Guest Author - Amy Anaruk

I hope you all have a wonderful holiday this week. My presents are bought but not wrapped, Christmas Eve dinner is prepped, and the weather actually feels cold here on the Gulf Coast.

This year marks a milestone for my asthmatic daughter. Ever since her birth almost nine years ago, she's never come through the winter holiday season without at least one major illness or flare. Sometimes both. In fact, every year if Thanksgiving came and went without a hitch, we could count on losing a week sometime before Christmas nursing her through a stomach virus, respiratory infection, or a flare severe enough to need prednisone. The weather changes coupled with cold and flu season and holiday excitement knocked her out every single time.

Now my daughter seems to have turned a corner. She is a different child, and has missed only one day of school since her third grade year started. Thanksgiving found her healthy and her lungs clear, and here we are just two days before Christmas with no sign of sickness. Her younger, non-asthmatic sister is battling a cold and ear infection instead.

Such a healthy fall and winter is nothing short of remarkable.

When my daughter was in the thick of her severe asthma troubles and the idea of asthma control seemed completely out of our reach, we never expected to enjoy the holidays without worrying about her health. A child’s chronic illness, even a highly treatable one like asthma, can do that to a parent.

I know my daughter will always have asthma, and I expect always to keep an eye on her health. I hope she'll never go back to the days of flaring all the time and constant ER visits, and I hope that as a teenager she'll be responsible about her symptoms and her inhaler.

But as I write this on the night before Christmas Eve, and she hasn't used her bronchodilator in weeks and will go to sleep tonight symptom-free, I feel hopeful and at peace.

Merry Christmas, everyone. May your children have a happy and healthy holiday.


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Please visit my Asthma Mom blog.


"Smile, breathe and go slowly." -Thich Nhat Hanh


This article is not written by a medical professional, and information on this page should never be substituted for your physician's advice. If you have any questions about your asthma and/or allergies, you should always contact your physician first.