Daniel's New Toy

Daniel's Allergist doctor also manages his asthma. There is a very nifty tool they gave Daniel to monitor his lung function daily. Whenever Daniel gets a cold it always knocks him down in the asthma department so this will help me to keep a closer watch on him. The new tool is called a Peak Flow Meter. Daniel breaths in it as hard as he can three times and he needs to hit a certain range to show his "normal" lung function. The neat thing about this tool is it gives a couple days warning before he is about to go downhill. Our bodies can compensate for a lot, so problems don't usually show up until they are severe. This tool gives me a few days warning before Daniel becomes really bad respiratory wise. It will show Daniel's lung function start to go down before he gets symptomatic which means I can start the nebulizer treatments a few days before things get severe. It also lets me know how bad he is respiratory wise to see if it requires a doctor's visit or an ER visit. I think it is wonderful because now I will have a couple days warning before things get too bad. Hopefully it will save me a few ER visits. Another plus is that Daniel thinks it's pretty fun to do so I don't have to fight with him to do it daily! YAY!