Good News
The good news is that I survived the weekend without coughing my lungs out entirely.
The good news is that I have asthma.
The good news is that I don't have to deal with asthma on a daily basis.
The bad news is, because I don't have to deal with asthma on a daily basis, my treatment plan will be unique, rather than simply taking a pill every day to stave off the symptoms.
I don't really care about the bad news though because the good news is that I have an OFFICIAL DIAGNOSIS!
The vampire got me while I was at the doctor's office... once to get some blood and once to administer a TB test. The vampire also required me to take a breathing test which required me to exhale into a tube for 6 seconds. SIX SECONDS! Do you any freakin' idea how long 6 seconds is? A long time. Especially when you can't breathe. I'm sure that if I were healthy, it wouldn't be such a challenge, but I'm not so it just about killed me. The breath test indicated that my lungs are not doing very well right now. I can't remember exactly what they were testing, but I was only at 62%. That's not good.
I now have a prescription for the following medications:
Antibiotics
Albuterol Inhaler
Steroid Inahler (I can't remember it's name)
Prednisone
Robitussin with Codeine
I even have permission to experiment with the dosage for my Robitussin. The goal is to find the amount of Robitussin that I can take to stop the coughing, but not make me pass out.
I'm really excited because I really like this doctor, I'm thrilled that I have a diagnosis, and I really believe he is going to help me get control of my never-ending bronchitis in a way that doesn't necessarily require me to go to the doctor every time I start coughing.
Just to clarify, I am not all about avoiding the doctor. I like the doctor and I want the doctor that I see to be on top of my treatment. However, when I go through the same thing several times of years, sometimes it would be nice just to know how to (and be able to) start treatment at the first signs of illness instead of waiting until I am two weeks into dying.
It's a good day!
Labels: Sick
posted by Queen Karana @ 10:59 PM
5 Comments:
Hey! I have asthma! We must be twins!
Hey! I have asthma too! The 62% was probably O2 stats, and yes, that's low. The only thing lower than that I've ever seen was 56% and that was baaaaad. If that was with oxygen already hooked up to you, then that's terrible. But O2 should have helped a lot.
Karen....
I hope you feel better with all this. I remember you suffered with bronchitis quite a bit when you lived back here, too.
Knowledge is power! I'm glad you have some power over your health!
WOW!!! i'm so glad you have someone that finally gave the diagnosis needed to FINALLY get you on the road to feeling better.
62%? man, how do you even walk around with that kind of stat?
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