Figured I better update my blog before people think I died or something.

Where do I start.

Walking ,I’m happy to report that while my lung function hasn’t been all that great this year, I am indeed still walking. I’m putting in about 22 miles a week, which is actually more than I was doing last year at this time. Unlike in previous years when I was doing all those races, I’m now walking primarily to stay active and in shape. Walking conditions my body in such a way, that makes it easier for me to tolerate my dyspnea. It also affords me the opportunity to get outdoors and to listen to my favorite tunes. Music always sounds better to me when its piped into my ears in high fidelity. Next to my guitar, I think my MP3 player is my favorite toy. I’m not ready to make an official announcement just yet, but there maybe another marathon attempt in my future. Stay tuned.

On the personal health front, I seem to be having more frequent severe exacerbations. Since April, Ive been hospitalized 3 times and had to be intubated during 2 of them. Fortunately, I now have wonderful pulmonologist following my care, which makes the difficult times just a little bit easier to get through. Knowing you have someone who you can call anytime and is there to help you, really makes a difference. I’m also having a VAP, venous access port put in. After 50 years and 104 hospitalizations, I have no veins left. This new port( which is implanted under the skin) will go a long way in stopping the torture I have to go through every time I need to have an IV started. Of course a central line carries it’s own risks, but to me it’s totally worth it.

Music, Well what can I say, except I love it and that it brings me a lot of joy. I wish I could play my guitar all day.
Ive only been playing now for about 4 months, but have regained most of what I had forgotten during my 35 year break. Bass playing styles and techniques have expanded exponentially since I last played. I’m really loving learning all these new methods. My real passion though is traditional jazz and rhythm and blues styles. I love latin and Motown too. Been experimenting with Mixcraft audio mixing software and have created a couple of tunes. ( I’ll post them in the future if you want). I’m hoping to attend one of Victor Wooton’s bass camps next spring. He’s a gifted bassist and a wonderful teacher.

Some traveling in the picture. So next month, if I don’t get sick, I’ll be taking my very first trip to the UK. Ive been to other parts of Europe , especially Italy where I have family, but Ive never been to England. I’m only going to be there for 12 days, but I have a lot crammed into those 12 day. I’ll be staying in both Bath and London and will travel to different areas of the country from those locations. I think England is such a beautiful country and I love the people. This trip has been in the planning stages for almost a year now. I’m getting itchy to go.

Asthma advocacy and support. I’m happy to report that membership and/or readership to both my blog forums and my Facebook SARP group continue to grow. We are creating a real community based on education, compassion and support for those suffering from this disease. Our members include world renowned scientists and physicians, Nurses and RTs , but mostly we have really nice people who have really bad lungs. If you have asthma or have an interest in it, please join us.

Finally, It’s my ( our) favorite time of the year, Autumn. Winston wanted to show off his Halloween costume with his fans.He’s a bit of a ham, like his human counterpart.

Tonight we had organic chile and beans. Took me all day to slow cook em, but man were they were delicious.

So after eating we go into the kitchen to clean up and guess who’s sitting in the sink with that innocent look on his face. Don’t tell me my cat like chile beans?

Earlier I had filled the pan with water to soak it so it would be easier to clean. Winston must have of got curious and started drinking from it. I hope it doesn’t permanently stain his fur. What am I gonna do with this cat?

Yup, I’m a severe asthmatic and my stress reliever is a cat! How weird is that.

One of the biggest problems of having asthma and living in a 120 year old Victorian house, is trying to keep the dust at bay. It’s not an easy task when you also have 3 indoor cats.. The fur collects everywhere. Now I know what you’re thinking…You’re an asthmatic and you have CATS? While my lungs are extremely sensitive to dust mites and other air-borne allergens, surprisingly, I’m not allergic to cat fur or cat dander, and therefore I choose to keep my furry feline friends. Nevertheless, pets create a lot of dust, so I vacuum frequently and I try to keep them out of my sleeping space.

Here are some of things Ive done to try to reduce the amount of dust in the area of the house in which I spend most of my time.

Today I did my first 11 miler (actually 10.8) of this training session and I think it went pretty well. I did a combination of regular walking and slow racewalking , finishing in just under 3 hours , which is just about right for this distance on a slow walk.
My body has become so conditioned to walking long distances, that even when I’m more short of breath than usual, I can still knock out a 10+ mile walk. I become so focused on what I’m doing, that having somewhat labored breathing doesn’t seem to bother me. Its not so much the dyspnea that slows me down, rather, it’s the bronchospasm which sometimes follows a long walk that cause big problems for me. And that’s exactly what happen today. The walk was easy as pie, but the aftermath might land me in the big house.

I was able to get through the walk with only 6 hits off my inhaler, about 2 puffs for every hour of walking, but by the time I made it back to my car, the puffer wasn’t cutting it anymore and I had to take a nebulizer treatment as I drove home. No biggie, that’s what usually happens after a long walk, but as the day progressed I got increasingly more wheezy and my PFs started to take a nose dive. Currently, I’m taking neb treatments almost every hour and only achieving minimal relief. I popped some extra ativan to take the edge off and will try to sleep propped up. If I get any tighter and/or my PF drops any lower…well, you know the drill. I’ll either turn around in the next few hours, or I’ll end up back on steroids or….lets not even go there.

So, for the year as a whole, it looks like I’ll be ending at just under 850 miles ,which is way down from previous years ,but probably not that bad when you consider I was hospitalized a record 5 times. It still averages out to more than 70 miles a month, and in total , more than 3,000 miles since I began this journey back in 2005. Walking has improved my health and made me stronger in so many ways. Now , if there was just a way I could do these long walks without making myself critically ill.
I don’t know about you , but I can’t say I’ll miss 2008 . Here’s to an easier, more gentle 2009 !

I leave you with more pictures of me and Winston.

My kids ..

Winston

Actually, Winston is just one of our little turkeys, but he seems to get most of the attention. We have another white silver tabby persian and a short haired black cat. I know what you’re thinking…You have bad asthma and you have 3 cats?
Believe it or not, I’m not allergic to cat fur or cat dander. Weird huh.
Anyways…

A good friend of mine , who knows I love cats….. sent me this video.

Winston’s favorite room has always been the kitchen. I remember the first day that he showed up at our doorstep, he went directly to the kitchen and plopped himself on the floor next to the stove. Now he spends most of the day ( and night) there.
Crazy like the occupants of this house.