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Actually, I don’t know the answer, but I can speculate. Does anybody else feel like when they are really, really tired for any reason that they get more asthma symptoms? I do. When I was younger, my mom would always hate to let me go on sleepovers because the next day would invariably be rough. She noticed this pattern way before I did 
I don’t know that being tired actually causes asthma symptoms, maybe it’s just that my body and mind are less strong and can’t cope with the asthma that’s always there anyway? There’s really nothing about fatigue that should be an asthma trigger in and of itself. I don’t know, but it always feels like more work to breathe when I’m tired.
Anyway, all this to say that I myself am very very tired. A funeral followed by a few very late family party nights, followed by late nights trying to catch up in school and studying my butt off during the day means that I’m nearly burnt-out. I finally got the message yesterday when I tried to go running but couldn’t keep going, came home, crashed and fell asleep on my bed in my running clothes. I slept for 2 and a half hours. Asthma-wise, I’ve been “feeling it” much more this week. Although, this morning my mind, body and lungs feel refreshed. 
I guess I just needed a long nap!
So, I’m interested. Do you struggle with your asthma as much as I do when you are fatigued? What are your hypotheses on this phenomenon?
I had some awesome runs with my dad this weekend. I think he might have realized that I didn’t start running because my asthma was cured suddenly, but that I learned to run with my asthma. And I think he was impressed. The first day we went at an easy pace, but on the second day he kept pushing the envelope. Not one to be shown up, I responded. It took me awhile to recover but it really was a good run. It’s nice for someone to push you once in awhile, then you realize that you can do a little more than you thought. Of course, I pushed myself just because he was there too, wanting to appear as the strong one hehehehe.
There were many many wonderful parts of last week, despite the circumstances. Somehow my brain is total mush. Getting back to reality today has been…. odd. But if I just keep swimming everything will be ok.
Hi all, my grandpa passed away last night in his sleep. It’s funny because I was thinking about him yesterday and I was making plans to see him on Wednesday. Oh, life.
I’m sure this week will be stressful, as these things often are. I’m doing OK and handling it just fine. The silver lining is that my dad will be on his way here within a day or two.
I’m still not breathing well which as you know makes things harder to deal with. I may take a little blogging hiatus, or who knows maybe I’ll feel like I want to post more. In any case, thank you for your understanding. I’ve got a midterm to write momentarily, wish me luck.
We are getting a new roommate today!! We could not be more excited.
To celebrate our slob roomie moving out, we are having a cleaning party. Like MAJOR cleaning. We even emptied all our kitchen drawers to wipe them dowm. Everything looks great. Only thing is, I feel worse now than I did right after my run… now THAT is saying something. It is worth it and necessary though!
The new roommate has a Wii. Hurrah!
As of Saturday morning, I am still healthy! I’m still being extra cautious, but my guess is that my previous flu infection is preventing me from getting sick. My roommate is getting over her flu symptoms but she really does have a bad cough.
I want to go running and I can’t decide whether to wait for the rain to stop. I probably won’t.
I was thinking the other day about all the things I’m impatient for, and there are quite a few of them:
-December 22nd, when I fly away home for Christmas
-for my hair to grow so I can leave it down without looking like a TRIANGLE HEAD
-for my police check to go through so I can start volunteering at the children’s hospital
-for my midterms to be over
While these are all worthwhile things to look forward to (ok, maybe not the hair thing), what I am getting at is that it’s important not to wish your life away. I am very happy right now, and having a great time going to school and being with my school friends. It’s really important that I don’t let these “I can’t wait for…” thoughts horn in on just *being*. Being home for 2 weeks at Christmas can’t be the sole object of my daydreams, that’s just absurd. So, I’m making an effort to recognize just how happy I am NOW and to take things one day at a time.
A breathing update: I have a harder time at night these days, but overall I’m breathing quite well. Actually I’m breathing better than I should today for such a wet day. I’d better take advantage! Have a great weekend!
EDIT: I’m SO happy I went running in the rain! It makes being cooped up for the rest of the day actually tolerable.
That means… I did it!! I ran 10 km, I ran the whole way!! That in itself is enough to make me feel GREAT, but of course there were bumps along the way. I woke up this morning excited and breathing better than I had all week. Excellent!
The first 5 km were comfortable, I was battling with my own mind more than anything. I should have just taken the time to appreciate the beautiful day but instead I let myself get bored. The trees were gorgeous, the whole neighbourhood was a glowing gold colour.
At about 6 km, the wind picked up and we got out onto a main road. At this point I felt my breathing change and it got harder and harder to blow my air out. I really had to concentrate and focus hard to breathe properly, which, on the plus side, occupied my brain. The 6-8 km stretch was the worst, dyspnea-wise.
At about 7km I developed blisters and my shins got crampy. It seemed agonizing at the time, but now that I’m sitting here I can hardly remember what it felt like! I bet THAT is why people keep registering for races over and over again.
At 8km I felt sure I could do it. 2 more kilometers felt entirely do-able and I knew I could just bear down and run to the end. Then at 9km, I started to feel GREAT, I was flying! As I got to see the finish, with under half a km to go, I started running strong. I wouldn’t say I sprinted to the finish, but it was a pretty rockin’ pace! As soon as we got to the finish line, they fed us bagels and vegetarian beans!! Yummmm.
The only thing that really hurts right now is the arches of my feet, but I’m sure they will loosen up soon. My chest has gotten tighter since finishing the race, but I still feel pretty good! I’m perched on the couch at my aunt’s house right now, and I’m going to settle down with some studying soon. If I don’t move for the next few hours, that is fine with me!!
YAAAHOOOOOOOO!!!
I just completed my last training run for Sunday’s race. Seeing as deciding to run the 10k distance was a rushed deal, I haven’t put in the amount of training as I might have if I had had 6 weeks notice. Nevertheless, I’ve been running solidly for over a month and I hope it will be enough. Thanks to all for your encouragement! Here’s a brief look at this week’s training:
Saturday: 6 km
Sunday: 6 km
Monday: 15 minute swim (was cut short due to SOB)
Tuesday: rest day, too SOB for running
Wednesday: 7.5 km
Thursday: 3 km at tempo pace
Friday: 7.5 km
Now it’s rest time until Sunday morning!!
To be completely honest with you (as I try to always be) this week has not been optimal breathing-wise. I had 2 days where I felt too short of breath to exert myself too much and I’ve been pretty tight all week. To say I’m approaching this race with a little trepidation would be accurate. But, today I’m finally feeling better and I’m hoping that this will hold until after the race (and beyond!!). Also, the fact that I was able to train through most of it has given me a huge confidence boost.
I will of course give you a full race report sometime on Sunday. Wish me luck!!
This girl has not yet gone to medical school, and she fully appreciates that her doctors have.
But sometimes, sitting at the patient end of things, I notice a couple of subtle things that my doctors could maybe do a little bit better. I’ve seen a LOT of doctors in my career as an asthmatic -walk-in docs, emergency room docs, family doctors, pulmonologists and anesthesiologists -and most of the time I worship the ground they walk on because they help me breathe and treat me well. Still, here is a list of things I occasionally notice:
1. For Pete’s sake, please introduce yourself to me when you walk in the room. First off, it would be nice of you to let me know that you’re the doctor taking care of me. Also, you get to know *every last detail* about me, can I at least know your name??
2. Please do not talk to me as if I am a baby. I know that you see a ton of patients over the course of a day, all of them having varying degrees of comprehension of their state of health, and you’ve got to find a “one-size-fits-all” patient jargon. But when I come to you as a 20-year-old who gives you a clear and concise description of her symptoms and who shows you that she is informed about asthma and asthma treatments, I would really appreciate it if you would tell it to me as it is. More specifically, if you could use the real name of medications/class of medications and tell me what you plan on giving me and WHY, that would be awesome. It really helps when your doctor shows that they view you as an integral part in attaining optimal health.
3. Please, please, please, do not tell me that since I’m not wheezing that everything is OK, or that maybe it’s not asthma. First of all, it is now well established that not all asthmatics wheeze, that wheezing is not present in every exacerbation, and that absence of wheezing after wheezing was originally heard can be a sign of a worsening attack. My pulmo told me so himself. That aside, when you say this, and I know that I am using my accessory muscles to breathe and speaking in 3 word sentences, it makes me feel like you are not paying attention WHATSOEVER to how my asthma is presenting, and it scares me. It also makes me feel like you think I came in for nothing.
I think that’s it. If every doctor did all these things, I’d be the happiest patient ever. That being said, most doctors do and I’m grateful for it.
