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Lessons learned from Boston/
It’s been just over 2 weeks now since I did the Boston marathon, and except for today, which I can’t blame on the marathon, Ive managed to stay pretty healthy. That hasn’t always been the case right after a big race. Looking back on how things played out on Boston weekend, I think the strategy [...]
Full Story »Behind that finish line smile
Ok, so I look really strong in some of my finish line photos, but believe me.. looks can be very very deceiving. I’m an expert at hiding what I feel inside (I think most asthmatics are, to some degree.) Behind those smiles were waves of excruciating pain shooting down my legs. My breathing was really [...]
Full Story »Knocked down, but not defeated
(Arterial Line) Thanks everyone for your support and especially to Dr Wensel for staying in close contact during my 98th hospitalization. Thanks also to ALL the wonderful nurses who took care of me..You guys are awesome! Most of all, thank you to my dear Douglas who goes through hell every time I get sick. I’m [...]
Full Story »#97 , misinformation and a virus from Hell
Battle scars: 4 failed arterial line attempts and 12 failed IV attempts. I have no veins left and my radial arteries are so scarred up from previous insertions, that it’s virtually impossible to get access unless they put a central line in. Very frustrating for the doctors and very painful for me. I’d been having [...]
Full Story »Number 96
Thanks everyone for all your kind emails while I was in the slammer. The hospital volunteer who brought the messages to my bedside, said he’d never delivered so many messages to one person , and that I must be pretty popular:-) Sorry I couldn’t respond to each one individually, but I read all one of [...]
Full Story »72 hours of hell.
I always try to write a little something about each and every hospitalization Ive experienced, but this is one Id just as soon forget about. In total , I spent 7 days in the hospital, 6 of them in the Intensive care unit, 3 of those days spent on continuous Bipap with an Albuterol bleed-in [...]
Full Story »Number 94….
…………..As in my 94th hospital admission for asthma. I had been feeling really crumby most of that weekend prior. My dyspnea was increasing and my peak flows were gradually trending downward. By Sunday evening it was pretty evident that this flare-up was getting worse , not better. I bolused myself with 60mg prednisone and decided [...]
Full Story »6 times a day
I had planned to write a post about my nebulizer treatment routine, but then I thought….what the heck, I’ll just video it! Its spontaneous , unedited and kinda lame, but it’s the real deal and it’s what I have to do at least 6 times a day. ( recorded on 1-28-2009) Related Posts:Asthma Breathing Zones [...]
Full Story »13 miles…. but at what price ?
OK, I’m starting to get a little frustrated. Ive been doing everything by the book in training for the upcoming marathon in March, but it seems that my body has other plans. It was an absolutely gorgeous Saturday morning and a perfect day for walking in San Francisco, but once again, a couple hours after [...]
Full Story »RT/Asthmatic/Patient
All this buzz about inhalers ,nebulizers and hospitals , got me to thinking of various situations, in which Ive been involved. Not always practicing what I preach. As I’m sureHeliox . As is pretty typical, they kept me on the continuous neb for about 96 hours. That’s’ around 736 Albuterol treatments in just a 4 [...]
Full Story »Asthma update
No major major complaints for the time being, but as always on the asthma front, there’s some good news and then there’s some not so good news. Here’s the latest: Ive been in my “green” breathing zone pretty much steadily now for the last 6-7 weeks and Ive been off the prednisone for almost 5 [...]
Full Story »Multi-tasking
When you spend as much time behind a nebulizer as I do, you learn to put that time to good use. A back massage, reading a good
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