Bolus Dosing

….Yesterday I had to bolus dose a huge amount of Prednisolone….

I’d been back at baseline-10mg-for around a month but I could feel lately, things have been getting quite twitchy with all the pollen and rain and humidity. Yesterday was an awkward lung day. I cancelled my Physio as I thought it would be too extreme: Autogenic Drainage plus the coughing and no point in deliberately coughing myself into another attack or spasm. So I contacted my Consultant to say I felt I was slipping and could I whack a big Pred dose. The email came back immediately saying to take a whacking great 50mg or 60mg depending on how I was after nebbing from my O2 concentrator-which is slow, but does boost the vitals. My Sats were not terrible, mid 80s on air, but went back into the low 90s after a couple of nebs at lunchtime. And although the tightness prevailed, I knew I was still heaving air and very uncomfortable. So at tea time I bolus dosed a whacking great 60mg, which bumped my oral Pred for the day up to 70mg!

I have had a weird night of drifting in and out of wild floaty dreams, whilst propped up in bed on 5L of O2. And I am now greater than thirsty! Drunk a huge amount of water through the night and was craving coke before that-hoping that the theobromide in it would boost my Aminophylline levels! I do feel a lot better and have definitely nipped this attack in the bud and done the right thing.

I’ve also been instructed to take a lunchtime dose of my Advair for a few days-this will put me 3 times over the limit for the LABA component. Sigh, dodgy heart rate and chronic shakes!

If the proof that I am going to school smiling as usual is not enough, I blew a 59% which is low yellow and therefore proves the Pred has kicked in. Still dodging a pants FEV1 of 0.8, but hey, that’s me!

Medical definition says of Bolus dose = “medication administered rapidly to decrease the response time”

….Well, I sure did the rapid bit and it sure has worked quickly….

We’ve all got Hay Fever!

…..All 3 of us are sneezing, even little Anna-Bell!…..

It seems the dreaded summer allergy season has hit Tow Towers all at the same time. Julian and I have got the same symptoms and Anna-Bell keeps sneezing like you wouldn’t believe when she goes in the garden to play!

The pressure is high but we have had no rain so the pollutants and pollen have become down right nasty here. Julian and I have both got these non stop muzzy heads, and sinus pressure and aching ears, plus of course, the sneeziness and wheeziness in my case and itchiness in all our eyes, A-B’s included.

I guess it’s a case of keep on doing the old adages, close those open windows at dusk when it all comes down, wash those net curtains weekly, shower off after being outside, don’t wear outdoor clothes laying down on the bed for a nap (very guilty), and stay out of the outdoors at the worst pollen forecast times.

We are both on Nasonex and A-B is having her eyes bathed with cold water when they get really watery. It doesn’t seem to bother her, but how would she tell me if she also had The Headache?!

It’s been such a glorious summer so far, and neither of us suffer that badly although I have noticed my SATS have dropped and I am currently really feeling much more huffy puffy than I was, so my chest is a bit off it’s recent good norm. I’m almost down to baseline Pred but don’t want to do that last 5mg drop yet as every time I plan it I have a chesty attack and get reminded I probably need more. It’s just a number so I’m not going to beat myself up over one extra red tablet!

…..So I’m off to wash my eyes out again-typing this in the garden has been a challenge too!…..

Wednesday Weevils Wobble!

…..I wobbled after school  last night…..

Couldn’t get out of that after school Faculty meeting yesterday afternoon quick enough-was pelting down the corridors of doom on the top floor on full speed-even poor Scootie was puffing!

I got home and thought I was going to faint. That weird blood sugar low feeling when you come over all shaky and sweaty and very peculiar feeling. Checked my O2 SATS: 83%. That explained it. I’m also now almost at baseline Pred so this is my wobbly crucial time too. Texted Julian-mini riot act was read to me-put your O2 on now and sit still. So that I did. An initial 10 mins of 5L and then down to my rescue me 3L level.

No walking AB slowly round the block so I let her run amok chasing pigeons in the garden whilst I sat on the bench with E.T. in the shade and breathed in deeply. And had a cup of tea and some marmite rice cakes to pick me up off the floor, energy wise.

I used to get so air trappy on Wednesdays as it is such a hard teaching day for me and I back up so much stale CO2 talking like that-add to that a rehearsal p5 and a meeting and I was literally on my knees.

I couldn’t even detect the pollen or the ash cloud-double weirdness-it was all just my dysfunction not that of the air outside for once.

Going to have to check my enthusiastic pace today-I’ve got my band and some musicians playing for a Eucharist first lesson and have to keep going for another after school session-detention duty.

 …..I really don’t want to come home in that fit for nothing state again today!….

((Half term in 2 days and counting!))

Sofa Slumbering!

…..It seems that every night, without fail, Anna-Bell and I konk out on the sofa for a nap that usually lasts about 2 hours!….

And whilst this snoring is going on (the dog not me!) Julian catches up with watching backlog episodes of Deal or or Deal (enough to send anybody to sleep) and plays around with his Nikon and macro!

It’s not just because I have a dog to cuddle that I fall asleep the second dinner is over, it’s just that my body works so hard to get through the day on half a normal person’s lungs, that everything is really twice as much effort and I go through life permanently shattered. It has unfortunately been getting steadily worse, this need of mine to sleep at a moment’s notice, although I really do not sleep well in bed at night. Crazy! And yes, I do have lower oxygen levels in my body which drains me, and yes, I do sleep at night with oxygen so perhaps I should be wearing it when I’m sleeping in the evening too-something Julian goes on and on about to me!

In the Autumn/Winter when I was so sick before Christmas, I spent weeks upstairs in bed, needing those duvet days of total R and R, TV, snacks and chicken soup. But in January, at exactly the same time as getting Anna-Bell, we also got two new sofas for our TV room, one of which is a sofa bed ((canny move there, Sus!))

So instead of napping upstairs, or going to bed early like any sensible person would do, we all curl up on the big black leather sofa with the warm, furry throws-bought with the dog in mind!

I do feel sorry for Julian. We used to have a great little social life-the odd meal out: the odd drink at the pub which is walking distance for a healthy guy. Now I feel we are pinned in by my chronic and constant exhaustion. We do occasionally go out for a drive after dinner. Something that was fun over Christmas to see the lights and the snow. Now we put the Puppy to bed (she sure needs her sleep too,) and we pile in the warm merc. I love these night drives, but I’m always on the verge of drooping eyelids as we ogle the big houses on the private estate in Northwood!

Of course it’s really nice to get the occasional take-out but I do miss odd meals out. Although the economy has sure put paid to that too! I’m really hoping I can improve my level of fitness to something a bit better than hibernation now that Spring has sprung. I am back enjoying my swimming at the Club-wretched rib pain and asthma permitting, and I want to enjoy the longer days and lighter evenings instead of feeling, (and sadly, I do feel this), that I am sleeping my life away.

So OK, I haven’t been at all well, actually J hasn’t either. It’s truly been a bummer of a winter.

…..But we have new sofas and a new puppy to cuddle, so, you know, I might just continue this sofa slumbering, until the weather really warms up, and so what!……

Le Verdict!

….I took my cough to the Drs this morning!….

That Cough. Le Cough. Le Appointment. Le Docteur. Le Veridct. (Le Boring!)

And this is what transpired, bearing in mind  that my Drs is just doors away and I can leave home 5 minutes before my appointment time! So I generally go straight in as they don’t like to keep me sitting in Le Germ Factory aka Waiting Room!

• I coughed as I walked the corridor leading to her door-she heard it!
• I told her I’d had the Flu last week and still had The Cough. She couldn’t believe I’d managed to catch the flu before getting my shot (and I still haven’t had it!)
• She tapped my back and listened  to my crackles.
• Verdict: Not much air moving in my basals-lots of “creps” pity she didn’t prescribe “crepes!”
• She said it was all rattling around but understood how with my low PEF it is very hard to expectorate sufficiently. I told her my bottle of Benylin had been purely ‘feel good’ and the antibiotics were only just taking effect.
• She asked if I had dared blow a PF last week and I said I hadn’t. So she had me blow 2 there and then, and the highest was 220 (about 61%)
• She asked what I was doing with my Pred , to which I answered ‘upping it for odd doses if I was really chesty but hopefully remaining at 20mg’. She bought that! After all, my asthma has been surprisingly under control through this whole Cough thing.
• She checked my SATS. 91% on 2L O2. Not surprising considering the thickness of the phlegm I’ve got lingering in my lungs.

So she talked about Carbocisteine. And prescribed me a thrice daily dose of the syrup-tastes like rum, smells like cinnamon!

Oh and to carry on with the antibiotics for another week. So wrote me up for another stock packet of them.

And off home I went, via the pharmacy and picked up ‘Les Medicines’.

But why have I come over all French?

Well, because I now have a French cough syrup to add to my Greek Seretide and Italian Nexium.

And even the ingredients and dosage instructions are in French too. (Wish it was Rum-I’m already not that mad on the flavour of the stuff-3 times a day-yeuch!)

….So much for Britain  staying separate from Europe, quite amusing really, we’re borrowing all their drugs, and my Euro collection of medications is ever increasing!….

Our Dizzy Desert Days…

….are BACK again!….

Can you tell from my side bar SATS and Stats that we are back in Palm Springs?

After an all time O2% low in Page, Arizona, of 86% I have actually woken up this morning feeling energised with SATS of 95%-just 1% below where I should be after a night on 2L.

Our drive back here yesterday was long (530 mies). Everything in US terms is bigger. The weather has been hotter, the altitudes higher, the distances driven greater. We love this country. God Bless it. We have just driven the equivalent of  1/6th of the way across it and we are-as we say, ‘cream crackered’!

And now-safely returned to our Desert-these are the things I will instantly notice today:

• There’ll be no clouds-the sky will be an enormous, open expanse of blueness.
• There will be no humidity and no afternoon monsoon thunder showers and lightening shows
• Julian will not have an ‘altitude sickness’ headache.
• The kettle will boil at 100c and we will make decent tea!
• My emergency superglue will not explode when I open it.
• Alcohol will have less effect!!
• Susannah will breathe without sounding like a steam train.

Of course there are more things:

• Palm Trees-you should have heard us whooping for joy when we saw Palm Trees as we entered the Coachella.
• Our Mountains-Granite not red rock!
• Our underground parking lot-not having to put the windshield sunshade up many times a day!

But don’t get me wrong. We had THE BEST time in Page, AZ-which is why we went back there this year-and for longer, too-and we are planning another trip there, but maybe not for 2 or 3 years!

But we are desert rats. We come here to Heat and Eat our way through the summer.

Julian and I are are going to enjoy sifting through his 7 Gigabytes of photos (he tells me!-14 bit Raws+Jpeg Basic, HDRs Panoramas etc)….

….And today, I will be able to swim again….

Desert Updates!

….Thought this would be interesting for me to trackback to, at least!….

• Pari Neb:  is totally behaving himself after my pre-vacation panic over his on/off switch’s reliability!
• Swimming: I am keeping it up by doing a daily 40 minute swim at about the same tempo= approx 1 km
• SATS: They’re seeming to be better, but I am dropping them after exercise-However, I definitely feel less SOB
• PFs: I’ve so far more than flirted with the green zone-almost managed a 90% yesterday. Improving!
• Walking: I’m trotting around in my usual slow/stop manner but with more energy and less cramps
• Sleeping: Definitely sleeping well here-the bed is enormous and unreal in it’s supreme comfort!
• Music-ing: I’m itching to play the grand piano in the lobby. Do you think if I whack out a Titanic rendition the Manager will give us another beautiful bottle of wine?!

….See how the desert is so good for me, and this is after just 4 whole days!….

Sunny, Stingy!

….This is what I looked at whilst lounging on a raft in the pool, yesterday!….

Unfortunately, just as I was nodding off for a nap, one of the many desert critters decided to nibble my foot. It got thwhacked by J and promptly died-a wretched wasp!

Luckily for me, it did not sting me in a particuarly thin skinned place, and the bite only swelled up a tiny bit, whilst stinging to high heaven. Also luckily for me I am not at all alergic to wasp or bee stings, unlike my Mother! Plus, with a decent amount of Pred permanently in my system, it didn’t get a chance to cause any sort of a reaction!

Best treatment for wasp stings has been found to be a big frozen strawberry margarita-certainly numbed the pain!

But we had great fun with our friends who we will see more of today-going up to the spa at Desert Hot Springs. J and I are still very much in necessary relaxation mode and apart from a trip to Cabazon (the factory stores), on Wednesday, are still acclimatizing.

My lungs are working hard to degunk. I have a filthy cough at the moment. This always happens for a few days then things settle down. I have used my oxygen more in the evenings and overnight of course, although I managed to really drop my SATS swimming yesterday (86%) so I’m going to need to monitor that more-but I generally don’t take my monitor with me when swimming at home, so it might be my norm. My PFs are up-I have managed another 312 just now. I have also found my need to neb is already less. But again, I can never get lazy there, must always be prepared and have Baby Omron with me!

….So far, so good. The weather is ‘cooling’ for the weekend, it’ll be mild at about 108F, they’re saying!….

12 of 12: July

….Today is a typical 12 of 12 day for me. No wedding this month-I can’t believe they’ve now been married exactly a calendar month, and no School for me either, as I don’t work today, so  just a mundane Monday with my car service thrown in….

1) I woke up in a more comfortable Zone-truly GREEN but that followed on from quite a nasty asthma attack yesterday evening. I think the adrenaline of last night’s World Cup Final contributed to my recovery around 10pm when Spain and the Octopus won!

2) As I said, this is a Mundane Monday 12 of 12, and today happens to be our weekly rubbish collection. It is 7am, and it has already all gone. So even though it looks a mess when put out, we don’t have to stare at it on the drive for too long!

3) With Julian working a Night shift all week, I have to try and get lots of the jobs done before he comes home and goes to bed. It sort of shifts my day too as I find myself preparing all the food and meals before I’ve even had my breakfast. I box his up for him and he takes it to work and  eats it in the middle of the night, which is in effect his meal time. Today it is chili con carne and salad.

4) And this is my finished salad-which I will plonk a carton of cottage cheese on top and have a baked potato and beans with!

5) My non mundane task today is to take Falcon (our big merc) in for his service. I’m not waiting around for him-it makes the day too long and stressful especially as I wasn’t well last night and I’ll be doing this on my own. I have to drive him over to Mercedes Benz world at Brooklands in Weybridge. But they’re loaning me another merc and I’ll drive back tomorrow to pick him up. This is the pile of stuff I have emptied from his boot and my door pocket!

6) So I drove round the M25, the 23 miles to MBW in order to drop off my car

7) I know you can’t see it in this picture, but I love the way the silver star revolves on the top of the building

8  ) Having returned home in a round trip of exactly 2 hours, it looks very strange to see a silver car the same as Falcon sitting on our driveway. Maybe this one is a Pigeon!

9) I went for my swim to destress and give my lungs their gentle and necessary work out. It was quite cool in the pool today.

10) In fact, I got so chilled swimming my kilometre, (40 lengths) that I spent a whole 6 minutes in the desert like dry sauna warming up afterwards!

11) So after some food and a bit of a rest back home, I did an inspection of my garden. It has almost been too hot to walk round my garden checking up on my vegetables these past few days, and I was astonished by the size of my pumpkin patch….

12)….and the fact that in the tubs by the front door, which face south, I now have ripening tomatoes.

It’s been a profitable day. We’ve had some rain-just one shower, but enough to make puddles! And I am pleased the car has worked out to be straightforward, and I still managed to get my swim in! Must rest up now, whack the old O2 on, have a neb or two and settle down for an evening of TV and a crossword!

….All Photos were taken with my new, shiny iPhone 4G. If you’d like to read other 12 of 12′s, go to Chad Darnell’s Blog….

Not those Forms Again?!

….Do you remember all the fun and games I wrote about here?….

Well, it’s getting towards that time again, and yesterday I started the ball rolling by filling in these forms and taking them to my GP to sign.

It should be fairly routine by now for her as well as for me, and I have recently redone all the tests too! But last trip, in April, when I supplied her with the form (only one then) in March, she  accidentally lost it! And a week before we were due to fly, we had to hurriedly redo it and drop her in another one. I remember my series of Tweets regarding J saying he was not going to leave the surgery until he had the afore said signed and completed form in his hand, and was willing to stage a sit in!

So yesterday he dropped them in again, and the receptionist recognised him! And there were various amusing remarks between the two of them about not losing it this time, and ‘do you think we could have these back sooner rather than later, this time!?’ To which she replied ‘Don’t worry, I’ll put them in the proper place this time, and I’ll enter it on the Dr’s spreadsheet so she knows to hurry up and sign them!’ We wait patiently!

And if you think I am being cheeky and asking my GP a favour, I will enlighten you that her signature in two places on two forms is about to cost me £40, I could even work it out how much a letter if you like, as although she is Polish her name is no more long than complex!

This trip and from now on, there will be two forms, enough to confuse my single blonde brain cell, but I am sure she’ll cope. I now how to have documentation to cover my carriage and use of a POC. Two of our flights are so short they don’t supply airline O2, so it’s a good job I now have my little E.T.

I just hope I get my completed forms back sooner rather than later, it’s always a huge weight off my mind, that and getting all the drugs ordered and packed, and I did that this week too-well, phoned my pharmacist, not sorted or packed….yet! I still have over 2 weeks of school to get through anyway, this trip is not entirely imminent!

….The summer is a busy enough time to fly, even without all these added complications to pre-arrange!….