Yesterday I was in the green and walked 6 miles. Today I’m tittering on the red and I’m unable to do much of anything . I usually don’t post when I’m in the red zone because even typing is a chore , but I wanted to document just how fast things can change when you have the uncontrolled form of this disease
If you gage symptom severity by peak flow measurements, then I’m actually borderline red/yellow.( you’re in the red zone when your peak flow drops below 50% of your baseline. My baseline is 575, and today’s reading is 300.)
If my peak flows hold at 300 , I’ll just tough it out , take a few extra nebs and re-assess later today. If my peak flow drops below the 300 mark ,and stays there, I’ll bolus myself with 60mg of prednisone and cross my fingers.
The next 24-36 hours are the wait and see hours. If I’m going to break through , it will happen within the next 36 hours and I’ll be back out there walking by tomorrow as if nothing happened. If I don’t break through, it means a hospital stay is imminent
I have a very high tolerance for respiratory discomfort , which means that I usually postpone “going in”. Most Emergency room Physicians will tell you that waiting to come in, is the worst thing you can do. I know my disease better than anyone AND I’m a licensed Respiratory Care Practitioner. Most of the things that they do for me in the hospital, I can do for myself at home. I only go -in when I’m absolutely sure that I can’t handle it on my own or if I start to fatigue-out. You see, once the whole hospital process begins, you just never know what the outcome will be.
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