ASTHMA: My Son's Worst Enemy

My 4-year old son, Joaqui, was born as an eight-month premature baby boy. As we all know, babies who were born in preterm, most often than not, have complications with their internal organ. It is always the heart or the lungs, or both, which is commonly affected. In Joaqui’s case, it’s his lungs.

Ever since he was born, the hospital became as his second home. He stayed there not for days, nor weeks, but months! He has gone through a lot of medications. Name every antibiotic, from mild to strong ones, he had it.

There are also some instances when I visit him in the NICU (Neonatal Intensive Care Unit) and I get bad news from the nurses in charge. They’ll tell me that my son’s body temperature is abruptly going down. The next morning they’ll tell me that my son stops from breathing for a few seconds. Another morning they’ll tell me he has sepsis, a severe infection that could lead to death. I couldn’t imagine any worst news that I might receive on the following days. Those days were the days that I’ve got a feeling of feeling nothing. I am too numb to feel hunger, sleepy, nor hurt. I just felt that I’m as light as the air, just passing by through the hospital halls.

Then another morning came by. I had to force myself to get up and keep going. I went to the hospital again, met his doctor and told me that he needs a blood transfusion, as soon as possible.

My God! You can never imagine a 1.8kilo tiny, thin and sick baby could possibly go through those painful procedures. Aside from those medical equipments and gadgets penetrating his body that he almost look like a robot, and now I’m hearing a blood transfusion?! My knees were shaking, my body is trembling. I’ve got nothing on my pocket but an amount just enough to pay my fare on my way back home.

What am I going to do?

Then I came up to this idea. I told the doctor that I wouldn’t want somebody’s blood, stranger’s blood, to penetrate my little boy’s body so I’m offering myself to give my own blood that he needs. Luckily we are in the same blood type. But the doctors are hesitant because I just gave birth to a child and a huge amount of blood was taken out from me.

But a heart of a loving mom insisted that she can make it for sure, even if fainting is at the back of her worried mind.

I’ve been through some sort of blood tests. The next thing I know is the transfusion started.

After a few weeks, we are able to take him home.

But it doesn’t end from that.

The rest is just a whole lot of similar stories that keep on tearing me apart. Especially the part that I see him suffer from difficulty of breathing because of severe asthma.

We had taken him from different doctors and specialist hoping that one of them could help us manage his asthma attack. I did some research, tried different supplements, but none of them gave us an answer. A pediatric pulmonologist told us that asthma has NO CURE. We just have to know how to manage it and how to avoid the things that trigger the attack.

We did EVERYTHING. We’ve been so strict about the dos and don’ts. From regulating his room temperature, avoiding the dirt, dust and smoke, refrain from eating food which contains a lot of amount of allergens, and preventing other people to touch him without rubbing an alcohol on their hands. Yes, we did everything up to the weirdest things that anyone could ever imagine, relevant or not, we just believe that we will lose nothing if we try.

As the years go by, we notice that the attack has been lessening from frequent to seldom. But of course, we’re still hoping that it would stop, eventually. As many people say, including the doctors, at some point in every asthmatic person’s life, when the asthma is in born, it should stop at the age of 7, but if it doesn’t, they will have it for the rest of their lives.

Up to now, that my son is already 4 years old, still having asthma attacks especially when there is a sudden change of weather, hoping and praying that it would stop by the time that he reaches 7.

I don’t care about my sleepless nights during the attack, I don’t care to skip meals if he’s in tantrums, I just don’t want to see him suffer. If only I could get those painful days from him, I certainly would.