After a record number of admissions to the intensive care unit this year, (5 so far), it was pretty evident that my current asthma action wasn’t working anymore. So, at last weeks pulmonary clinic follow-up visit, we (they) came up with a new asthma action plan that will hopefully reduce that high number of ICU [...]
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Felt pretty good for a few days , even racewalked during a research follow up visit ( more about that later), but now I’m starting to slide back . I don’t know if it’s the steroid taper ( I’m still at 40mg) , or if I’m rebounding, or if I starting exercising too soon, but [...]
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……last week This week……… I’m gradually starting to feel somewhat normal again ( normal for me that is…) , but it’s still a one-day-at -a time kind of process. As my docs always tell me…..”It’s pretty amazing how fast you seem to bounce back after a serious attack”. Well, I don’t know if it’s amazing, [...]
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Funny how many parallels you can draw between the endurance sports and severe asthma exacerbations. Though I never actually walked one until I was 52 years old, in many respects I’ve been training for marathons my whole life. These are some of the thoughts that were running through my head while I was suffocating in [...]
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There’s a small subset of people with severe asthma, who often don’t sense that they’re asthma symptoms are getting worse until it’s to late — I’m one of those people. In an attempt to keep better tabs on my constantly fluctuating peak flows , and to identify what the critical values are for me, the [...]
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These are just some of my daily asthma medications and the gadgets I use to get them into my body. One of these drugs ( Xolair), costs $1,000.00 per injection. All this keeps me walking…… Related Posts:A months supplyAsthma Laundry ListSo,what brings you here?It’s been a whileLife after the Blog
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I was turned on to this cool new nebulizer while I was a patient in the hospital last week. I have to say, as a Respiratory Therapist and patient, I really like this thing! Its called the “AeroEclipse” ( from the same company that manufactures the “Aerochamber”) and its a breath actuated nebulizer. It uses [...]
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48 hours out of the joint and the prednisone withdrawal process is in full swing.Instead of starting my day at 6:30 am , it now starts at 3:30 am. This sleepless pattern usually lasts a week or two depending on the steroid dosage at the time of discharge from the hospital. This is the part [...]
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I usually don’t post about my hospital experiences because its not a subject I like to re-live. Its an unwanted , terrifying , but necessary, part of my life. When it happens , I just try to get through it and then I try to blank it out . Its the only way I know [...]
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Bronchial thermoplasty is a novel experimental treatment for severe asthma. A heated catheter is used to reduce the smooth muscle tissue in the airways of the lungs, so there is less airway constriction during an asthma attack. The Asthma Interventional Research 2 (AIR2) study will be conducted at 30 centers worldwide, including the University of [...]
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