Nothing really interesting going on since I got out of the hospital. Though Ive taken a couple of short slow walks, overall Ive been trying to let my lungs heal as much as possible before jumping back into a physical fitness regimen full time. Been spending a lot of this post hospital recovery time doing non physical activities, including some asthma advocacy and research stuff. Keeping mentally busy, helps me cope with my breathlessness and the not so pleasant symptoms of prednisone withdrawal. The downtime has also allowed me to play catch up on some personal stuff.
Next Friday, Saturday and Sunday will hopefully, be a little more exciting and a little more normal for me. I’m supposed be going down to Solana beach ( near San Diego) for Dave’s advanced racewalking clinic. Ive been really run down lately from the steroid taper and its an awful long drive (450 mile each way), but I’m hoping that I’ll feel well enough by then to go.
If I do go, it will be mainly to hang out with other racewalkers and to meet some of the super stars of the sport. Three time Olympian, Philip Dun and two time Olympian Tim Seaman just to name a few, will be there coaching. Of course Dave Mc Govern , who’s a legend himself, will be running the whole show. My lungs are way too messed up to participate in much of the actual training, but sometimes just watching the elite walkers walk, and/or having my own racewalking form critiqued by them, provides me an adequate level of learning. Most of all though, I go to these weekend clinics because I have a passion for the sport and for the crazy people who engage in it.
In the coming weeks I have a ton of the usual medical appointments, but also a referral to a brand new service called “Symptom Management”. This new clinic is an off-chute of the Palliative care program over at UCSF. I’m going primarily, to see if there are any new therapies or strategies out there that can help me with my worsening dyspnea. To my knowledge, I’ll be the first asthmatic to receive treatment at this new clinic. I’ll be blogging more about the topic of palliative care in a future post.
Sunday was the Nike Womens Marathon. The last few miles of the marathon course passes by my old neighborhood at Ocean Beach in the outer Sunset. I know several people who are doing this years race. I hope they all had a great time!
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Getting your formed critiqued by the superstars and meeting others who engage in the sport would make it worth it for me. I hope you do make it. Good luck getting over the hump in your taper and breathe well!
Danielle
Thanks Danielle, I want very much to go, but it's so freakin far to drive ( almost 500 miles each way). I hate to put all that wear and tear on my car, let alone my body. I would fly, but then Id have to rent a car to get from the airport to the venue. Once you add in Hotel costs, ground transportation and everything else, it gets to be way too expensive. As with all these crazy trips I plan, I'll probably end up making a decision on whether or not to go at the very last moment.
Rather than post about the drive,the weekend, the miles, the wear and tear (oh dear, I just did!)-I just wanted to say thanks for the little bit of info regarding Palliative care.
This is not a subject that most asthmatics ever have to really give two hoots about-however I was once in such a situation and in hospital for so long that we talked about 'such things'.
Many people simply address PC as hospice style treatment for end stage C. I am glad you have reached out and explained it. Also many people do not appreciate the pain we can suffer lungwise-PC can look at ways of stemming those pain symptoms as well as the dyspnea.
Whatever can be done is there for the trying -please do try it-it's only another grain of sand in the grand severity of all this extreme discomfort.
As ever, I wish you well, pal.
Sus xx
I'm sure you'll make the right decision whether to go or not. I'm rooting for you either way!