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I think I mentioned before that it’s practically impossible for me to go home after exams and not get sick. It’s like my brain tells my immune system “It’s OK, you’re at home now, your maman is right here to take care of you, you can take a break”. And this year has been no exception. I woke up yesterday with a sniffely cold, which means I decided not to go skiing. It was -25 C anyway so my dad decided not to go either. Oh well, nothing has been ruined, I stayed home yesterday and jammed with my brother ALL DAY. It was so good.
Today is the tourtiere cook-a-thon, then a skate (wooot!) then visiting then midnight mass then TOURTIERE feast yummmmmm.
Merry Christmas to you and yours, I very much hope you are sharing it with special people.
Hola! I am home and pretty much in heaven. I’m going skiing tomorrow with my dad and bro, powwwwder time!!! I’m trying nice fat new skis which I’m stoked about. 
Holy smokes I’m done!!
This has officially been, hands down, the HEALTHIEST exam season so far. No oral steroids, pneumonia, doctors or anything. I am very proud of myself.
Now, I have to madly pack as I haven’t done anything yet and I have to get up at 4:30 tomorrow! It’s totally worth it though. I can’t even tell you how excited I am to be going home to see my family and friends, and to go SKIING in the Rockies.
Hello! C’est moi! I thought I’d post a little running update for those interested. Recently, it became winter, which has meant I’ve done some adjusting.
First of all, I’d say I run about three days a week now, as opposed to the five days I did during the fall. This kind of sucks and I should try and get myself out more, despite the lack of sunlight and the colder temperatures.
The cold air is an issue. I’ve discovered that around -10 C is about the coldest I can run at. I have an awesome lycra neckwarmer thing that I pull up to my eyeballs and it really helps. It does get a little hot and moist in there though. I’ve been running 3 km at a time, which considerably less than I had worked up to in the fall, but is about as far as I can go without my lungs protesting and burning.
The snow is not an issue. The sidewalks are either plowed or salted and so far there’s rarely ice on them. I do need to pay a little more attention to my footing these days though.
Rather than being disappointed with my reduced running frequency and distance, I’m just happy that I’m getting outside and exercising rather than staying inside in my pyjamas all day (which is quite easy to do during winter exam period). Also, I’m super stoked that my lungs have actually been extremely cooperative lately. So yay for running.
My dad and I are looking forward to running together when I go home, but the weather there is extremely cold and dry out there (think -35 C) so we’re just going to have to see.
Yep, it’s my one year blogoversary! I remember starting this blog last year during exams, I was in much the same position and frame of mind I am in now. I have no idea why I just decided to start it up one day but I’m glad I did. I can’t believe I kept it up for a year, that I was able to write about breathing for a whole year! Thanks to everyone one who reads and to those who faithfully comment and offer advice!
You know one thing I like about asthma blogging? It makes me accountable, and makes me take better care of myself. I stopped doing really dumb stuff that might cause me to have an asthma attack because I think about how embarrassed I’d be to have to say “oh yeah, I just got back from the hospital because I decided to go to my friend’s horse show”. (Ok, I never was so dumb as to go to a horse show, but you get the picture).
In other news, it’s only six sleeps until home! Two more exams to go, Saturday and Monday. I’m feeling pretty good about these exams but have lots of studying to do yet. It’s verrry snowy here but when the sun shines I take a break to go running. Running in snow is like running on the beach: although the snow is packed down on the sidewalks, I still feel like I’m going at half speed but getting twice the workout!!
Breathing is still VERY good. I think I mentioned that I increased my inhaled corticosteroids so I’m at two puffs of symbicort and two of pulmicort twice a day. It’s really doing the trick, I think. I feel way less twitchy these days. Whenever I up my inhaled steroids, I get a sore throat. After the last time this happened I improved my routine so that I always brush my teeth after I take my puffers and I’m doing a good job of rinsing, but it’s still happening. Any other suggestions to minimize this? Anyway, I’ll take this scratchy throat over unpredictable breathing any day.
Oh yeah, and it’s six sleeps until home!!
I promised I would post my recipe for vegetarian tourtière, so here it is! In French Canadian tradition, the holiday meal is served after midnight mass on Christmas Eve, which is also when presents are opened. This is what we call the ”réveillon”. The dish of honour is ”la tourtière”, which is essentially a pork pie. My dad makes a mean tourtière, really he does, and always gets nostalgic about using his mom’s recipe. If there’s one thing I regret about being a vegetarian, it’s not being able to eat dad’s tourtière on Christmas Eve. My sister and I have generated this replacement, which I adapted from one that I bought at a local bakery and loved. Just don’t tell papa that it’s better than the meat version, or he may pout. We also eat this on New Year’s Eve.
Note: Use any pie crust recipe you like, most people have favourites. I use an all butter one, but there are vegan recipes out there too. Also, I’m pretty much just guesstimating the amounts, sorry I’m working off the top of my head here.
Ingredients:
1 cup uncooked quinoa. (It’s a grain, you buy it at a health food store. I’m pretty sure you could substitute any grain you have on hand but this one works well)
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 onion
A large handful of sliced mushrooms
1/2 cup sunflower seeds
Tamari to taste (probably like a 1/4 cup)
Allspice (the secret ingredient to the pork version)
Oregano, basil, any other spices you think you might like.
Cook the quinoa (2 pts water, 1 pt quinoa and let it simmer away until the water has evaporated). In a frying pan, fry up olive oil and onion. Add the mushrooms when the onion starts too look translucent. Add in the tamari and spices, then the sunflower seeds at the last minute. Combine the quinoa with the contents of your frypan. Sample the mixture, and if it’s missing something, add some spices. Put all that into your pie crust, stick on the top crust, and put it in the oven. Bake at 350 F at 25 minutes or until it looks done.
Also, listening to ”La Bottine Souriante” while making tourtière is pretty essential
My morning and evening med routine isn’t all that rigourous. Two different puffers (sometimes three), one pill, and I’m golden. Four puffs and a swallow. Sometimes that simple action can really emphasize how the days are cycling round, I think about time, and how I don’t even remember what I did, but I find myself at my desk again, puffing and swallowing. And again, and again. That repetitiveness, that constant part of my day, makes time go faster. Sometimes, while puffing and swallowing, I get the feeling that I’ve been here a thousand times before, that I’ve let another day go by without doing something important to me, and I notice how the days pile up and the seasons change. I think about how I should make my day about more than gravitating from bed to meds to (daily business) to meds to bed. Of course, my days are about much more than that, but sitting at my desk taking my meds, I can get caught up in a bit of a world.
I wonder, will I be going through the same motions when I am an old woman? What about me will have changed?
Microbiology is done and I feel like the weight of 65 sumo wrestlers has been lifted off my shoulders. It went pretty well, I thought.
One of the MCQs was to recognize a certain microbiologist from way back when, based on a picture. I know I got it right but I’m a little miffed at that question. I mean, I spent hours and hours memorizing the life cycles of several viruses and bacteria, and you ask me to remember which scientist had a monocle and a bald head??? In 3rd year microbiology??? (It was Robert Koch by the way)
Anywho, now I have five whole days until my next exam. I’m taking tonight off to help my aunt decorate her Christmas tree. It should be fun, but it won’t be the same as decorating my family’s tree back home. You know how every ornament is just drenched in nostalgia and has a story behind it? Yeah. Tomorrow, I’m also gonna take a break from studying and use the half day to do some MUCH needed cleaning and shopping. Seriously, my room is dusty and a mess, the bathtub is begging for a scrubdown, and I cannot eat toast and peanut butter for another meal. Then there is my Christmas list….
Health-wise, all is well. I’ve been breathing well for several days in a row! I’ve recently increased my inhaled steroids, which is probably the reason why. I have regrettably not exercised in the past few days. I need to, absolutely. Who thinks I have the fortitude to go running in the snow??
I’m kind of relieved to be starting exams, to have one finished, and to have that stressful suspense go away! I’m ready, I think. We had a huge snowstorm yesterday and I stayed inside and studied all day, it was kind of nice. Today I’ve gotta face the elements!
Breathing ok, despite feeling under the weather from this cold. OK, time to get my boots on and go do this!
