Overwhelmed

Overwhelmed. That’s my word of the day (or week or month…). It began with the asthma diagnosis and grew with the pile of prescriptions the doctor handed me as he turned and walked out the door. It became my daily reality when I discovered the gigantic list of everything recommended to create a healthier environment at home. 

Sometimes I’m completely overwhelmed when I think of everything we’re supposed to do to make our home a healthier place for our son. But truthfully, these changes should also make our home healthier for the entire family.

We’ve done some serious de-cluttering. We’ve covered mattresses and pillows with dust-mite protectors. We’ve changed the air filter in the furnace (turns out we haven’t been changing it nearly often enough). We’ve picked up the pace of our household cleaning. We’ve frozen more little stuffed critters than I can count. 

I find myself bouncing back and forth – some days I feel like I have some control over the situation, and some days I feel scared and overwhelmed, worried that I’m not doing enough fast enough.

There’s a real art to balancing the most important projects with our budget and time. It’s not like life stops and allows you time and space to prep your home and life for asthma. There will always be laundry, dinner, school, work, bills, play dates, sports and, if you’re lucky, vacation.  

I think the key is perspective, being able to take a deep breath and visualize the goal I’m working toward. The picture I have in my mind is of what our house will look like when all the projects are done. But, until then, I find peace in knowing that I’m doing what I can each day – and knowing that each day, little by little, our home becomes a healthier place.   

Feeling overwhelmed, too? Check out these resources from Allergy & Asthma Network Mothers of Asthmatics (AANMA), created especially with the newly diagnosed in mind:

www.aanma.org/faqs/newlydiagnosed.

Tip: Use AANMA’s free Indoor AIRepair: At Home kit as a room-by-room guide to making the air more breathable for your family.

E-mail your asthma or allergy story, frustrations, triumphs, advice and questions to editor@aanma.org.