Why We Do What We Do - No. 2

BREATHING

Just wanted to share a patient encounter I had this morning at the free clinic.  Mom brought her severely asthmatic 10 year old son in to see me.  They often walk to the clinic in Fort Mill, but when they can or have to, they get  down to the Rock Hill clinic.  I have a lot of respect for this mom--someone I see as "holding it all together by a thread."  They are not eligible for medicaid because Dad is a tree guy and makes just a little tiny bit too much.  Neither can they afford health insurance.  And like I said, this kid has scary terrible asthma.  I had given him extra medications for the summer since we are closed in July.  

I asked her how the summer went.  "Well, we've had better summers."  She then went on to tell me that her husband hadn't felt well for a couple of months but wouldn't go see a doctor...until his prostate infection got so bad that it spread to the rest of his body, especially one leg which the surgeons had to filet open in order to take out the infected, dying muscle.  The surgeon told the mother the husband would not be going back to climbing trees.  "Please don't tell him that yet," she requested.  "Imagine if you lost your right hand tonight.  He can't hear that right now."  The dad is now home with the mom doing  dressing changes on this open wound (they can't afford home health nurse).  The mom is pretty sure that come hell or high water, he'll go back to what he did before. 

Anyway, as the dad got sicker, the mom and 10 year old boy took over his lawn service (which he did to earn extra income when tree stuff was slow).  As they were mowing, people would stop and ask the 10 year old how much he'd charge to do their lawn, so he picked up extra business, saved his money, and recently bought a Wii so he could get more exercise (he is a bit overweight, plus he thought it'd be good for his asthma).  On the day that the dad was being wheeled into surgery, the boy's asthma was getting very bad.  

"So I spread my arms like this," he told me, spreading his arms very wide, "and I closed my eyes and breathed in and out very slowly.  It seemed to help.  Now I am saving my money for Wii Fit so I can do yoga and practice stretching and breathing.  I think it's going to help me."  

Now you see why I wanted to share this story with you...

(I told him I have a 10 year old girl and I hope she marries a kid just like him).