Physio for asthma patients

Just a short entry on something new yang I belajar masa anak sakit baru- baru ni.  

Baru minggu lepas my precious was warded for three days sebab asthma.  Masa awal bulan hari tu Ayesha memang dah kena attack for the first time.  Main cause would be the house renovation, I would think.  Iyelah, habuk simen, cat dan sebagainya.  Kemudian Mommy dia sikit punya cerdik, bawak mandi sungai.  Masa nak menghampiri sungai tu dia memang dah batuk teruk.  Malam tu pulak, kena bulu kucing dan habuk.  Apa lagi, the whole night wheezing tak tidur.  Dah baik seminggu dua, the attack came back.

This time around bila nafas dia dah bunyik ketat sangat, doctor pon dah suggest hourly neb combivent.  Kemudian malam bila malam dia reduce ke every 4 hours so that Ayesha sleeps better.  The first day at KPMC tu we were visited by the physiotherapist Madam Kavitha.  OK, agak jahil soal perubatan, that's why I am not a doctor.  I never knew that physio could help ashmatic patient.  For my baby who apparently has 'acute ashma' dan 'atopic', the physio boleh kurangkan kahak dia.

Anak yang lena lepas physio :-)

The physiotherapist (or whatever you call someone who does physio, ooops) explained how when baby coughs and they don't know how to get rid of their phlegm, akan tumbuh lah some sort of roots in your lungs.  I am not even sure if I have explained this technically correct.  LOL.  But more or less I think it means that the chest gets congested with phlegm.  So physio helps to get rid of the phlegm, she said in several different ways, 1) through the poop, 2) more coughing, 3) sneezing.  I was told not to worry if suddenly my baby coughs more or poop m ore and the poop has slimy stuff in it.  That means the phlegms were flushed out.  Sidetrack sikit, no wonder baby ku lambat baik sebab she didn't poop, at all during the three days.  

What the physiotherapist did was, 

• Mula- mula baringkan anak terlentang, lepas tu lapik dada dia dengan tuala atau selimut nipis.  This is so that you don't hurt your baby.
• Then she clutched her hand (one hand only) so that only the palm of your hands and four fingers (without the thumb would touch your baby's body).  Mdm Kavitha cakap, kalau tangan kita flat, anak akan rasa macam kena pukul.  Ini akan menakutkan dan menyakiti anak.
• Kemudian mula menepuk bahagian dada anak, elakkan bahagian tulang.  Ingat, dada bahagian atas je.  Mulakan kiri atau kanan.  Tapi menurut Mdm Kavitha, kiraan tepukan mesti sama.  Kalau 10 kanan, 10 jugak kat dada kiri.  
• Pastu dia baringkan meniarap, tutup dengan towel dan ulang semua diatas.

Physio ni diulang selama tiga hari kat hospital, kemudian kena continue lagi dua hari at home.  Lepas tu, dia kata boleh buat seminggu sekali.

Pesan beliau jugak,

• Paling elok buat waktu pagi, early morning sebab anak dah tido lama dan dalam keadaan relax. 
• Kalau boleh elakkan buat selepas anak menyusu atau makan, sebab anak akan muntah.  Biar sejam sebelum meal, atau 3 jam selepas meal. 

Tau tak, sepanjang 2 hari physio dengan Mdm Kavitha, Ayesha tido lena semasa physio.  Hari ke-3, ada orang lain datang buat (orang muda), tapi Ayesha tak tido pon.  Hari ke-4 dan 5, Mommy yang buat.  Lagilah, beliau menangis- nangis ngehehehe.  Kejam tau Ayesha ni.

Apapun ini memang new info untuk I, and hopefully selain menggunakan puff dan ambik singulair for treatment, physio ni dapat membantu Ayesha jugak la kan.... Kesian dia kalau asyik kena serang, yer tak.  Cepat sihat ye anak, Mommy loves you more than anything else in the world.