"Circe" wrote in message
news:%dlPa.744$u51.628@fed1read05...
Just a quick note to let everyone know that I got home from the hospital
about 90 minutes ago and have been reading all your posts and well-wishes.

First, let me say that I'm utterly humbled and *very* grateful to you all.
It is amazing to have such an incredible network of people you've never
even
met who are caring about you and pulling for you. I really just
feel...humbled, maybe even a little embarrassed.

I know there've been some questions as to how I got myself into this mess
in
the first place, and the truth is, it was a bit of complacency on my part
and some really bad luck. I've been treating my asthma symptomatically for
years, and I knew what I was doing was not THE BEST treatment, but three
kids and a full-time job and the thousand other medical events we've had
'round here (big baby heads, broken arms, etc. ad infinitum) just kept
pushing that visit with my doctor off. And since I was not symptomatic
often--I could go literally days without problems--and since the albuterol
and serevent seemed to work well when I WAS having trouble, it didn't seem
like a pressing matter. Things obviously changed Monday morning.


sigh
If it helps, since I found out about your attack I've been VERY good about
taking my meds. I have mild-to-moderate asthma which is EXTRAORDINARILY well
controlled with 250/50 advair, singulair and zyrtec. It is okay with just
the zyrtec and advair or just the advair and singulair, and I can often
fudge and take the medicines less often if necessary, which is tempting,
because they cost $100 per month in copays.

But I haven't been fudging since I heard about your attack The fact of the
matter is that with a cat around, and pollen, and the ubiquitous molds and
dust that surround me, I flat out MUST take my medication. Funny thing,
too--since I've been taking it regularly, I actually feel better. When I
take it consistently, I don't get that sort of sticky feeling in my chest at
the end of the day.


Honestly, we don't really know what triggered this event, but I went from
a
very mild asthma attack to feeling like someone had literally shut the
door
between my upper airways and my lungs in under 10 minutes. It was
LIGHTNING
fast. I had my albuterol and my nebulizer, but because I couldn't get ANY
air into my lungs at all, they weren't helping.

Icky. I had a pulmonary embolism once, and that "can't breathe" feeling is
about the scariest I can imagine. Even a minor asthma attack (which is all I
usually get) is scary, and even with the embolism, the air would get into my
lungs, my lungs just wouldn't *do* anything with it once it was there.

The plan at this point is to get me on Advair as a 2x daily preventive,
with
plenty of albuterol as needed if I'm having trouble. I'm also scaling down
on oral steroids and taking an antibiotic prophylactically for a few more
days. In addition, the pulmonologist who saved my life (bless him) gave me
a
prescription for an epi-pen. If I had had one of those on hand when this
event started, I might have been in a bit better shape when I got to the
hospital, since it might have opened my airways enough to allow the
albuterol to get in and do some good. As it was, the only way to get air
into me was to intubate me and force it in there--and believe you me, my
lungs *know* they were forced to breathe against their will!

As we've been discussing this whole event, it has occurred to us that my
father's asthma worsened significantly when he was my age. He thought it
was
due to having his nasal passages "roto-rootered", but given that he was
39-40 and I'm 39, it seems entirely possible that our asthma triggers are
just designed to get worse at around this age. I am much more fortunate
than
he in that there are much better medications available these days to treat
asthma preventively, though!

Age does seem to be a factor--one of my aunts got worse right around the age
I did, 30 in our case. And the meds are SO much better now--I used to be
sick all the time. I mean, I'd get a cold every 3 weeks. From babyhood
through the time I was about 28. Then I went on Zyrtec, which helps
immensely. When I hit age 30 and everything went to hell in a handbasket,
singulair and advair just picked up and solved the rest of it. I haven't had
a sinus infection (flonase whenever I feel stuffy) in close to a year, and
aside from a brief almost-bronchitis which went away when my advair dose was
upped, I've felt remarkably well for quite a while. I used to only be able
to work about 70-80 hours per month, because I'd get sick so often--once I
had to miss 3 weeks of work straight--very hard for a single mother! Now I
consistently work 30 hours per week by choice, and have had maybe one or two
sick days in the past year.

All things considered, I'm amazed. Monday, I was at death's door and today
I'm home with my family. I am so incredibly blessed. And grateful to have
a
second opportunity to be a better wife, mother, daughter, and friend.
Thank
you so much for caring.

We're glad to have you back!

Jenrose