors when pollen levels are middle range (and she wore her mask, she always wears her mask) now and at least I know before she did this at school.

The awareness of Asthma & Allergies isn't really there.  4,000 people die every year from Asthma in this country.  They affect 60 million people, 1 in 4 Americans has one or the other or both.  70% of Asthmatics also have Allergies.  Yet our state does not even have a walk.  It is so frustrating.  What do you do when it's your child that doesn't outgrow it, who can't go to sleepovers, who could have another "big one" any day and when that happens life stops. I guess you research, you get good docs, and you go to National Jewish Health if you live in a resource-poor state like NM.  We will be in Colorado this summer.  I got a call today (and missed it, UGH) that we are ready to make that appointment.

Most of all be understanding and don't downplay it.  Asthma is very real.  It is chronic, there is no cure.