Category: People, Places and Events | Breathinstephen

Breathinstephen

Just a guy with really bad asthma who likes to walk marathons

Post Covid race plans

I don’t know about you, but after a full year of pandemic induced anxiety, worldwide lockdowns and a half dozen asthma hospitalizations, […]

Sally doing her thing

Im referring to Dr Sally Wenzel of course. I never get tired of listening to her speak and educating others on the […]

I feel like I got run over by a truck

Im sure you’ve heard the expression “I feel like I was run over by a truck” to describe the aftermath of a […]

Survive an attack, register for a marathon

Makes sense to me…… Get really sick, spend time in the hospital, come home exhausted and depressed, and then immediately sign up […]

Training to walk my 9th marathon

Hard to believe that it’s been 3 years since I’ve trained for a race. I came close to doing one last year, […]

For the 112th time

Gee I haven’t written about a good ole hospital admission for quite sometime. Since I just completed my 112th, maybe now’s a […]

A SARP’in we will go…….

In a few weeks I’m off to Pittsburgh again to participate in SARP III. The focus of SARP III is to study […]

Tour De Badass YVR

“Badassmatic (adj.): Person with asthma better defined by badassery. Possesses insatiable desire for growth, change and adventure.“ ( Brought to you courtesy […]

Hotelspital

For those of you who thought I was kidding…No, it’s not a hotel, it’s my hospital. But the poshness doesn’t end there. […]

How to run like a severe asthmatic, by Bill Swan

Saw this blog post by Bill Swan and liked it so much I just had to re-post it here. Bill provides us […]

Musical friends hard at work

My friend Don is up for a Juno award next month. Couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy. If you haven’t yet, […]

My trip to Churchill to see the Polar Bears

My journey begins in Winnipeg (my very first time crossing the Canadian border). Just 2 days earlier there had been a pretty […]

The next great adventure

This one doesn’t involve marathon walking , or music, or sightseeing through an ancient city. Nope, this adventure is totally different. I’m […]

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Popular posts

Putting a face on severe asthma

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Not just Asthma, Severe Asthma!

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The Recovery phases of a severe asthma exacerbation

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Air-Trapping

Ive written about this before, but this is such an important an misunderstood topic; one that effects most chronic lungers and causes more suffering than any other respiratory symptom, that ...

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The search term "Intubation" comes up fairly often on my blog's traffic logs, so I thought I take a moment to write about it. Lord knows I've had ...

You're worthy

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My 133rd hospitalization for asthma

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The evil candy

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Macrolide therapy

This past week I started on yet another experimental therapy. This time it's long- term Macrolide therapy using Azithromycin. As an add-on therapy, recent studies indicate that the long term use ...

The wonderful side effects of frequent asthma flares

Think a severe asthma exacerbation only effects your lungs? Check out the photos below. Each photo was taken appx 2-3 weeks after being discharged from the hospital after a serious ...

Exercise like your life depends on it

Everyone knows how important daily exercise is for maintaining good health, but I believe this is even more true when you suffer from a chronic breathing disorder such as ...

The A word

Im talking about the other A word.... ANXIETY As a Respiratory Therapist and a lifelong asthmatic, I know all too well that anxiety and breathlessness usually go hand in hand. ...

Cmon....Thank a Nurse, Thank an RT

As I was mentioning to AsthmaMom, the first rule of etiquette for an asthmatic who has just survived another bad flare and hospital stay, is to thank those who ...

My asthma has changed again

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 ...

Steve - 9, Asthma---a big fat ZERO!

This might sound corny, but I feel like Ive just been reborn. On Oct 5th I finished my 9th marathon at the Portland Marathon. If you've been reading my updates, this ...

Tour De Badass YVR

"Badassmatic (adj.): Person with asthma better defined by badassery. Possesses insatiable desire for growth, change and adventure." ( Brought to you courtesy of Kerri Mac Kay)(Part 1 of 8 clips) ***For ...

Recovering from a bad asthma flare

A lot of attention is focused on what goes on during a severe asthma exacerbation, but very little about what occurs after. What a lot of people ( and ...

Treatment overload

Yes, another update about treatment options. Things seem to be changing at a lightening pace now and it's making my head explode. Too much for an over-thinker like me to ...

Did you bring a note ?

Back in the old days when you got sick and ended up in the hospital, it was probably because your primary care doctor put you there. ...

Opiates and Lung disease

No longer just reserved for severe pain control or to relieve end of life suffering, today a growing number of people with severe lung disease are using opiate ...

Do you know when it's time to go in?

The idea for this post came to me during the middle a recent severe exacerbation. Actually, it was the same exacerbation that put me in the hospital for 12 ...

When did my Asthma become COPD?

Im a Respiratory Therapist who's been in the field a long time, but I was a quite taken aback when my local Pulmonologist blurred out these sobering words... "Your COPD", ...

Breathing Basics ---O2 Saturation and Oximeters

Today's Breathing Basics review is all about Oxygen Saturation and Oximeters. If you have lung disease of any kind, no doubt you've come across the words "Oxygen saturation" or "O2 ...

Double Whammy Asthma

I often find it frustrating that here I am, a life long asthmatic, a Respiratory therapist and an asthma educator, yet still unable in normal conversation, to describe what ...

Mike Mc Bride

Think I have it bad? Meet my friend and fellow lung challenged athlete....Mike McBride. Michael has really bad emphysema and has to be connected to supplemental ...

Asthma guilt trip

How many times have you had a really bad asthma flare, but had serious trepidations about going to the emergency room for treatment? How many times have you ...

Respiratory Therapist/Asthmatic/Patient

All this buzz about inhalers ,nebulizers and hospitals , got me to thinking of various situations, in which Ive been involved. Not always practicing what I preach. As I'm sure

Im the conundrum, the outlier, the oddball asthmatic

I can't tell you how many times people have written to me telling me that their doctors can't figure their asthma out or that they have nothing more to ...

Asthma Breathing Zones

This is the 2nd installment of my " Breathing, the mini series". This one is more for the non-asthmatics out there, but I think some of our lung challenged ...

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