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As you may know, Kerri and I have another blog, which we are guilty of ignoring sometimes, called ‘Good Day, Eh?’. We write about stuff that involves Canadian culture.
December is Canadian Christmas traditions month, where we post about our own little traditions that happen to be distinctly Canadian. There WILL be a vegetarian tourtière recipe, but that post is going to be so awesome that I’m going to put it up here too.
As fellow lungers and/or carers of lungers, I expect you all have above average knowledge of all things breathing. So, although you may not have been aware that tomorrow is world COPD day, I bet you can all tell me what COPD is, and I bet you all care something about it.
Janis Hass of the Canadian Lung Association approached me to help spread awareness, which I’m more than happy to do. Some facts about COPD, which I nabbed from the Canadian Lung Association website on COPD:
*It is most often caused by smoking (80-90% of the time). It can also be caused by the genetic lung disorder Alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency, or damage to the lungs from infections.
*1.5 million Canadians carry a diagnosis of COPD. That’s something like 4% of Canadians. In my books, that’s pretty significant and it’s on the rise.
*Associated symptoms are: shortness of breath, production of mucus, fatigue and frequent infections. I deal with some of these with my asthma, and I’m here to tell you that it’s not funny.
*Treatment includes medication (bronchodilators, inhaled or oral steroids, theophyllines) and supplemental oxygen.
*COPD patients take part in pulmonary rehab. This includes breathing techniques, exercise and COPD education. These kinds of programs are successful in relieving symptoms, and give more control for the patient. I’m all for that!
Canadian comedian Mary Walsh, best known for being on the cast of This Hour Has 22 Minutes (very high-larious, one of my favourite shows) has been getting involved. As part of TeamCOPD, she’s been spreading the word, and has a number of videos on YouTube. Here’s two of them, go here to see the rest.
In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.We are the dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved, and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.— Lt.-Col. John McCrae (1872 – 1918)Well I think that this poem pretty much sums up why we celebrate Rememberance Day. As a teenager, it took me a long time to understand why we would honour anything to do with war, since we are a society that so values pacifism. It’s a day to be grateful to those who fought and lost their lives at a time when the world was in such an atrocious, horrifying condition, and it’s a time to reflect on what we need to do to achieve/maintain peace in this world. Lest we forget.Are YOU wearing your poppy?
I picked up my race t-shirt and bib!! The race is tomorrow and I’m really excited.
Hélène is my grandmother, by the way. She died of breast cancer when my dad was 18, at age 51. When I picked up my race pack, I looked at the t-shirt and bibs and had an unexpected wave of weepiness (maybe prednisone induced, I’ll get to this in a sec). Leading up to this run, I was thinking of it as a run, as a way to assess how I’m coming along with my running and how my lungs are holding up to it. Then I realized that this is a community event too, actually a damned big national community event, and that we’re all running for one reason. So many people have been touched by breast cancer, and everybody’s running for someone.
And while I hesitate to call the loss of my grandmother *my* loss, since I never met her, it kills me to think that if she had gotten sick 20 years later, she may have been a survivor. Then, my dad would have had his mother through his young adulthood, my grandpa probably wouldn’t have gotten so f-ing messed up, and I would have had the chance at a relationship with a very special (so I’m told) woman. So now that I am holding my “hope” t-shirt in my hands, I’m finding it a little overwhelming. I know that tomorrow, with everybody in their goofy pink race attire, will be even more overwhelming, but I’m sure that it will be in a good way.
Kerri is doing the Run for the Cure too, in her own city. Go Kerri! Steve of BreathinStephen is doing a half marathon in San Jose tomorrow. You rock Steve! I can’t wait to hear about how your guys’ day goes.
OK, so now on to my health, which has taken a turn for the worse in the past 24 hours. I got worse and worse from about 2:30 on yesterday afternoon, peaking at about 10 PM. I had a very hard time sleeping but fortunately I was able to sleep in some this morning. I was having trouble functioning this morning and feeling really really tight, so I cracked open a bottle of prednisone. I’m obviously in a hurry to feel better so I didn’t hesitate too much with it; I could hardly walk to the bathroom when I woke up. I told myself if there was no improvement by mid-morning I would go to urgent care and get some nebs into me. But I’ve been feeling much less tight for the past hour or so. I ran this plan by my friend XE, which helped tremendously. Thanks girl!
I’m still planning to do the run, as long as I feel well enough to run in the morning. If not, I’ll walk it. If I feel really bad, I’ll skip it and probably go to the doctor seeing as it will be 24 after starting pred. BUT, I’m still planning on running!!! I’m just really trying to get those lungs open today so that tomorrow will be fantabulous. Wish me luck! I AM being smart so please don’t worry.
Hi everyone, I’m here to tell you that the asthma drug Singulair was developed my Merck Frosst in none other than the Canadian city of Montreal! I thought you’d all like to know this piece of trivia. Also, the mont in Montelukast, the drug’s generic name, is a little homage to the city. How about that?
There’s actually a large billboard outside the Merck building in Montreal underlining this fact.
Just finished watching So You Think You Can Dance Canada. In case you’re wondering, they’ve narrowed it down to the top 46 and the top 20 will be revealed Sunday.
The reason I’m writing about this is because of a certain competitor that I noticed. At her audition, she mentioned she had lung issues that caused her to have a lot of scar tissue (pulmonary fibrosis?). They didn’t put a whole lot of emphasis on her during the Toronto week, but I noticed that she was still standing at the end of today’s episode. Oh yeah, and her name is also Danielle. I promise, it’s not me : )
Anyway, go dancer Danielle! I’ll be rooting for you and your lungs!
OK, I know, I know I always blog about the weather. It’s for two reasons: the weather affects my asthma a whole bunch, but also it’s because I’m Canadian and we are obsessed with talking about the weather. Seriously, we don’t talk about the “Bachelorette” and “So You Think You Can Dance” at the water cooler, we talk about snow. Or rain, or hail, or whatever else the sky is doing. Don’t ask why, we just do. If you ever want to revive a dead conversation, casually say “So how about that storm last night eh?” Or “Cold enough for ya out there?”
I digress. What I really wanted to tell you is this: today it is so cold out that my father is lighting a fire in the fireplace as we speak and we are dining on my mom’s homemade rice and vegetable soup. There may be hot chocolate in a few minutes.
Breathing is still the same, ie not great. Had a bit of a rough time at work but thankfully I only had to sit at the computer and work on my presentation.
Oh yes, and a prize to whoever can tell me where the title of this post comes from! Without using google.
Here are the answers to my Canada day quiz. No one has tried it yet : (
1. Name the current Prime Minister of Canada (Bonus: name the party that is currently heading the government)
Stephen Harper, Conservative Party.
Aside: most people agree that our most right-winged party (the conservative party) is more liberal that the democratic party of the US.
2. Name the capital
Ottawa, Ontario. It’s a beautiful city!
3. Name 4 of the 13 Canadian provinces or territories
Provinces: Newfoundland, New Brunswick, Price-Edward Island, Nova Scotia, Quebec, Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, British Columbia.
Territories: Yukon, Northwest Territories, Nunavut
4. Name as many Canadian musicians as you can think of
Some that stick out in my mind: Celine Dion (say what you will but that woman has PIPES), Leonard Cohen, Paul Anka, James Ehnes my fave violinist, Rufus Wainwright, Martha Wainwright, Nelly Furtado, Diana Krall, Joni Mitchell, Tegan & Sara, Neil Young and…. RAFFI!
Bands: Alexisonfire, Bif Naked, Blue Rodeo, The Tragically Hip, Great Big Sea, Crash Test Dummies, The Dears, The Guess Who, Metric, Rush, The Rankins (couldn’t resist), The Weakerthans
And MORE!
5. Name Canada’s only certified bilingual province
New Brunswick! Betcha thought it was Quebec eh? Quebec is legislated francophone but definitely not bilingual.
6. What is the name of the federal police force of Canada? (famous for their uniform)
RCMP, or Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Fondly dubbed the “mounties”. Most of the time they ride around in cars, not on horses. Their red uniform (called the red surge) is famous but they usually wear normal police outfits
7. How many times have the Olympics been in Canada (excluding Vancouver/Whistler 2010 coming up)
Twice. 1976 Summer games in Montreal and 1988 Winter games in Calgary. Both were before I was born.
8. Where in Europe is there Canadian land?
Vimy Ridge in France. Vimy was the site of an important battle during WW1 where the Canadian forces made great contributions. The land was granted to Canada in 1922 in perpetuity. I visited Vimy in 2007 for the 90th anniversary of the battle, it was a phenomenal experience.
9. Which sport is Canada’s obsession?
Hockey! If you didn’t know that, you are crazy.
HAPPY 4th OF JULY TO MY AMERICAN FRIENDS
Ok I think I’m truly on the mend people! Not like yesterday where I faked myself out in the afternoon and then spiked a fever before bed and felt like crap again. I tried to walk around the block with my sister this afternoon which proved to be disastrous for the lungs. My peak flows are so atrocious I won’t even tell you what percent I’m at but the point is that I can feel the sicky feeling lifting. Hurray hurray. HURRAY.
We had huge hailstorm this afternoon, typical June. I wouldn’t have wanted to be caught out on a bicycle at that point let me tell you! My sis and I filmed it just for good measure. I was going to put up the video but the file kept getting lost in my computer and it’s just as well because we were being very ridiculous. Typical us.
And finally, I must pick your brains: do you know a good way to relieve pain in the ribs caused by excessive strain (read: coughing?) Other than Tylenol, I mean. It’s not my lungs that are hurting like in pleurisy, just my intercostal muscles. Peace!
Mother Nature, you are weird.
