Asthma Awareness Month: My Life with Severe Chronic Asthma

This is a long post, so get comfy. :) Every year, the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America or AAFA declares May to be "National Asthma and Allergy Awareness Month." Spring in the US is a prime suffering time for people with asthma and/or allergies; right now trees are pollinating where I live and it's not fun.

Q is for Questions and Q is for Quiz - Learn About Bea!

I saw this at View From My Books Blog. I've done similar memes on my personal Facebook page and thought it might be fun to do on here. I don't know who to credit for this meme so if any of you know, please tell me in the comments and I'll update the post to give credit.

A Month of Giving Thanks: Day Five

Berl at Fantasy Is More Fun and Michelle at Because Reading Is Better Than Real Life are hosting a month long blog event for giving thanks. The idea is to blog about people, things, or events that we are thankful for. I probably won't post every day; I'm aiming instead for a few times a week.

If you want to participate, you still can; just click on one of the links above. You can post every day, once a week, several times a week, whatever schedule works for you. There will be a linky post every day at the to host blogs so you can link up your post.

Broken Kindle = Crazy Bea

 

Amazon Kindle (Photo credits: Best Buy)

My Kindle Touch has not been working properly recently - sluggish, freezing, and now, it won't open books. I have 3 kindle books that I need to write reviews for and I can't open them. None of them came from Amazon, they came from outside sources, so I can't access them on the Kindle app on my laptop. I've read them but I took notes which I now can't access nor can I verify to make sure that I have my facts right. I'll type up drafts but I need to refer back to the books.

I spent almost 90 minutes on phone with Amazon tonight - we did many things, none of which worked but we DID manage to delete all of my folders and to download all 1000+ books onto the Kindle device. I no longer have any books archived in the cloud. The search function isn't working. I'm feeling a little nuts right now. :P

At the moment, I have a customer service ticket with Amazon and they will call me back within 48 hours. Twitch, twitch. Well, I do have a pile of library books to read, and print books that need reviewing, but being cut off from my Kindle books has me feeling antsy and anxious. I need my precious!

ETA 10/19: As of yesterday, Friday afternoon, my Kindle was working again. I turned it on to fiddle around with it and everything was fine - my collections were back, I could open the books, and it was running less slowly though it's still sluggish. I haven't yet heard back from Amazon, and I don't know what the problem was with my Kindle. I hope it continues to work.

Lung Update

It's been a while since I posted anything about my lungs and the surgery, bronchial thermoplasty, I had. The last procedure was in early October, seven, almost eight, months ago. It's hard to believe it's been that long. For months prior to the surgeries I was in and out of the doctor's office and the hospital for testing, paperwork, more testing and yet more testing. After each of the surgeries, I had a 2 week check-up appointment. Since the appointment after the last surgery, I haven't been in and it feels weird. The hospital was practically my second home and I haven't been there in months. That's a good thing, it just feels odd.

It's also a good thing that I have only been to my regular asthma doctor's office a few times in all those months. I had a big asthma flare beginning at Christmas time that lasted about six weeks, which necessitated several visits to my regular asthma doctor's office and involved an allergic reaction to a drug. That was an uncomfortable one but I've had worse ones, worse by far. Winter, and especially the holidays, are not unusual times for me to have asthma trouble so I figured I was due for one bad episode. Other than that though, I've been doing well. I still need my rescue inhaler from time to time, but those have been for fleeting episodes and I haven't needed my nebulizer or steroids except for that episode. I haven't been able to go off any of my prescriptions but I was told in advance that would be the case. I've been quite healthy and it's a little scary. It's been so many years, what with the asthma and other health issues, since I wasn't sick on a regular basis that it feels abnormal at times. But it also feels wonderful and I'm slowly exploring what I am now able to do again. Now, the asthma is not cured, there is no cure, the best I can hope for is a reduction in my symptoms and I am definitely seeing that. :)

So, my lungs are calmer, life is good, and I am looking forward to continued improvement as the improvement can continue for up to two years after the surgery. I  have high hopes for this procedure and I hope it will soon be available to all people with severe chronic asthma and not just to participants in the trial studies.

A reminder what lungs with asthma look like, oh and these are when the lungs are quiet, not in the midst of a flare. They're narrower obviously when there's active inflammation:

Happy Birthday C.S. Lewis!

Actually, his birthday was yesterday, November 29th, but I was neck-deep in edits; today I'm only hip-deep. :D

Today, Lewis is best known for his children's series, The Chronicles of Narnia, but he wrote many more books. Most of them, I believe, have Christian themes, as do the Narnia books. However, I've only read his Narnia books so I may be mistaken.

As a child I loved the Narnia books, they were among my favorites. I only owned "The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe" but I regularly checked out the others from my school library, the town library and the base library and read them repeatedly. I just realized, I still only own the first book; I never did get around to buying the entire series. :D Bad Bea!

It wasn't until I was in college that I really realized all of the Christian subtext in the Narnia books. My roommate my sophomore year loved the books also and we stayed up late many nights discussing the books: the characters, the action, the detailing, the themes and subtexts. We had many, many discussions that lasted until the early morning hours.

If you're not familiar with the Narnia books, they take place in another world, accessed from Earth, but they are fantasy, not sci fi. Four siblings travel to Narnia and have many adventures. I loved the talking animals, the mythological creatures, and I really loved that little Lucy, the youngest of the siblings, was the smart, courageous, steadfast one. She was the youngest and the littlest, and on Earth, got the least amount of respect, but in Narnia, she was hot stuff. Being the youngest of four, two boys and two girls, just like the books, I could relate.

I was very happy when the first Narnia live action film came out a few years ago; I hoped it would equal or rival the Harry Potter films but alas, that failed to happen. :( So far, there have been 3 books made into movies; the first is my favorite but it was also my favorite of the books. I still have hope that the remaining 4 books will be turned into films. I would see them for sure! Hey, I've had my ticket to The Hobbit for several weeks now! Only 2 more weeks until it comes out. :)

I don't know how I'll make the time but sometime soon, I need to re-read the series. Library, here I come!

Crispy Fried Lungs, Round Two

Heh, that's kind of an icky image but a friend of mine referred to my surgery that way and it appealed to my, admittedly odd, sense of humor. Hey, there's a reason we're friends. LOL So, if all has gone according to plan, I'll be at the hospital as you read this for the second operation in my lung re-model. As some of you know, I have severe chronic asthma that is not under control. I enrolled in a research study for a new procedure where they burn away, yes burn, some of the excessive smooth muscle in the lungs. All asthmatics have extra smooth lung muscle; the more you have, the worse the asthma. So, in theory, getting rid of it will help reduce the severity of the asthma. I certainly hope so; life would be so much simpler. Below is a pic of a 3D model from my doctor's office of normal and asthmatic lungs. Once upon a time I was normal, don't laugh I really was!, and over the years I've deteriorated into severe.

If everything proceeds smoothly, I'll be at the hospital about eight hours, then back home. Supposedly, most people go back to work the next day. After I had the first procedure, I was out for nine days, developed pneumonia and ended up in the ER. So this time, I took off the rest of the week from work. With luck, that will be all I need and will return to work next Monday.

After this procedure, I have one more. Rather than doing both lungs at one time, they do a portion each time. I don't know when that one will be but at the earliest it would be three weeks from today. I've kept the blog light this week but I've got a few posts planned and I'll likely post health updates on twitter and facebook.

So, that's it. I'll see you all when I get home. 

ETA 9/26: I'm home, coughing and wheezing but not too badly, everything considered. I'm on my couch, watching tv and surfing the net.

I found a pic of what the doctor does while inside my lung, it's from the website for the procedure.

That device you see is the specially designed catheter that "cooks" the muscle so it's thinner and thus, theoretically, less reactive which should reduce the number and severity of flares and attacks. I hope.

Been Absent, Sorry

Life has been kicking my butt lately. The new school year has started and as always, I'm tired. I'm even more tired this fall as I'm with a younger group this year, and they are more demanding physically and emotionally. So, I come home, I sit on the couch, and I doze off for anywhere from 30 minutes to 2 hours and 30 minutes. Sigh. I've also still been recovering from my surgery, and 6.5 weeks later, I'm finally almost human again. Phew, just in time for surgery number two. That, if all goes well, will be in 9 days on the 25th. How long that recovery will take, who knows? I've also been busy, happily, with my editing job. I got some nice feedback on my work and I've had the opportunity to read submissions in the slush pile and offer my opinion on whether we should make an offer. Scary but exciting! One suggestion I'd like to make when you send in a submission - PROOF READ!!! Also, beta readers are invaluable. I'm just sayin'.

All of this has meant that the blog has been somewhat neglected and I'm behind both in my reading, and writing reviews. So, my apologies. I've been poking at Liz and Jax and you should see more reviews and posts from them soon, *gives them flinty stare* and I will try to get back in the swing.I have some blog tours scheduled and those posts WILL go up, including the two reviews (oh panic! Reviews with a deadline, eep.)

Now that fall is here, it's time for me to do my hermit act so maybe I'll actually get books read, and reviews written and posted.

Why a hermit act? Well, it's autumn in New England and New Englanders friggin' LOVE their pumpkin and apple foods and products (candles, etc.). Naturally, those same products have spices in them - cinnamon, ginger, cloves, nutmeg, mace and allspice. For most people, those are yummy; for me, they're dangerous. I am so allergic that just being in the same room will bring on an allergic reaction. You read that correctly - I don't even need direct physical contact with the offending spices. Sigh. So, for the next few months, minimal time will be spent in stores e.g. drug stores, grocery stores, gift stores, etc and no time at all in coffee shops (spiced pumpkin coffee? Really? Gag, even if I weren't allergic). Is it February yet?

So, that's that. I am trying to visit blogs and leave comments. If you want to leave a comment on any of my posts, existing or forthcoming, I'd be delighted. In the meantime, happy autumn!

Frustrated: Lung Update

Flickr Image by Rafael Edwards

 
So yesterday I was ranting and raving on twitter and facebook. I got a call from the research nurse whose been my contact for the lung surgery study; she informed the company who is sponsoring the study about my reactions to the first procedure: the asthma exacerbation and the pneumonia. They called her back and said that because of the pneumonia, they want a minimum of six weeks between procedures to be sure that my body is healed and able to handle the next procedure. So I had to call work and give them the update and call the person who has been my ride (If I drive myself, I have to be admitted overnight.) I have a very tentative date of September 25th for the next procedure. I'm not holding my breath. :P

I understand the company's concern, and I too want to be as healthy as possible for the next procedure. Which is part of why I'm frustrated. Not only is the wait aggravating, and the constant re-scheduling a nuisance for my employer, but it's the beginning of ragweed season where I live. Ragweed is a major allergen for me and every September, about halfway through the month, I get a sinus infection and an asthma flare. I have no reason to believe that this September will be any different. Of course, when that does happen, you know it will postpone things yet again. At this rate, we'll be into 2013 before I have all three procedures.

I also have to keep changing my blog calendar to accommodate all of the changes. I had deliberately kept the summer light as I knew I'd be having the procedures and wasn't sure how I'd react to them. Now I have to look at my fall schedule, see what I can get done ahead of time, and keep blog tours, etc. to a minimum. I don't want to have to cancel reviews and events at the last minute due to health reasons like I did last November when I ended up in the hospital. I am glad I already decided to scale back my Banned Book Week celebration this year; it runs September 28th through October 6th this year.

So yesterday, I was in a pissy mood for much of the day, and had to go offline for a bit and de-stress. My cat and a good non-review book helped. I'm better today and determined to see this through.

The lung section on the right, the severe asthma one? That's me. I'm hoping that when all of the procedures are done, my lungs will be the moderate one. That's still not great, but the best I can hope for with current medical knowledge and procedures.

T Minus 14.5 Hours And Counting

So far, so good. The surgery is still on track for tomorrow morning. I leave for the hospital in less than 12 hours, have pre-op baseline testing in 13 hours and the surgery is scheduled in 14.5 hours at 10AM EST. I'm tired, excited, nervous and desperately trying to finish my to-do list tonight. I'm going to try for an early tonight, and get to bed at a reasonable hour. However, I'm a night owl; so that combined with a mild case of nerves and a major case of excitement, means the odds are against me.

If all goes well, I'll be home tomorrow evening. I have Wednesday off from work to rest and recuperate. Supposedly, most people go back to work the next day but I wasn't about to chance it. It's better for myself and my employer to take the day off. If all goes well, I'll be back at work on Thursday. I'm actually hoping I'll feel well enough on Wednesday to catch up on writing reviews. I'm about three books behind; I've read them, I just need to get my reviews written.

Next week, I'm getting the carpet in my condo pulled up and a nice laminate flooring put in. That will help with both my allergies and my asthma, plus it will help with my cat's asthma, so I'm looking forward to that. Of course, the prep for that is a big part of my ongoing to-do list. Obviously the cat and I can't be 
around when the flooring is being done so we'll stay at a friend's house until it's complete.

So there you go, more than you ever wanted to know about my non-blogging life. :P

ETA: more info about the surgery, what's happening, etc.

Surgery Postponed

Yep, you read that right. The hospital screwed up; they were supposed to start me on a pre-op drug last week, and although I called them and gave them my pharmacy info, they didn't call it in. So I talked to the research nurse this morning; she was very apologetic, admitted they screwed up, but they will NOT perform the surgery tomorrow. I have to be on the drug for three days before the procedure.

Oh I was furious. Then I had a meltdown. It's been a major challenge staying healthy enough to be able to have the procedure; I teach at a year-round early childhood center so I can't just call out, I need a sub to cover me; I made other plans for the summer based on the original dates. Sigh. An hour later, a nurse from the pulmonary department called and we talked. Not only did they not call in the prescription, but they were supposed to send me some paperwork beforehand, which they didn't. Sigh. The one good thing was that both nurses I talked owned up to their mistakes, and admitted they, and the medical team, were at fault.

By the time I got to work, I was calmer but still upset. I spoke to the assistant director and she was very calm and reassuring. She empathized with my situation and said not to worry, they'd figure out coverage. I gave her the new dates, had some coffee and by the time I was due in my classroom I was in reasonable shape.

So, new surgery date for the first procedure is now next Tuesday, the 31st. Since there has to be a minimum time of three weeks in between procedures, the dates for procedures two and three have been pushed back a week.

New countdown to surgery - 8 days!

It's really happening! Lung Surgery in 2 Weeks!!!!!!!!!

I saw the doctor today, had more testing and filled out more paperback. Best of all, we scheduled the procedures. I just about bounced my way out of the hospital, I was so excited. I never thought I could be so excited and giddy about a surgery or medical procedure. I have to keep reminding myself that it's not a cure and there's no guarantee that I will see any benefit from the procedure. For those of you who have no idea what I'm talking about, I have severe, poorly controlled chronic asthma. There is now an experimental procedure for severe asthmatics called bronchial thermoplasty. For other posts on this subject, see these: In the Hospital  Home!
Burning My Lungs   Lung Update    It's Official!

So, the first procedure (it's a three part procedure) is scheduled for two weeks from today, on July 24th; the second one is on August 14th, and the last one on September 4th. That last one kinda sucks because it's the first week of classes in the new school year and I'll have to take time off, but oh well. At least my supervisor will be able to plan around it and has lots of time to line up a sub for me. On my way home from the doctor today, I stopped off at school (we're open year around) and filled out my time off forms.


It's really happening! Squeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!!!!!

It's almost burning time!

On Monday, I talked to the research nurse in charge of the study that I'm participating in. I was approved and accepted into the research study back in April. I was sick enough but not too sick. :D But, I had been on prednisone too many times in a 12 month period so we had to wait three months, hoping I didn't need any prednisone in that time period, and then within that new 12 month time frame, I'd have an acceptable number of prednisone doses. I'm now 2 weeks away from that magic one year mark. I WILL stay off prednisone for the next two weeks. I WILL! Now, that might seem easy, but my allergies are a trigger for an asthma episode, as is humidity (it's summer where I live) and stress. Trying not to stress, about anything, will stress me, lol. So, it's not impossible that I develop an asthma episode in the next two weeks, which would mean going on prednisone, which would mean pushing back the surgery.

Once I hit that lovely, delightful, magical one year mark, I go back to the asthma specialist and repeat previous tests to ensure that I'm still a match for the study. If those results come back acceptable, then we set a date! Right now, the earliest possible date is July 24th, a mere month away. Squeeeeeeeeeee!

When I have that date, I'll post it. Heck, you'll hear me shouting in joy all the way around the world.

Now, the surgery is not a cure for asthma. Nor is there a guarantee that it will, in fact, provide me any relief. BUT...I have nothing to lose. We have tried everything else, I'm on a boatload of meds, yet asthma still rules my life. It's worth a try. Now, I just need some allergy relief and then I'd be downright healthy.

So, please, if you wouldn't mind, cross your fingers, pray, send positive vibes, and so on, that everything works out for me. It will be much appreciated.

IT'S OFFICIAL! I'M GETTING MY LUNGS BURNED.

I know, I know, most people don't get excited about being burned. Hey, you already know I'm weird. :P

But THIS burning is good for me. As I posted back in January, there is now a surgical procedure available for people with severe asthma that involves sticking a specially designed catheter tube down the lungs and burning off layers of smooth muscle. This should result in fewer asthma flares and attacks, and the ones that do occur should be milder. It's not a cure, but it should make life a little easier.

The surgery was only approved in 2010 in the US (I'm not sure if it's available outside of the US yet) and, unfortunately, is not covered by insurance companies yet. But, my regular asthma specialist referred me to a doctor at a research hospital who is running a follow up study. The study is a 5 year long study; the study pays for the surgery and then follows me for 5 years afterwards to track what the results are. The surgery is done in 3 parts, each one approximately three weeks after the preceding one. So, since January I've been seeing the new specialist, following the regimen she laid out for me, and undergoing tests. The research parameters for being accepted into the study are strict and if you don't fall exactly within them, you don't get in. Well, I made it! I'm sick enough to need the surgery, healthy enough to undergo it, and my test results fell within the study protocols.

The only hitch is that I can't have the procedure until July at the earliest. There's two reasons: 1) I have to be healthy for 60 days and 2) I was on prednisone too frequently between July of 2011 and January of this year. That puts me slightly over the acceptable number of incidences so we have to wait several months. If I do have an asthma episode that requires me to be on prednisone, it won't disqualify me; it will postpone the surgery date.

So, for the next three months, I will be a paranoid hermit. I'm heading into prime allergy season and my allergies trigger my asthma. My apartment windows are closed, it won't be too much longer before I turn on the A/C, and I will spend as little time outside as I possibly can. That last will be tricky when I'm at work, I'll need to find a balance.

Three more months. Oh please oh please oh please!!!

I'm Dreaming of...

author Krista D Ball. Yep, you read that right. She is, it seems, my dream girl and I'm not even gay (nor is she). The other night I had a dream where I visited her house. I helped her dress for a date with her husband (the real Krista is in a relationship but not married) and then they left. As if that wasn't odd enough, The Monkees showed up at Krista's house. Well, the 60's version of them, since they looked like their younger selves and Davy Jones was still alive. The dream just got weirder from there. :D

Actually, the Monkees were the only ones who in any way resembled reality since neither the dream Krista nor I looked anything like our real selves and her house bore no resemblance to her real house.

I remember that when I woke up I was disappointed to be awake, I wanted my dream world back. I had spent the previous couple days chatting with Krista via email and twitter. We often chat, so I'm not sure why she invaded my dreams that particular night, and I don't recall that we've ever talked about the Monkees. But it all made for a very pleasant dream.

No offense Krista, but in the future I'd rather dream about David Gandy, Brad Pitt or Cary Grant. :P Or all three at the same time. ;)

Lung Update

So today I went back to the asthma specialist who might do the lung surgery. I was supposed to see her last week but she had to cancel. I did go in and get the testing done that she had ordered, a chest X-ray and a pulmonary function test, the full length version (it had been about 3 or 4 years so she wanted a baseline).

We reviewed those results and the results of the tweaks to my regimen. There was minor improvement, enough to be encouraging, for her anyway. I was less sure but she seemed pleased. I got excited thinking that maybe now we could talk surgery dates but no, not yet.

Apparently, and this was NOT made clear to me at our first visit, if I am approved for this surgery, I will be part of a research project. So, my next step is to meet with the research protocol nurse for, oh yay, more testing and screening. Those, according to the doctor, will be at their expense, not mine. The really awesome news? If I am approved, I don't pay for the surgery, they do. :) Although the procedure was approved by the FDA in 2010, most insurance companies are not covering it yet, so if I want the surgery, I need to meet the protocol requirements. Oh please, oh please, oh please!!!!

So, still no firm decision, much less a date of any kind, but slow progress forward. The research nurse had today off so I'm waiting to hear from her to set up an appointment. There's a part of me that wishes I had picked a doctor at a hospital closer to home. It's a 52 mile round trip, with traffic it can take up to 90 minutes to get there, and parking at the hospital is not cheap. Add in the time I miss at work for each appointment and it's rapidly getting expensive. But if I get the surgery, and the surgery works, it will be worth it.

in my last blog post about my lungs, I mentioned a 3D model that the doctor had showing asthmatic lungs versus normal lungs. I remembered to take a picture today.

I am, of course, the one on the far right, labeled "severe". See all those extra dark pink layers? That's the smooth muscle and the more asthmatic you are, the more of it you have. The surgery will burn away some of those excess layers, which should make my lungs less reactive and thus cause fewer flares and attacks.

So, more waiting, not something I've ever been good at. I'll update the blog as I know more.

Burning My Lungs

So, as many of you know, I have severe chronic asthma. It pretty much runs my life, and in November it put me in the hospital (not for the first time). My specialist, who I've been with for about five years or so, is at his wit's end. When I got out of the hospital, he suggested an option that's pretty much a last ditch effort. There's a surgery, bronchial thermoplasty, designed specifically for people with severe chronic asthma who fail to respond other treatments. It involves burning away layers of smooth muscle in the lungs, hence the post title. Asthmatics have an excess of smooth muscles, which contributes to the lungs' sensitivity. Decreasing the smooth muscles makes the lungs less likely to react to triggers, resulting in fewer attacks and exacerbations. A year ago, I probably would have said no, but after that hospital stay, I'll try just about anything. He doesn't do the procedure so I had to see another specialist who does.

I had the appointment today and it went pretty well. She thinks I'm a pretty good candidate for the surgery EXCEPT... I have to be exacerbation free for 2 months. I laughed my head off. "So, we'll be scheduling this for sixty days after I'm dead?" The problem is I have to be healthy enough to have the surgery, and the surgery itself carries a risk of causing an exacerbation. Sigh. But all is not lost. She added medicines to my regimen, tweaked a couple, and gave me some homework to do. I go back in a month for some testing and a follow up and then we re-evaluate.

While I was in the exam room, waiting for the doctor, I looked around and spotted a model on the counter. I wish I had taken a picture of it, it was amazing. It was a 3D cross-section of a bronchiole (the part of the lung that's involved in asthma). It had four individual models of a bronchiole - a normal one, a mildly asthmatic one, a moderately asthmatic one, and a severely asthmatic one. Oh My God. Looking at it, and comparing the bronchioles, erased any remaining doubts I had about the surgery. The differences were dramatic, and scary. Since I didn't think to take a picture, I did a Google search and this was the closest that I found.

Ugly looking thing, isn't it? :( So, for the next month, I'll be doing my homework, trying to get myself to a point where I can have the surgery and maybe have a normal life. I'll post an update after that appointment.

On the Mend

I returned to work today, after being out for almost 2 weeks. I was sooooo happy to be back and the kids in both of my classes were happy to see me. I was a little worried, they had so many subs in the rooms while I was out, that my being back would just be one too many transitions for them but they all did beautifully.

Over the weekend, my energy level varied greatly, going up and down in no apparent rhythm, and I had doubts at times about my ability to resume work, and then last night my chest tightened up. Eeep. I tried to find a balance between resting and accomplishing things. Apparently I was successful as I worked a full day and I'm not nearly as tired as I expected to be nor did I have any significant breathing problems. Still, I'll take it easy tonight. After I leave the library, I'll pick up a few things at the grocery store, maybe treat myself to take out pizza, and then rest on the couch with my cat. One good thing about returning to work this week is the shortness of the work week. Because of the Thanksgiving holiday on Thursday, my school will be closed both Thursday and Friday, meaning I'm only working three days. :)

I saw my specialist on Friday and that was interesting. First, he was furious with my primary care doctor's medical practice. In order to see a specialist, I have to get permission, called a referral. My primary's referral review committee had denied my referral, a few weeks before I got sick (I had put in for it because I needed to schedule a check up with my specialist). So, when I got sick, I had to go to my primary care office and the doctor who saw me the first time, was in and out in five minutes, and the treatment didn't meet my unique medical needs. When I crashed and burned on Friday, Nov. 11th, I went to the primary care again, and saw the nurse practitioner. She spent more time with me and made better decisions, including sending me to the ER by ambulance. (I told the kids the story about my ambulance trip, made it sound like a grand adventure, and they loved it. They were disappointed when I said there was no fire truck or police car, just the ambulance.) At the ER, when further treatment failed to produce results, I was admitted.

My specialist is also frustrated because I'm in a holding pattern. My asthma is NOT well controlled (though back in the spring things looked good, that state didn't last). We have tried every currently available treatment, I take 5 different meds in an attempt to control my asthma, I have made changes to my living environment and still, asthma rules my life. A few years ago, it was so bad I nearly had to quit work and go on disability. Things aren't that bad now, but clearly, things are not OK. Until some new treatment becomes available, I'm stuck, just trying to get by one day at a time. 

Despite that, I'm feeling pretty optimistic at the moment. I am feeling better, both physically and emotionally and I can see an end to this flare. Granted, that end will probably not be for another two-three weeks (mind you, that's how long it will be until I'm 100% again), but nevertheless, after today, I am quite hopeful.

Over the weekend, one of my accomplishments was to make headway on my review reading and writing, and revising reviews that I had started before being hospitalized. I also read just for fun. Now that I've made some progress on catching up, I'm feeling less stressed about the blog.

Thank you all for your support the past few weeks. It made a difference. :)

I NEED This Book!!!

Ok, I don't need it but I want it, for the curiousity factor alone. What book am I talking about? This one.

Now, I'm not particularly crafty. I never even liked arts and crafts in school or the Girl Scouts or at summer camp. But.......making use of all that cat hair that my beast Goof (see pic in my header) sheds? And he's a short hair. Where was this book when I had a long haired cat? O_o I have joked with my friend Patti about sending her my cat's fur to knit into mittens. When I groom the beast, I end up with a pile of cat fur about baseball size, though much less dense of course. I found the link for this book on Twitter, via Publishers Weekly. Here's a link to their article.

The blurb for the book on Goodreads says:

Got fur balls?

Are your favorite sweaters covered with cat hair? Do you love to make quirky and one-of-a-kind crafting projects? If so, then it’s time to throw away your lint roller and curl up with your kitty! Crafting with Cat Hair shows readers how to transform stray clumps of fur into soft and adorable handicrafts. From kitty tote bags and finger puppets to fluffy cat toys, picture frames, and more, these projects are cat-friendly, eco-friendly, and require no special equipment or training. You can make most of these projects in under an hour—with a little help, of course, from your feline friends!

So, who's gonna buy this for me for Christmas? You just may end up with an original Bea and Goof craft project as a thank you. :D

I Have A New Job! Squeeeeee!!!!

No, I'm not giving up teaching. Or blogging, though really that's volunteer work. No, I have a new part-time job. For almost 18 years I taught full-time and worked in retail part-time. Then the store I worked in closed and I was laid off. I found that I didn't really miss it all that much, though my bank account did. I did notice that my health problems improved and so did my doctors (and my co-workers at school), so I held off actively looking for a new part-time job.

Not working 50-60 hours a week gave me time to start the blog and start reviewing. As regular readers know, one of my pet peeves in books is the quality of the proof reading and copy editing. A few errors are to be expected; no matter how many eyes look it over, something is bound to slip through. But more than a few and I start getting cranky - the wrong word used (don't even get me started on the recent trend in using "imaged" for "imagined" Grrrrr), a word left out, typos, misspellings, lack of punctuation, etc. The more of that junk there is, the more it takes me out of the story. I note in my reviews when the typos, etc go over my tolerance threshold. There have been several books that were so badly done that I swore they had been edited by a blind, drunk monkey.

Recently, I received an email from the publisher of one of those blind, drunk monkey books. She apologized for the quality of the book, commented on my detailing of the errors, and offered me a job as a copy editor. I thought about it, made a few inquiries, and said if she had an opening for a part-timer, I was interested. She was agreeable and sent out a contract. The contract has been signed and returned, and I am now a freelance part-time copy editor. Squeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!

I am excited and nervous and annoyingly hyper. Several of my tweeps and my co-workers at school were very supportive and encouraging as I contemplated this new venture and I am very appreciative. I <3 you guys.

So, now I'm just waiting for my first assignment, and hoping that I'm as good at this as I think I am. :)

(Dear deity, how many errors in my post did I fail to catch despite proofing it four times? Do I even want to know? :P) (ETA: Ha! I found one and fixed it. :D)