A lot has happened in the 200 posts I’ve written. It would be interesting to track back and re read. But the story continues. I’m a musician and a teacher with rather spurny lungs. Hence the title!

So what’s been happening recently?

Well this is my 2nd week back at school in the New Year too. I’m still saying Happy New Year to people as that’s how I am, and I am still hanging onto that feel good Christmas spirit even though the decorations are now down and packed away in the loft.

Today I’m in recovery from a nasty 24hr sickness bug, no doubt brought home from the germ factory, and my lungs are twitching away merrily. The weather is ridiculously mild and we could really do with a cold snap to kill of the lurgies.

My thoughts for 2012: To try and get that oboe played more. I’m cracking on with my reed making, have about a half dozen in the finishing stages-I’d like to get my oboe serviced and ship shape-it has gone a little to pot sitting in it’s case for the past 6 years. But that all depends on my lungs, which have been rather grotty lately. We’ll see.

And in a couple of weeks, we will be celebrating having had Anna-Bell for a whole year. Wow! That WILL be special!

…..Off to school now!…..

Here’s an excerpt:

The concert hall at the Syndey Opera House holds 2,700 people. This blog was viewed about 19,000 times in 2011. If it were a concert at Sydney Opera House, it would take about 7 sold-out performances for that many people to see it.

Click here to see the complete report.

• Julian and I have seen every single one of our relatives, close and distant, on both sides of the family. My cousin Mark’s wedding on the 10th of December brought together my Mum’s long lost brothers, their children, my cousins and their new babies. I haven’t seen such a gathering of my mother’s extended family since my Gran’s funeral a few years ago. And on Boxing Day all of Julian’s brother’s family-plus their au pair-came. Again we seldom see them! We have had several visits with Aunt Margaret-106 years old and still going strong, and on Thursday, Auntie Trudi arrived to stay with Kizzie for a days, from Portugal. It’s been an amazing and emotional gathering of all the various factions.

• I’ve managed to stay pretty well. Well, no dashes to the hospital for Bipap, at any rate. And no horrendous chest infections like last year. And even though my neb and O2 usage is still greater than normal, I’m coping with my increased SOB, and I am getting out every day and walking the doglet and I have managed a few swims.

• I’m seemingly playing my Oboe again. Spurred on by a new friend over the pond with a similar lung situation to mine, and an oboist with it! I even knocked up Jonny a couple of reeds and had a blow with him on our Fake New Year’s Day on Thursday!

• We’ve laughed and laughed. So many funnies. Mum’s paper games were ace. Pomegranates anyone? Jonny’s F1 helmets quiz-OMG. I missed out on Oliver’s Simpsons quiz, but I’ve heard it should be on Mastermind. And I did fairly ok in Julian’s Film Posters quiz at our luncheon.

• Anna-Bell has continued to make us proud and prove that she really is one of the family-the dearest sweetest little doglet, all dressed up in her Christmas finest. Everybody adores her , and has had a long cuddle with her, and we’ve now had her 11 months.

And just to prove it, here are a few photos from Rounds 1, 2 and 3. New Year’s Day is still to come, but you can bet it will be a blast!

…..What a brilliant time we had!…..

((…..You will not believe how hard this photo was to take-She kept nodding off!…..))

Whilst there are varying degrees of any symptom, there are also some pretty uniform ways of self helping your SOB. I do not profess that any of these truly work for the most severe of symptoms but on a day to day basis this is what I generally try to do to cope with mine. If like me you have a COPD element to your asthma then these steps will make sense and you may have already been taught them and/or PLB techniques.

The Newsflash!

• I made it!
• I’ve only had one day off sick this term!
• I am actually more pleased with my teaching than I have been in recent years-(thanks to my lovely supportive department & colleagues)

• This time last year I was sick for 5 1/2 weeks-thankfully no repeat!

The Big However!

• I still have a rotten sinusitis and earache and am rattling away here.
• My lungs are struggling to keep up with my head, at around 40% and I’m finding the slightest thing tough.
• It’s just started sleeting outside and snow is forecast for later today (Luckily the doglet has snow boots!)
• All I want is a duvet day! (Tomorrow-legit!)

And if I have any puff left in these rattly old bellows, here’s an alternative carol for today:

Asthma Boys, Asthma Girls,

Wheezing all the way

Oh what fun it is to take

Loads of Pred a day!

Asthma Boys, Asthma Girls,

Coughing all the way

Oh What fun it is to take so

Many nebs a day!

….. Congratulations to all my Teacher colleagues for surviving another gruelling Autumn Term and for all my pupils for surviving my broken sentences!…..

But not that you’d really notice, I just feel utterly crap as opposed to those who sound coldly crap or look it with their noses running down their face. Mine never does that. It’s the low grade fever and headache and my itching peppery nose that makes me feel so  bleugh!

Having survived almost the whole term dodging germs of all sizes, we went to Mark and Kate’s wedding on Saturday and it seems I’ve brought more than memories away with me. Somebody I hugged or air kissed has breathed the lurgy of the moment over my persona and I’m now riddled with a pepper nose (feel I want to sneeze all the time), ear ache and a fever.

Oh well, nothing I can do really except take the Lemsip to school with me and keep warm-fat chance in our ‘practically below the legal limit music room that I’m teaching in first thing!’-and drink loads to wash it out of me. Doesn’t feel like this is anything more than a head cold, so I shouldn’t be fussing, but it’s already got me in a quandary over my Pred reduction. I’ve been struggling on 30mg-and already so SOB that things are really tough and very uncomfortable-and to think, the plan was I was actually going to go down to 25mg on Friday-big problem there, me thinks that may have to wait. I’m racked with aches and pains as it is and feeling yeuch from the less Pred, how simply dare a cold now show it’s ugliness. As if I haven’t got a big enough case of the reduction blues already.

…..Oh well, off to school to mingle my germs with those of approximately twelve hundred others!…..

Post Script: The second this hints at going south I’m bringing in the SAS!

My Cousin Mark and his Girlfriend Katarina held their wedding at Denbies Wine Estate in Surrey.

It was a lovely cold frosty atmospheric December afternoon and a gathering of our extended family, most of whom we haven’t seen in four years. How nice to all be together again to celebrate a happy event.

The food was lovely, albeit lacking in meat!, and the wine certainly flowed. We were treated to a tour of the estate on a little train and a private wine tasting which was very fun.

The Bride and bridesmaids looked beautiful, and my cousin Mark and his Best Man, his Brother Peter both looked very dapper in their tails.

Anna-Bell had a lovely day at Kizzie’s cuddling up on the sofa with her and playing with Poppy.

We got back at 9pm after a fast frosty drive, and flopped in front of X Factor!

…..No doubt, my late Grandparents would have been looking down on us all at the event and smiling with pride at their lovely family……

Or as my Dear friend, AG, who started this whole visiting ball rolling back in June said, our house is fast becoming the Asthma Embassy of London!

I picked Eli7 up from Ruislip station on a cold and frosty Monday morning, after her early 6am start from Luton airport. Geez, why do people visit England in the Winter! Brrrr.

We went home and settled her in comfortably on the same sofa Steve had sat on, 2 weeks previously-(I should get a plaque of the names of all my visitors who have sat there, actually!)

And the doglet appeared and jumped all over Elisheva and had her usual tuggie tuggie fun and games! AB was extremely fascinated in Eli7′s rucksack-could have been due to the enormous stash of chocolate she had with her! She gave us lovely gifts of Israeli Halva and Bittersweet chocolate with nougat in which sounds amazing.

We chatted away happily -Britain’s Got Talent, Eurovision Song contest, all things Jewish, and of course, Eli7′s WAD party!-and at 10am decided to go to my Club to have a posh coffee. It was a nice drive in the frostiness and I hope she enjoyed seeing something of our surrounding area and actually how rural we are here.

The Club was bustling. They had a Christmas bazaar on and everybody was wearing funny hats which really amused her. I showed her my pool where I swim so she can now picture me there. She seemed amused by the reserved parking space up front that I have my badge for!

We got back home at about 11.30am and Julian was awake and up (he’d been working all weekend and was whacked out!). This meant we were able to get him to take the statutory photo.

I then did my ‘Jewish Mother’ impression and made her a packed lunch of kosher cream cheese and bagels to eat on the long train journey up north, and got her back to Ruislip station at 12pm in time to get to Euston for her 1.30pm train.

**J and I were very relieved to hear when she was on the train, munching and ready to depart.**

It was such a lovely morning, meeting with a special friend who had journeyed so far. And so confident to travel alone in a strange country and I’m glad that now she is back on her Symbicort – she was breathing excellently.

…..However, I have a strong suspicion that when she arrived in the Lake District that evening, they’d had heavy snow! Safe travels, Eli7 and enjoy Barcelona next week…..