Back to the depressing business of Asthma

With all the excitement and the welcome distraction of the recent races Ive participated in, it’s easy to forget that just 4 months ago I was sucking on the end of a size #7.0 ET tube, attached to a ventilator. Despite a fairly long run of good breathing days with a few races sprinkled in between, the reality is, I’m still a very severe and labile asthmatic. It’s just that when I’m feeling good, I tend not to think or blog about it much. Well, playtime is over, at least for a while. It’s back to the real world where the search for better breathing never ends.

This week I have a slew of medical appointments and research follow up visits at UCSF . Among them, I have a hard-to-get appointment with a Dr. Susan Jansen (one of the most eminent asthma researchers in the world). Only the worst of the worst get referred to her. ( Gee, that makes me feel important)
Nothing else can be done for my asthma in the conventional sense, but the hope is that Dr. Jansen might be able to show me some techniques to more accurately perceive what my body is doing, i.e. teaching me how to recognize and differentiate those asthma symptoms which are life threatening, from those that are not. Thereby giving me more control over my disease and hopefully reduce the number of hospitalizations in the future.

Probably not the magic cure, but I sure hope these visits will at least render some useful information… If not for me , perhaps someone else. Ive been to so many of these kinds of “looks promising” appointments, that I don’t wanna get my hopes up. Besides, I hate being anyway near a hospital or medical building when I’m not real sick.

Follow -up report by the end of the week. Enjoy the last week of Summer vacation all !