The Case for Social Distancing

Right now we are in an unprecedented time in our world. I am sure this will be documented in history books as we are in uncharted territory. The most important thing we can do at the moment is to have Social Distance! I see a lot of people talking about why they are #socialdistancing and a lot of it has to do with the elderly. Well I am here to tell you that for us it goes way beyond this as no one is “safe” from this, but we are especially concerned for the immune-supressed or those with underlying conditions. As of today, March 25th, the CDC has highlighted the following category for people who are high-risk for severe illness from COVID-19: People with chronic lung disease or moderate to severe asthma. We are all too familiar with this as our oldest son was diagnosed with asthma at age 4. The photo above was the day he was discharged from the hospital after a battle of asthma and a complication of pneumonia nearly two years ago. The following story highlights why this is so serious and why we have been “quarantining” for 3 weeks already and we implore you and your family to continue to stay at home and help flatten the curve.

What started as an average school night almost two years ago, turned into one of the scariest nights of our lives. While M.J. had been officially diagnosed with asthma at age four, he had respiratory issues starting around age 2. Nebulizers and inhalers were constants in our home and we learned a lot of terminology like Flovent and Albuterol. Our family lives in the San Francisco Bay Area and we were dealing with horrible air quality as a repercussion of the wild fires that were rampant across California. While getting ready for bed that evening, M.J. complained of a “tummy ache.” That was a common theme that kept reappearing and the week before I had bought a Pulse Oximeter that measures Oxygen levels after seeing one advertised on Amazon. Out of an abundance of caution I decided to get it out for the first time to see what his levels were. His Oxygen level was 91 and so I decided to give him his inhalers and see how he fared. His levels went up to 93 so after consulting with my husband I put him to bed as he was exhausted and acting normal otherwise and went back to cleaning up the house and getting ready for bed myself.

Right before bed each night I check in on the children one last time and decided to take M.J.’s oxygen level again. His breathing didn’t look alarming to me (heavy retracting of the neck), but I wanted to see if it had stabilized. His oxygen level was 89! This was so surprising and my husband was even convinced that the pulse oximeter was just not working properly. Mothers intuition made me immediately change into sweats and insist we take him to the ER. Our two-year-old was also asleep and my husband was not sure we should go as M.J. was sleeping soundly and his breathing didn’t seem that labored.

But once again my motherly instinct kicked in and I just knew we had to take him immediately! So my husband and I each grabbed a sleeping child and buckled them in their car seats and raced to the ER. I decided when we arrived that my husband should wait in the car with our two-year-old so he could continue sleeping and I would just run M.J. in to have him looked at and most likely a quick breathing treatment and then be on our way home. Shouldn’t take more than an hour I thought! Boy was I wrong!!

When I got in there the triage nurses knew the situation was dire and got M.J. on oxygen and back into a room immediately! Everything moved so quickly that my head was spinning! It was 11 o’clock in the evening, I was 5 months pregnant with our baby girl, and I was alone in an ER with our son who was having an asthma attack for the first time, but never once voiced that he couldn’t breathe! It was such a scary and out of body experience being told that if we hadn’t brought him in he wouldn’t have had enough oxygen! That motherly instinct is pretty incredible!! In my mind though, I had always envisioned an asthma attack much differently…gasps for air and the look of distress! That was not the case for us, however!

The doctors were fantastic and immediately had steroid treatments and oxygen to open up his lungs and his numbers went up so I still thought we would be heading home sometime within the next few hours! But, the doctors quickly realized his numbers were not stabilizing and he needed to remain on oxygen until his O2 level could settle around 95.

I sent my husband home to put Max back to bed and I sat up with M.J. all night long staring at his vitals. M.J. and I had some interesting experiences including listening to a Stanford Freshman who had come via ambulance for drinking too much. Even though M.J. was in a pediatric unit of the ER, this 18-year-old was next to us and cried like a baby for his mom while throwing up non-stop. My six year old learned two things from frightfully listening to that (these are his words I might add) : 1) You will always want your mama and 2) I will never drink alcohol! (Hopefully that never changes!) After listening to that debacle he was finally moved into a private room around three o’clock in the morning and I was still convinced he would be heading home soon!

Wrong again!! When his numbers would not improve they realized that something was compromising his lungs and that he was not able to get the necessary oxygen levels without being on oxygen. That meant he was to be admitted to the Children’s Hospital. I was still in disbelief that this child is the same one that my husband questioned eight hours earlier if he really needed to go to the ER. It was such a crazy and surreal experience!

He was hospitalized for four days. Those long days consisted of breathing treatments, steroids and oxygen to get him to an acceptable level… and then we found out he had developed pneumonia. His precious little lungs were just not getting a break! Living at the hospital while having one child at home is not an easy feat! Both children need you and so my husband and I would divide and conquer to be sure that both children had a parent with them. We would take turns sleeping at the hospital and trying to not let M.J.’s little muscles fatigue from lying in a bed all day all while trying to keep him entertained with legos and special treats from his favorite place: Starbucks!

Now I might remind you that all of this was triggered by the smoke from the California fires that ravaged our state. The air quality was not good and that was what put him in a tailspin. Unfortunately, the same exact thing can happen should he get a virus, especially one that targets the respiratory track. M.J.’s lungs are still susceptible to this day and that is why we have chosen to quarantine our whole family for the last 21 days and will continue to quarantine for the next two weeks of Shelter in Place in the Bay Area. When they talk about “flattening the curve” just know it is for more than just the elderly! While it protects them as well, it is also protecting those with weakened immune systems and other underlying conditions.

We are doing everything in our power to protect our family and we implore you to do the same! If not for you and your family, please do it for the people who are at risk of complications! There has been less emphasis on protecting children, due to initial reports that they were not at risk from COVID-19, but new research is showing that children (even healthy children) can get this virus and thus we must take it more seriously! The sooner we can socially distance the sooner we can hopefully get back to life as we know it.

Full disclosure that I am not a doctor and am not giving any medical advice, but I would like to share what I keep in our “toolbox” to help deal with these types of situations. Everything from my favorite locking travel medicine bag and no-contact thermometer, to my children’s favorite “night-light” humidifier and the pulse oximeter I use to check my asthmatic son’s 02 levels. The most important step is to be ahead of the curve, so if you suspect you have a chid with asthma, talk to your pediatrician to see if a Pulmonologist would be the next best step. From there they usually create an Asthma Action Plan to help you know what to do in a multitude of situations. I might add that all of the items below work for health issues well beyond asthma and help us navigate many different illnesses. It’s all about being prepared and well informed.

1. Travel Locking Medicine Bag, Medicine Safe 2. Otoscope, Dr. Mom 3. Pulse Oximeter, Santamedical 4. Humidifier, Tendomi 5. Remote Health Exam, Tyto Health 6. Fever Patches, Be Kool 7. Digital Thermometer, Withings