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Did I mention I’m playing softball? The genetics research group has a mini-team going. We’ve had a few practices, all with the ultimate goal of prepping us for our one and only game against the cancer research group. We have a very nerdy name and nerdy t-shirts and so far it’s been fun. I didn’t think I could play softball at all but so far I can hit and catch, unfortunately my fielding skills aren’t the greatest.
Running the bases leaves me a little breathless, which I didn’t anticipate and makes me a bit mad. Not breathless as in oh I just ran and now I’m breathing harder, more like oh I’m a fish outta water all of a sudden let me just crouch down and hopefully sink into the ground now. And it’s how many metres around a baseball diamond? The hotter it is, the worse it is so I’m hoping for a cool day for the game. Running is a pretty small part of the whole game though so I’m thinking I’ll be just fine.
Oh man we are so nerdy you should see us.
Sunday my mom and her friend and I hiked up to an alpine meadow. The hike wasn’t too arduous but I’ll admit I had a tough time breathing on the ascent. The view was spectacular though and it was a great day.
Me and my mom at the first lake we came to. Mom, your hat is nerdy hehe!
The view was totally beautiful, and the weather started out the same.
It was a true Maria Moment. (Maria from Sound of Music of course)
The real draw to do this hike for my mom and her friend was the wildflowers. Apparently this is the best week in the year to see the alpine flowers. Thank goodness I had lots of opportunities to stop and catch my breath while they took pictures.
This is a pink Indian paintbrush
Up until lunch, our day was going swimmingly. Then the weather turned and we got a thunderstorm. We got a bit lost on the way down (it was a loop) because we foolishly forgot our trailguide and the rather bad signs suddenly stopped mentioning the place we actually wanted to end up. Then we met some French tourists coming up who assured us that we were heading in the right direction so it was all good.
My mom and I taking a picture of our dirty calves, no idea why. Please note that my calf does not always look this manly, it is simply an illusion created by my hiking boot covering up my ankle.
The rain stopped by the end of the hike, thank goodness.
The clouds were pretty low down, or maybe we were high up?
A great great weekend!! My lungs have been reminding me of their existence yesterday and today. Not really giving me any grief, just grumbling enough to let me know that they are there. Back to work now, I’m pretty busy as I’m wrapping up my project!
I wonder why there are so many different inhaler devices? I guess each drug company just likes to have their own and I imagine it has to do with patents or something. I’ve tried most of them and by now I definitely have my preferences. In light of my thrushy problem and the mini-discussion in the comment section of my last post, I thought I would review them.
First off is the turbuhaler:
I take symbicort and pulmicort, which are both turbuhalers. To use it, you turn the coloured wheel at the bottom, put your lips around it and take a sharp breath in, but I find that using them makes my breathing worse. Something about the huge suck that you have to execute to get the med really sends me into bronchospasm. Once, when being discharged from hospital, the doctor asked me if I would like to try bricanyl, which is a bronchodilator like ventolin in the form of a turbuhaler. I said yes because I was excited at the fact that a turbuhaler doesn’t actually look like an inhaler to most people. I soon gave that up though because I couldn’t use it if I was already having trouble breathing. Either I couldn’t take a deep enough breath, or it would make me much worse.
Next, the diskhaler:
It’s a dry powder inhaler and you take it much like you would a turbuhaler. Advair and ventolin can come in this format and I had much the same problems with it as I did with the turbuhaler. Also with this one, I find the powder gets stuck at the back of your throat more and it doesn’t feel so nice.
Aaaand, the MDI or metered dose inhaler:
My favourite, my baby. I mostly like it because you can use it with a spacer. For ventolin when I’m having trouble breathing, it is so so easy to use. You just load the ventolin into it and take a few breaths, as deep as you can. Studies show that way more drug actually gets into your lungs when using an MDI with spacer than with any other device, including the MDI alone. For inhaled corticosteroids, this means that less gets into your mouth and throat, reducing the risk of thrush infections. That’s why an advair MDI I could use with my spacer seems like a better idea to me all of a sudden. My only qualm is that when you’re out and about, the spacer is slightly bulky to have, and it looks a bit odd.
I didn’t talk about nebulizers. I don’t use one at home but often get them at the clinic or in emergency. If you are really struggling to breathe, they are definitely the easiest way to get medication into your lungs and I usually get some relief from the first one, unlike with my puffer. They deliver a lot more medication in one dose than an inhaler does and I don’t need that for everyday, though I know of some people who do.
Sooo, what do you use/what is your favourite to use, and why?
As I’ve probably mentioned before, symbicort is a great thing for me, I’m so glad I have access to it. The side effects are mild and worth it one hundred times over. All I’m saying is that these mouth problems are new and weird. If you’ve had anything like it, please leave me a comment!
About 2 weeks ago I had a really sore throat and white spots that looked a LOT like strep. But I felt fine and definitely didn’t have a fever so I just took some advil for the pain. After that yuckiness cleared up I got these really sore white spots on my tongue that took about a week to clear up. Now that they are gone my front bottom teeth are killing me! Grr. My dentist repeatedly warned me to rinse and brush vigorously AFTER taking my maintenance puffers because it could be hard on my teeth. But I must admit I have not been diligent about this, mostly because I never had problems. Don’t get me wrong, I brush my teeth well twice a day, it’s just that my routine is such that I do it before I do my puffers. I happen to have a dentist appointment next Friday but I fear that all I can do is be better at brushing and rinsing after taking my meds and possibly get this (these) cavitiy(ies) filled if that is indeed what they are. Lesson learned!!
Hi! I’m home and I had a really great time.
First off, a lung report. The lungs did fantastically well considering what I subjected them too. Sleeping in grandma’s damp carpeted basement, heavy heavy incense at grandma’s anglican church service, and swimming in the freezing pacific are all things that my lungs don’t like. However I did all of them and had only mild tightness and a miniscule night cough. I’m so happy!
Considering I was only there for four days, I got a lot done, and I accomplished most of my favourite things to do when I go to the island. Friday night we actually stayed in Vancouver at my aunt’s house and took the ferry to Victoria on Saturday morning. There’s something nostalgic about taking the ferry for me. Saturday afternoon there was major beach lounging, then a long walk after dinner. Sunday morning I went to church with my grandma, I had forgotten about the aforementioned incense but thankfully I felt ok. Then we went to the beach (of course) and then we went to see HARRY POTTER! My opinion: I really liked it, and no. 6 is one of my favourite books, but something about it bothered me. I think it was the emphasis on the romantic endeavours of the hormonal teenagers, and what’s up with Dumbledore telling Harry he needs a shave?! Monday morning we went to the beach but it was a bit cool so I mostly poked around the tidepools, provoking the sea anemones and rescuing the crabs from death by hot water. Monday afternoon we did some shopping downtown, walked around the harbour and then we went to our favourite sushi place for dinner. Today was a travel day and now I am home! I want to post pics but it’s a bit complicated to do and I’m feeling lazy so maybe tomorrow!
Tomorrow it’s back to work and in light of my feeling-goodness I’m going to try and bike to work for the rest of the week!
I’m off to Victoria after work today to visit my grandma, lie on the beach, swim in the ocean, go blackberry picking, and score some awesome sushi downtown. Yay Vancouver Island I love you! I’m back Tuesday!
It’s official! I found a place! It’s everything I was looking for and at a reasonable price. It’s got hardwood floors throughout, no pets, non-smoking roomates. In other words, it’s as asthma-friendly as I could hope for. Living in university city is already pretty tough on my lungs because of the dampness, I don’t need my home environment to exacerbate it.
I was getting pretty frustrated during my search and there were a few times I nearly settled for something I knew wasn’t going to help my breathing. Thankfully this awesome place came along and saved me from breaking down.
Other than it’s lung-friendly features, it has a full kitchen which is awesome because I like to cook. The bedroom has a big window. My favourite part is that it is right around the corner from the university and in a beautiful older neighbourhood. I’ll have two roomates, a girl and a guy. I don’t know them yet and I’m keeping my fingers crossed that we get along! I get along well with most people though so I’m optimistic 
I think I’ve hinted at this before, but I’m really excited about living on my own. Living with family was great for two years and it was right for me then, but it wouldn’t have felt right for this year. I’m just ready to get out there and try something new.
For my asthma, I think I’ll have to change my approach a little bit. Living with family (either my parents or my aunt and uncle) I always tried to ignore the signs of my breathing getting worse until I was in a bad situation because I think I had the mentality that someone would always be there to help me or get help for me if things went really wrong. And no, that is not the approach of a star asthmatic but it’s often what I did. This year, I absolutely need to become more diligent. I need to get onto treating attacks faster and I need to have a way lower threshold for getting help because if I’m alone I can’t let it get to the point where I can’t help myself. I’m sure I can work on that, and this is probably the best motivator for me.
This brings me to my next thingy. While I am super easy to get along with, there are 3 things that may possibly make me a slightly less ideal roommate. First is my asthma. Maybe it’s not such a big deal, but I hope it won’t be too awkward or inconvenient when I’m really unwell. I guess they will react to it in the way that I do, so I have to just be cool and open about it. I definitely have to tell them about it asap (as you all know I would rather swim with eels than tell people I have asthma). The second thing I’m sort of scared to tell them is that I play multiple instruments, including the accordion. I’m very considerate and mostly practice when people aren’t home, I just hope they won’t be put off by it or anything. The third thing is that I’m a vegetarian. I love being a veggie, though I’m not about to get all uppity about. It’s just that it may not go so well for sharing meals and cooking if they are hardcore carnivores. Oh well, these are all things to discuss I suppose and as we get to know each other we will work things out! I’ll let you know how it goes.
And voila! All my fears about moving out exposed! Really though I’m just excited and relieved to have found such a great place.
Sorry! I’ve been so busy since I’ve been back home I haven’t had much computer time. I’m giving a research presentation in three weeks at the university here and I’ve got lots to prepare before then! Still, that will be a very cool experience.
Anywho, my asthma has been really good lately. I had no issues while on holidays save for some morning tightness. What a huge relief! I’d say I feel even better since being back home. My lungs really do like this time of year. Pollen season is over and the temperature and humidity are just right. Being at high elevation, the climate is pretty dry and we don’t often see weather above 30 C. Sure, I’ve still got to be diligent to stay healthy, but what can I do right now to take full advantage of this good bout? I’d say I need to get outside! Bike ride tonight!
I’m flying to Victoria on Friday with my mom to visit my grandma. Yay, beach!! It’s very humid there so I hope my lungs continue to be good.
I’ll write about something real very soon!
Just a quickie to say I’m home! I had a wonderful time. The lungs are behaving better than they have in awhile and I’m grateful. Going back to work was tough yesterday but I have Victoria to look forward to this weekend. A wonderful week to all!
Well I’m off for a whole week and I’m certainly not taking my computer with me! My family and I are going to a music festival in interior BC where my brother and I compete with our accordions. We’ve been going for years and it is so much fun. Between all the music stuff we get to go mountain biking, hiking, and swimming. Yay!
Anyway, the blog is on hiatus while I’m gone but I hope to get a few interesting posts up when I’m back. Have a great week!!
