Living with Asthma

I took Marc this week for a routine follow up with his asthma doctor at Hopkins.

*Unrelated editorial note - when I did a search for the phone number of the clinic I searched under "Johns Hopkins Asthma Bayview". Yahoo asked if I mean John's Hopkins. Oh hell no. Because it is not John Hopkins or John's Hopkins. It is Johns Hopkins.*

I feel very luck to live so close to Hopkins. When Marc was first diagnosed with asthma, he was just barely 3 years old. I was thrilled to learn that there was a pediatric asthma/allergist specialist so close to us. I am always in the waiting room with at least one family who has FLOWN IN to see this doctor.

His progress has been amazing. We took him off the Singulair at the last visit and he's been doing great. At this point, he does Nasonex daily for the allergies and then also Pulmicort to help control the asthma. He only uses his Albuterol inhaler when needed - it's been just a handfull of times since our last visit.

The doctor says he's doing great - hopefully he will be one of the lucky kids who outgrows asthma, though he'll always have the dust mite allergy. He commended me on controlling the environment - we have no carpet in his part of the house and non-allergen casings on the pillows and mattresses, even in our bed because he sneaks in there so often. No stuffed animals in the bed and everything washed in HOT water, double rinsed at least every other week.

I mentioned the trouble we often have when we travel, because we stay in hotels that are not as clean as our house, of course. He suggested doubling up on the dosages of both medications 3 days before we leave and while we travel.

Our next visit is in June. If he makes it through this winter with no major respiratory infections or pneumonia, we will try to take him off the pulmicort at that point. I asked about him getting Flu Mist and he advised against that - apparently the Flu Mist vaccine uses a live virus and it can cause problems in anybody with reactive airway problems. He said he should absolutely have a flu shot though, since the flu can cause real problems in kids with asthma.

Our appointment was over pretty early, so we had time to go to the Inner Harbor. It was a beautiful day and we walked over to the Hard Rock Cafe for lunch, then back to the Science Center where we spent the afternoon at the Animal Grossology exhibit and the Space exhibit.

It was fun to spend some one on one time with Marc. He's grown into a really interesting person and I just love to hear him talk about school, friends, interests, etc. It was such a shift when we saw the doctor - Marc did most of the talking, answering the questions about his symptoms and his medications. The doctor told Marc that if all his GROWN patients were as well-informed and responsible about their asthma he would be thrilled.