Hi all,

I wanted to share with you my son; battle with asthma.

My son Scott is 18 years old  When he was 2 years old he had a bad cold and developed a terrible cough. I took him to the doctor and he suggested that

i give him children's panadol to ease his symptoms. After 2 days of administering the children's panadol I noticed that his chest was making wheezing sounds when he breathed. His cough had become worse and he seemed to be having difficulty breathing I began to panic!!!  I jumped in the car with him in my arns and drove to the emergancy department of our nearest hospital, the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in South Australia. By the time we arrived he was gasping for every breath and tears were streaming down his dear little face. I was so worried.

Once we were inside the hospital I went up to the counter in the emergency room and said, "It's my son,,,, he cant breathe". He was taken straight through to an examining room, thank god! The doctor had a quick listen to his chest and then instructed the nurse to administer ventalin by a nebuliser. (this device consists of a mask put of the nose and mouth and a machine that pumps a fine spray of the venalin drug into the mask area to be breathed in,,,,Just for those not familiar with asthma jargon!) It wasn't long before he started to settle and his breathing was improving.  By this time I had regained some of my composure and had a talk to the doctor. The doctor told me that Scott had asthma and that they would asses his condition to find out how severe it is. He was in the hospital for 2 days        

The doctor could not tell me if it was a one off situation or if the condition would reappear in the future. He said that I would need to give him a ventilin puffer regularly as a preventative measure and be prepared incase another asthma attack occurs. With that advise taken onboard, I set out on a mission to find out as much as i could about this condition. I used google, the library and  the asthma foundation. But nothing could really prepare me for the next few years that followed.

Let;s just say that it was definetly not a one off situation, Scott really suffered with his asthma. There were many more rushed trips to the hodpital at all hours of the day and night. That was despite Scott using his ventilin puffer regulaly and having a nebuliser machine at home. It was so terrifying when Scott would have an asthma attack   You are faced with the fact thet your child could stop breathing and die. You only have a short time to get medical help. If fact in the airway closes off you only have 3 minutes!!!

I would like to pass on a few things that helped Scott and I though this difficult time.

1. If you suspect that your child is having an asthma attack try and stay as calm as you can because if you panic your child will too and this makes their condition worse.

2. Make sure that you administer only the recomended dosage of ventilin as it becomes less effective if you over use it. 

3. Try not to use irritating chemical sprays and cleaning products in your home.

4.Try and find out what is the main triggers to your childs asthma and avoid them.   

5. Make sure that your childs school and teachers are aware of the fact that your child has asthma. let them know what to do if an attack occurs and what are the main triggers. Also, it is a good idea to let the parents of your childs friends know this information.

Since Scott was diagnosed with asthma I have thought alot about enviromental issues and the rise in the number of children who get asthma.  I live in a semi industrial area and there is a few factories near by that have smoke stacks billowing out god knows what into the air. I did some research and found out that the area that I live in has one of the highest amounts of people with asthma and chest problems. So, if you are thinkng of starting a family I would erge you to consider where you live.

I am very happy to say that Scott is now asthma free. He is in the lucky group of children who seem to grow out of this terrible condition. He turned 18 on the 20 of Dec 2008, My little boy is a happy and healthy young man now. I am so relieved. i can now breathe a little easier myself!