Im continually blown away on how much it’s costs to treat a severe exacerbation here in the San Francisco Bay Area. Granted, we have some of the best hospitals and medical care anywhere in the world here, but it certainly doesn’t come cheap. 2019 was an exceptionally expensive year. For starters, how about $600,000.00 for […]
The last few weeks have been nuts. With a rash of wildfires throughout the area and other health issues to deal with, I got side tracked and forgot to post this. Back in August I had a semi brief, but stressful stint in the hospital. My breathing was being made worse by GI issues that […]
Wanna know a secret? Believe it or not, there was a time about 15 years ago when I began this whole fitness and walking thing, that I actually thought it was cool having really bad asthma. Sounds crazy I know, but at the time there very few people (that Im aware of) who had super […]
This all began back in mid July. I basically woke one morning and my abdomen was so bloated and distended, I looked like I was pregnant and couldn’t breath. No big deal for most people, as everyone gets bloated from time to time, but when you have severely compromised lung function, it’s a whole nuther […]
I used to jokingly tell people that I’m a human barometer or a walking weather station, because my lungs are so sensitive to the environment. Well thanks to Atmotube, now I actually am. Not only does their newest gadget, the Atmo tube PRO and it’s companion phone app, monitor and track the current weather conditions, […]
Better to have too many than not enough I suppose. And always better to have several back ups, should one stop working. Below are just some of the nebulizer units I have. Because my lung function is so low, my airways don’t respond very well to inhaled bronchodilators that are administered through metered dose inhalers […]
If you’re a hardcore asthmatic or COPDer you know the drill. It’s begins with increasing difficulty in breathing, followed by a trip to the the ER, then a possible stint on life support, followed by a week in the ICU, a miraculous reversal of symptoms and then home to start the recovery/healing process. Of course […]
I don’t have to tell you how important it is to develop a good relationship with your pulmonologist and other doctors, but its also important to establish open lines of communication with them especially when you have a disease like asthma. Chronic severe asthma is not a condition that just requires the occasional check up, […]
The annual Wego Health Awards are here again, and this year Ive been nominated in several of the categories, including the Life Time Achievement award. If you’re someone who’s living with asthma, or a caregiver, or someone who has an interest in severe chronic lung disease and found my website or personal stories helpful to […]
Breathlessness, shortness of breath, dyspnea, air hunger, whatever you want to call it, when you can’t breath, it can “feel” like you’re suffocating, but are you? If you suffer from chronic asthma or COPD, then you’ve probably noticed that the severity of your shortness of breath can vary in immensely, from mildly annoying to sudden […]
Welcome to my world….. This scenario plays itself out pretty much on a monthly basis for me. The only thing that really changes is how bad things will get and whether or not Ill end up on a ventilator. Be it be 1 or 2 weeks in the Intensive Care Unit, or in and out […]
Sub Glottic Stenosis (PGS) with asthma exacerbation. That’s how this most recent hospital admission is listed on the AVS (after visit summary). These conditions and the resulting hospitalization and treatment for them have turned me into a total train wreck. I started getting sick about 3 weeks ago with symptoms of breathlessness, air-trapping (dynamic lung […]
May is asthma awareness month, so I thought it would be fitting to share with you a 6 hour slice of a typical morning in this asthmatics life. No near-fatal exacerbations or depressing hospital photos this time around, just spontaneous mundane bits of me going about my daily routine, and rambling at the camera lens […]
