“Hurry up, Timmy. You’ll be late for school!” Timmy’s mom hollered.

“I know, Mom,” he said, tromping down the stairs and out the front door as she handed him his lunch money.

“Don’t forget to look both ways before crossing the street! I love you,” she said, closing the door behind him.

As Timmy rounded the corner, he saw Buster, the neighbor’s dog, so he stopped to pet him. He wanted a dog so badly but he was allergic to dogs. Almost immediately, Timmy’s eyes started to fill up with stinging, itchy tears. The more he rubbed his eyes, the more they itched.

When he was almost to school, he saw honeysuckle flowers growing on a fence. They smelled so good that he picked some to give his teacher. While holding the flowers, he began to sneeze, and his nose started getting runny.

Timmy wasn’t feeling so good by the time he reached the school parking lot. When Timmy rounded the corner and passed the school buses, the smell of the exhaust fumes made him cough and cough.

Timmy walked into his class and handed his teacher the flowers. His teacher knows he has asthma and allergies. She could see that Timmy was having trouble breathing.

“Timmy, thank you for the flowers but it looks like you are having trouble breathing right now. What do you think you should do?” asked Miss Finch.

“Use my inhaler and then go to the clinic to take my allergy pill?” asked Timmy, to be certain. (Ever since Timmy’s doctor taught him to use his inhaler, Timmy carries it wherever he goes. His pills are kept in the school clinic. If he needs to use medicine at school, his mom is called so she’ll know too.)

“That sounds like a good idea, but we’ll also have to call your mom to let her know what happened,” said Miss Finch.

When Timmy returned from the clinic, Miss Finch asked, “What did you do and what did you touch on the way to school this morning that made it hard for you to breathe air in and out of your chest?”

“Well, I stopped to pet a dog, then I picked flowers. And then I walked past the buses and started coughing,” said Timmy.

“Timmy, you know you are allergic to dogs and flowers. And you know that the smell of the exhaust from the school buses makes you cough. What can you do to keep this from happening again?”

Timmy said, “I won’t stop to pet animals or pick any more flowers on the way to school. And I’ll use the school’s front door so I can stay away from the buses with their yucky smells. Okay?”

“Yes, Timmy,” said Miss Finch.

Later that afternoon, Timmy went to physical education class. Timmy’s teacher reminded the kids in the class with asthma to use their inhalers with holding chambers before exercising. “We have a busy day ahead so use your inhalers now so you won’t miss out on the fun!”

After physical education class, he went to the art lab, his favorite class at school. “Today we are going to paint and decorate these boxes. The only rule is to use your imagination!” the teacher announced. But shortly after the cans of paint and glue were opened, Timmy started having trouble breathing again. He couldn’t stay in the art lab so he had to go back to class. By now he was discouraged. “If only I hadn’t started the day by petting the dog…” he thought to himself.

At the end of the day, Timmy left school through the front door to avoid the bus fumes. He walked home past the same honeysuckle vine and Buster, the neighbor’s dog but this time he resisted the urge to touch. When he got home, his mom was waiting.

“Hi, Sweetie. I heard you had a rough day today,” said Timmy’s mom.

“It wasn’t so bad,” Timmy said, “but it could have been better.”

“Your teacher called and said you had problems with your asthma and allergies today. Let’s sit down together and make a list of all the things that make you itch, sneeze, cough, and wheeze. That way, you’ll learn to stay away from them.”

“Okay,” said Timmy while reaching into the cookie jar. “I’m just glad I’m not allergic to these!”

Reprinted from Allergy & Asthma Health magazine, Summer 1999.