Im referring to Dr Sally Wenzel of course. I never get tired of listening to her speak and educating others on the subject of asthma, particularly severe asthma. So here’s a full hour of Sally goodness! The audience in the video are physicians, but even if you’re not a medical person, if you’ve lived with […]
I swear you cant escape this shit, it follows you everywhere…. even into your sleep! Not that Im able to sleep that much anyway, when I do it’s usually from pure exhaustion. But when I do fall asleep it sure would be nice not to be interrupted by a terrifying nightmare involving an acute severe […]
I’m not talking about the disease itself, I still have the classic text book definition of asthma, maybe even to a greater degree than many. What I’m referring to is the changing ways in which my asthma manifests itself. Like many inflammatory diseases, asthma tends to be a cyclic in nature, where you have periods […]
True story…..Shortly after I blogged my observations about a new neb that the RTs at UCSF tried me on while I was in the hospital in March, I received an email from Aerogen thanking me for the unsolicited review of their product. Unbeknownst to me, the RT dept at the hospital contacted Aerogen, telling them […]
Hard to believe, but this week I began my 8th year as a research subject for the Severe Asthma Research Program (SARP). This is actually the 3rd study (SARP III) in a series of 3 that started back in the early 2000s. Each had a different focus. They stopped recruiting new participants for SARP a […]
If you’ve been following my medical journey, you might recall that last summer I began the evaluation process for lung transplant at UCSF medical center. The conclusion of that evaluation came 6 months later in Dec 2016. At that time I was deemed a suitable candidate for transplant, but that my listing with UNOS would […]
Last week I was in the hospital again for my asthma resulting in yet another intubation. As sometimes happens, a few hours after coming off the ventilator I began to tire out and get tight again. The re-started interval neb treatments weren’t cutting it anymore, so they decided to put me back on continuous nebs. […]
Things get lost or disappear in a busy hospital,so I totally understand the need to properly identify a patients personal belongs. On plastic bags, documents, even on clothing is fine. But seriously, don’t put them on my phone or favorite leather wallet that you’ve now ruined and will have pay for. If it hasn’t been […]
I’m so much more than just the quirky little dude with bad lungs. I’m the original badass asthmatic. I made the words “fitness” and “lung disease” sound cool together. Im the first and only person with really severe asthma ever to finish the Boston marathon. Not once…but 3 times. Im also one who doesn’t gets […]
So my asthma is acting up again and I feel like I have the proverbial elephant sitting on my chest. I say my asthma is acting up, but in actuality it’s always acting up, so I guess what I really mean is that my symptoms have been ramping up from my norm, getting more intense. […]
Need proof of just how expensive asthma can be? These are my hospital bills for the last two years, coming in at just over 2.1 million and change. 2016 2015 Related Posts:104th trip to the slammer for AsthmaThe Recovery phases of a severe asthma exacerbationNumber 96 Number 95In other newsBut you look so healthy
It’s too soon to tell if it’s helping, but 4 weeks ago I started on a trial of home Bipap. Essentially Im sleeping hooked up to a non -invasive ventilator. I’ve been using a full face mask which Im gradually getting used to. Right now I’m averaging about 4- 5 hours per night on the […]
Im sure youve heard or used the expression “I feel like I was run over by a truck” to describe the aftermath of a really bad asthma exacerbation or some other aliment. Ive used it several times myself in my blog posts, but this time around Im not using it as an expression, I actually […]
