Step 1: Feel better.

OK so yesterday I confirmed with a physician - lets be honest here, I'm not a people doctor - that I have asthma.  Evidently people with asthma need to take a lot of drugs.  For those that live with this condition chronically and don't just get it randomly throughout life, only to have it disappear for a decade, I salute you and sympathize with you.  The drugs don't make you feel well.  :(  I'm taking prednisone to reduce any inflammation in my respiratory tract and while I'm on this systemic steroid, I'm starting on a preventative inhaled steroid, an allergy/asthma drug called singulair and I have a "rescue" inhaler which is used for "attacks."  I don't have the type of asthma where my throat closes up and I have to call an ambulance.  I have the kind where you just hack and cough and feel like someone is sitting on your chest for a few hrs and then it somehow alleviates itself or you get exhausted and fall asleep.

Last night I learned that the rescue inhaler might have been a good idea to PICK UP from the pharmacy.  I was all "nah, I wont need it cause I am not that bad and don't have That Kind of asthma."  Imagine my surprise when I lay in bed hacking up chunks of my lungs from 11PM-12:30AM.

Therein lies part of my underlying problem.

I would never advise someone else NOT to pick up the rescue inhaler that the PA at my doc office told me only hours before that I should have.  So why did I do that to myself?

I really don't want to be taking all of these drugs.  That's all there is to it.  It is admission of the following:
     1.  I am not superwoman and I do not defy the laws of physiology.
     2.  I cannot just ignore certain issues that have been plaguing me for months (this damn cough).
     3.  I am really not taking very good care of myself because WAAH it takes time and effort.

#3 is really the major issue here.

So, this memorial day weekend, I will drink zero alcohol because I really would be an idiot to do that on prednisone AND the antibiotic AND inhaled steroid AND AND AND everything else.  I will stay out of the sun for long periods because prednisone increases your blood pressure and makes you sweat more and anyone who know me knows I hate to sweat.  And finally, I will not run around like a crazy person aggravating my poor sore lungs.  I will sit sweetly on the chair and laugh and take photos of everyone else playing in the pool and actin' crazy.

I hope everyone has a nice holiday weekend.  Once we get me feeling BETTER we will move on to how I got here and how I get fixed.

Thanks for being with me!
S