Just for Sydney....

On Thursday I went to school with Sydney for most of the day. The poor girl has been having one or two asthma attacks a day since she started school two weeks ago. Both the teachers and her doctor thought it would be a good idea for me to follow her for a day to see if there are any changes we could make to help her attacks.

I first thought that maybe the teachers were over medicating her because they are afraid of her having an attack, but nope they were right. She was struggling with her asthma. So, we came up with a plan. Her doctor increased her daily medications that she takes through the nebulizer at home daily and suggested that she takes it easy outside since we are having poor air quality and very hot days. The teachers were getting pretty nervous about her health, which I am very grateful for, but they didn't want her to go outside at all which was breaking Sydney's heart. Myself and her doctor didn't want to go that extreme yet for Sydney quite yet. She was sooo sad that she wasn't going to be able to go outside with her new friends.



So here is our plan. I made three bracelets for Sydney to wear to school that will tell her teachers and PE coaches what kind of asthma day she is having.

If she wears the green bracelet to school, her asthma is in check and the allergies and air quality are good so she is free to play outside doing what ever activity that is going on.

If she wears the yellow bracelet, she can go outside but no running around or anything that would make her breath hard. These kinds of days are when there is poor air quality for those who are sensitive or have respirtory problems or after she is recovering from bad asthma episodes. Her PE coach was so sweet to her. Sydney wore the yellow bracelt on Friday so since she was able to go to PE with her class, but cannot participate in anything that will make her breathe hard, he made her his teaching assistant. She got to hold the clip board. She was so excited and she followed him around helping with the class. She felt special with that job and knows that when she wears the yellow bracelet, that is what she will be doing.

If she wears the red bracelet, Sydney can not go outside at all that day. These are the days that the air quality is not acceptable for normal people and days where she has been sick or recovering from several bad episodes. I don't think we will have to use this bracelet too often if we keep her medicine in check. November will be the big test for us though. The last two years, she has been hospitalized for five days for her asthma. We think it is the mold spores that happen after it has been raining. November is the rainy season for us here and she is allergic to mold.

So that's it! Sydney was excited to help shop for the bracelet materials and understands what they mean. She knows that she feels icky on the yellow days and did great Friday using the new system. She didn't have an attack for the first time since school started.