There was a time when Kiyoshi Martinez sat on the sidelines. During recess he’d watch as his classmates conquered the jungle gyms, slid into first base and made goals on the soccer field. It was a time when the school nurse kept his inhaler on hand, ready
He went to the doctor’s office every day after school to get an allergy shot. All of this just to help him control his asthma. "Why is this happening to me?" he would ask himself. Martinez remembers one night in second grade when he was trying to sleep and was hit by one of his worst asthma attacks. He wheezed, coughed uncontrollably and felt his chest tighten.
He said he could physically feel the air move down his windpipe except there was not a whole lot of air moving. His father rushed him to the hospital. "I’m just sitting there and then I’m breathing through this little plastic thing stuck in my mouth and it had a salty feeling down your throat, and I remember thinking, ‘This is just absolutely miserable,’" he said.
He can’t recall how many times he went to the emergency room because of asthma. Today the 23-year-old communication specialist says he has a handle on his disease. He’s now able to do many of the things his friends enjoy: sports, going to bars, even participating in the annual Chiditarod, a 5-mile shopping cart race through the windy city. But he still has restrictions.
A rescue inhaler is always with him when he exercises. When he’s sick he uses a milder inhaler in the morning. When a friend has a cat or a dog, he knows to go outside and get some fresh air. Martinez has learned to live with his condition. And he’s not the only one.
Although the number of children with asthma has increased across the nation, overall hospitalizations for the disease in Illinois have dropped 30 percent from 1993 to 2004, according to the Illinois Department of Public Health. Local health experts say asthma education and management strategies may be the reasons for the decline.
The increase of asthma cases may also be due to the improvements in screening asthma in children. Experts stress that treating kids at an early age reduces the risk of later damage to the lungs and gives them a better chance to live active lives as adults.
What is asthma? Consider this. Imagine a highway without much traffic; the cars are speeding along without any obstructions. Then comes rush hour. It’s stop-and-go. The lanes are merging, and no one is getting through. That’s what it feels like for asthmatics. The cars along their highway – their airway – are in a traffic jam.
The muscles around their airways tighten, making it harder to breathe. The airways themselves swell, causing mucus to thicken, again forcing the asthmatic to wheeze and cough. "It’s like suffocating," Martinez said. Dr. Raoul Wolf, a pediatric allergist at La Rabida Children’s Hospital says several factors can "trigger" asthma: weather changes, viral infection, allergens from cats and dogs, poor air quality, mold, smoking, dust mites and cockroaches.
The most common indicators a child has this disease are difficulty breathing and repeated coughing. But the exact cause of asthma is unknown. Managing Asthma For families with asthmatic children, education is essential to managing the disease.
Rodger Peck, a nurse, is helping educate those families. He has been making his rounds for six years on Chicago’s South Side in a Winnebago. The vehicle is a converted clinic that treats kids with asthma. Inside it looks like any other recreational vehicle.
There’s a comfy couch, revolving armchairs that rock, even a kitchenette with matching dining set. But it’s the walls that give it away. They are covered with posters of lungs, asthma education charts and images of pharmaceutical products.
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