“We’re going to give him oxygen now!”

Shirley Visser is an online editor at Kek Mama and mother to Skyler and Maddox. In a candid column she writes about the many hospital visits with Maddox, who has a severe form of asthma.

‘It’s almost November and I think that’s a terrible month. For two years in a row Maddox has been admitted for his asthma and we have to deal with nebulisation, prednisone and the administration of oxygen.’

Worried child with asthma

‘We knew pretty soon after he was born that Maddox was a worry child. Like me, he struggled with eczema early on and we were allowed to report to the pediatrician at three months. It turned out to be not only predisposition, but also cow’s milk allergy. Unfortunately, that was not the only thing that would cause sleepless nights: he has quite a few allergies and asthma, so we have been in the children’s ward several times over the past 5 years. This is well controlled with puffers, but sometimes we don’t make it with this medication and hospitalization is inevitable.

November is a terrible month for us. For two years in a row Maddox has been admitted in this month because of his asthma and we have to deal with nebulisation, prednisone and the administration of oxygen. Three times is a charm? We hope 2022 will be a year without admission, but we fear the worst. We are already increasing the medication and the line with the pediatrician is short again to be able to switch quickly.

‘We’re going to mist it every hour’

We’ve had puffers in the house for years because Maddox starts to cough with every cold and can end up getting quite sick. Fortunately, the puffers help with that and we quickly have it under control again. But in November 2020, things did not get better and his condition only worsened. I went to the doctor with a very ill child and after listening to his lungs and measuring his saturation, we had to report to the emergency department in the hospital as soon as possible. There he was nebulized immediately, but because that did not have the desired result, his fever was high, he became very drowsy and also started to vomit, the pediatrician came to tell us that we were not allowed to go home.

A room was prepared in the children’s ward where we had to stay the night. Little would come of sleep: “We are going to mist it every hour.”

oxygen mask

Half an hour later Maddox was on the monitor with sensors all over his stomach. Terrible to see your baby like this, but deep down you know that this is the only right place at that moment. We were going to start the nebulization and had to do this every hour, all through the night. This means: the nurse turns on the nebulizer, your child puts the cap on his mouth, you wait fifteen minutes until all the liquid has evaporated, you rest for three quarters and then the tune starts again.

Although we initially thought it was going very well, Maddox’s saturation dropped dramatically during the night. The monitor sounded an alarm and the nurse came in: “His saturation is dropping too fast, we’re going to give him oxygen now.” What goes through your mind as a parent is indescribable. To see my child lying so sick with an oxygen mask on is one of the worst things I can’t get off my retina. I have asthma myself, but have never had to experience it myself.

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on breath

In the end things got a little better the next morning. In addition to the oxygen mask, which was eventually replaced by nasal goggles, the nebulization continued every hour and after a few hours the oxygen could be reduced. During the day even the oxygen was allowed to turn off and we were allowed to nebulize every two hours, and then every three hours. This gave a little more rest to refuel. Maddox fell asleep like a log and had a moment of peace to catch his breath again, literally and figuratively.

Because Maddox was given oxygen and he was not very stable without the nebulization, we had to stay the night in the hospital. Fortunately, this second night went very well and the spraying could be reduced to every four hours. So we had a reasonably good night together and, after a check from the pediatrician and a good schedule for his puffers and the prednisone, we were allowed to go home the next afternoon.

One year later, asthma attack again

Unfortunately, it didn’t end with this one experience. A year later, again in November, it happened again. We went down the same route due to an asthma attack, with another sick child who had to be nebulized every hour and eventually given oxygen. But actually we were both a lot calmer under the situation now. We were in the right place, we could do this together!

Picnics and games

He now knows what nebulization is and can do it all by himself while watching videos. He really hates oxygen and he continues to have a bad association with it. Fortunately, the hospital is otherwise a positive experience for him. We know what to expect, we stay there in matching pajamas, we have a picnic in bed with macaroni, have discovered that Piet also fills his shoe in the hospital and we play games together for hours. As soon as we have to report to the department, he is welcomed with open arms and feels safe. Once he gets out of the worst phase, he’s a big crook who wraps every nurse around his fingers.

Recently we were in the hospital for a regular check-up for his asthma. Once in the elevator he asked me if we were going to sleep here again so we could have a picnic with macaroni in bed together. At that moment I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. It’s great that he has experienced it as positive, but you would rather not have your child so familiar in the hospital, because he has been there too often in the five years that he has been in the world.

No matter how cozy we always make it: this November I really hope to stay at home with him. His shoe looks better by the fireplace next to his big brother’s.’

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