Every breath you take

One family’s journey through asthma

He wasn’t actually diagnosed with asthma until he got sick. Until then, the occasional dry cough, nausea, and bruised skin under his eyes could be attributed to a minor cold and, perhaps, the sleepless nights that accompanied it. Couldn’t they? Until the night he couldn’t catch his breath, couldn’t get air, couldn’t breathe.

The all-night doctor’s office diagnosed it as a possible virus and sent him home to get rest, drink plenty of fluids, and work his way through it. But that wasn’t good enough for his mother, Kristine Farron. It was something more, something worse, and she knew it. She knew it as surely as she felt the panic constricting her own chest. She needed air.

Instead of taking her son home, Farron rushed Jack to the Emergency department at Community Hospital. It was 2 in the morning and, in her words, hospital staff didn’t fool around. Within the hour, they had diagnosed him with pneumonia and determined that Jack Farron had asthma.

Asthma is a disease that causes an inflammation and, therefore, constriction of the airways. The resulting mucus production blocks the air passage, often making the patient feel anxious and unable to get a deep breath.

“Nearly 31 million Americans have asthma,” says Community Hospital respiratory therapist Ida Corby, “resulting in 5,000 deaths each year, a statistic that is nearly four times what it was 10 years ago. Although there is no known cure at this time, it is one disease that can be controlled if you know how to manage the signs and symptoms of an attack and take the proper medication and other precautions.”

Last summer, Jack was a bright, active 8-year-old with a penchant for soccer and baseball, arts and crafts. By fall, he couldn’t run across the field without feeling his chest tighten, his throat become dry, and his lungs gasp for air.

Today, he is a bright, active 9-yearold with the same interests and activities — and asthma. Thanks to his participation in Community Hospital’s Respiratory Outreach Asthma program and his family’s commitment to health and wellbeing, Jack is back in the game.

“An asthma attack does not feel good, I can tell you that. My eyes get black-and-blue bags under them, and my face looks like this when I don’t feel well,” Jack says, as he lowers his eyes and drops the corners of his mouth. “My throat feels weird in a bad way, and I get a headache. I get a dry cough that won’t stop, and my stomach feels like it has butterflies in it. At first, we didn’t know what this meant, but now we know it means I’m having an asthma attack.”

Jack’s illness and subsequent diagnosis were hard on everyone in the family: his older sister Katie, 11, and younger brother Tommy, 5, as well as his parents, Joseph and Kristine. But once they joined the outreach program and learned enough about the disease to lessen the frequency or severity of the attacks, they could all breathe easier.

“At first, we didn’t know he had anything wrong,” says Katie. “We thought it was just one of his little colds. But when we were at the park trying to play tag and he couldn’t breathe, we knew it was something worse.

“I came home from school the next day and asked my mom where Jack was, and she said he had pneumonia and was in the hospital. Then I started crying. It’s just not something you expect to hear. She wasn’t supposed to say that. She was supposed to say he was playing at his friend’s house. I just hoped I didn’t fight with him that morning.”

Katie and her family have joined Jack in the challenge of managing his illness and controlling his asthma instead of letting it control them.

“Just because I have asthma,” says Jack, “doesn’t mean I’m not like any other kid. I can do anything every other kid can do; I just have asthma. I’ve learned how to live with it.”

Miss Ida, as the children refer to Corby, has taught them how to cope with asthma through the outreach program that began as a pilot project in 1998. Since its introduction, the program has successfully demonstrated that educating people with asthma can help them remain happy and healthy at work or school, with a higher quality of life.

“Miss Ida taught us how to play the computer game ‘Quest for the Code,’” says Jack. “You travel around with this guy named Cyrus to check out your body and see what you can do to take care of it. It teaches you how to get rid of the bad guys by outsmarting them. It teaches you how to live with your asthma.”

With each unique case, Corby implements the outreach program on a doctor’s referral by going into the homes of people with asthma to study their environment and give them pointers on how to eliminate the triggers.

“It may be the fireplace or the carpet or soft toys on the bed that retain dust mites,” she says. “I teach participants how to administer their medication and provide them with a hypoallergenic pillowcase and bedding. Then I get them started on a diary and show them how to monitor their peak air flow.”

To test his air flow, Corby gave Jack his own peak flow meter, a plastic pipe into which he exhaled hard and fast on a healthy day to establish his personal best, the standard by which he can measure his capacity and determine his health status on any given day. If his score dips down at all, it is a sign that he may need to take some medication or more medication or a different medication to avoid an asthma attack and possible hospitalization.

“It has been helpful to have Miss Ida come and show me how to handle my asthma,” says Jack. “She helped me figure out my peak flow, which is 250. If I land in the green area, I’m OK. The yellow area is so-so, and the red area means I have to take care of my asthma. Today, I’m at 250. Today is a good day.”

Corby also taught Jack’s parents how to administer a breathing treatment at the first signs of an attack. As soon as he starts to cough, his mother gives him the treatment every four hours until the cough goes away. Using a nebulizer, a clear breathing apparatus Jack likens to a pilot’s mask, Kristine adds medicine that evaporates into a misty consistency, which Jack inhales deeply into his lungs.

“Whether he likes it or not,” Kristine says, “once he starts to cough, I begin the breathing treatment. He’s going to complain, but he’s also going to start feeling better. He keeps an inhaler at school to get him through any discomfort during the day, but I like the nebulizer better because he’s able to breathe it in deeply. With the inhaler, kids tend to take a shallow puff and might cough out the medicine.”

Kristine’s youngest child, Tommy, also suffers from asthma, a milder case characterized by an occasional nasal blockage and persistent, wet cough. He, too, keeps an inhaler on hand.

“A long time ago, when I was little,” explains the 5-year-old, “I got sick with ‘ammonia’ and had my own case of asthma. But now I’m better.”

Today the Farron family appears healthy and active, eagerly anticipating their next game of tackle football, soccer, baseball, or tag. They no longer fear asthma; they manage it. The disease that so recently controlled the household is now under control.

“Once you know what’s happening and they teach you how to take care of asthma,” says Kristine, “it is so much easier to live with. We spent two years stationed in Venezuela having no idea what it was or how to handle it. Now I know what the symptoms are and how to read them.

I know how to take care of my son to make him well. The main thing for him and for me is not to panic, to know we can get through this because we have the machines and the medicine, and we understand what to do. Knowledge really is power.”

For more information about the Community Hospital Respiratory Outreach Asthma program, please call 658-3048.

Profile: Ida Corby

Empowerment through education

Ida Corby believes she got into respiratory therapy because, growing up, she was inspired by the career of the anesthesiologist across the street. She got into the Respiratory Outreach Asthma program at Community Hospital because she believes kids with asthma and their parents deserve the quality of life enjoyed by others. This means a better understanding of asthma, what it is, and how it’s controlled. It means that both kids and adults should have the chance to talk about it and to know they are not the only ones dealing with asthma.

These are the goals and objectives of the outreach program, which has demonstrated since 1998 that education offers those living with asthma a better chance of controlling the disease and its effects on their lives.

“I worked in acute care for 17 years,” says Corby, who has been a respiratory therapist at Community Hospital since 1983. “I got to work in the intensive care unit, emergency room, pediatrics, the nursery. But to Ida Corby be able to educate…well, that is my niche. I really enjoy educating people as a way to foster better health and quality of life. It has been a real gift to be able to offer this outreach program to the community.”

As part of an ongoing effort to lessen the effects of asthma, Corby has worked with the American Lung Association to teach grade-school children with asthma how to measure their air flow and manage any environmental triggers. She has also participated in community health fairs and asthma screenings. The outreach program sponsored by Community Hospital is another in-depth approach to asthma education.

“This program is successful,” Corby says, “because we actually go into the homes of people living with asthma. We go to them, where they live, and give them pointers on how to keep their environment healthy, how to monitor the signs and symptoms of asthma, and how to follow their treatment program. We are in contact with their doctors to create individualized action plans we can then help the patients follow. The key is knowing what to do and how to do it.”