Scribblings from the Mitchy Side

So I tried a stir fry tonight, which normally I do quite well. But I got sidetracked at a crucial moment and it burned a bit. Consequently, I got a several lungfuls of greasy smoke. The asthma attack I'm having is not fun. Stupid stir fry.

*grouses*

*twiddles thumbs*

No point even attempting to sleep right now, it feels like I got six anvils on my chest. Just gotta wait it out for a few hours.

Oh well.

So it looks like I might be flat sitting for itsjustaname on Thursday, as for some mysterious reason, she's not going to be there when the removal men arrive (the phone line between me and thalinoviel and bytepilot wasn't great so I missed a few details). Anyway, I'm happy to help. Besides being the friendly thing to do, it's a good excuse to laze around and read a book until the removal guys show up :) Not that I need a good excuse, but it's nice to have one. *heh*

..at around 8am this morning when I was still wheezing, really badly, and I'd got no sleep whatsoever.

I rang my local surgery and asked them if they thought it was worth popping down there or if they were so busy, I should just go over to the QEII hospital and throw myself at the A&E department. The receptionist put me through to the duty doctor who looked up my records, listened to me wheezing down the phone and said if I could get myself into the surgery, they'd try and see me asap.

Well I felt well enough to drive and so I got dressed and headed out. What I'd not factored into my calculations was the sheer effort walking to my car would take. Hrm, I thought, I'm definitely doing the right thing seeking medical advice! Got to the car ok, drove off, wheezing like a bullfrog with laryngiitis. Got to the surgery which is only five mins away, thank god, parked (which in and of itself was a minor miracle, given the postage stamp size of the village car park) and started to walk the, oooh, 60 yards to the surgery.

I swear to God, I had to stop TWICE to do the trip. NOW I was worried :P

I wasn't kept waiting long, they were ever so helpful at the surgery and couldn't do enough. They even made sure I heard the doctor calling my name over the t annoy ok, giving me a visual cue to let me know that yes, that was my name that was mentioned. I saw Dr. Napier, she's lovely and she was quite concerned. She listened to my chest, although frankly I don't think she needed a stethoscope at this stage, I could hear how bad my breathing was, and then consulted her little medical book. I was totally unsurprised that she suggested I be put on a nebuliser for a while, which is basically a device that pumps Salbutamol, an asthma relieving drug, straight into the ol' lungs. To give you an idea of the scale, I normally take 2 puffs of my reliever inhaler. The Nebuliser shoves about 50 puffs worth down you, a throw. :P

So anyway, they stuck me on the nebuliser for five minutes or so, then the nice nurse lady got me to puff into a tube (I wish I could remember what that device is called!) to measure how much I'd improved. Before the nebuliser, I was barely managing 220 a puff. After, it crawled up to 260. My usual, btw, is around the 380 mark. Yeh. That's what I thought.

What did throw me was that she put me on a course of Prednisolone. This is a heavy duty asthma battler that comes in tablet form. I know it well, my Mum used to take half a tablet morning and night and did so for most of her life. I'm on 8 tablets a day for five days......And I take all eight at once. I'm assuming I'm taking a slightly less drastic version of the drug but even so. Apparently these things take about six hours to kick in, so hopefully by this afternoon, I'll feel a bit more Mitchy like.

But I DID feel better after the nebuliser. I could speak whole sentences without having to pause for breath. Still pretty tight though, but they sent me home, with a long list of stern instructions. If I feel it's getting ANY worse, I MUST go back or go to Casualty at ONCE! And I gotta make sure someone keeps an eye on me. I've texted my friend Troo, and will alert her when she responds. *peers into void* If I see any of the usual suspects online, I may rope you in too :)

I'm to have a hot bath, because the steam will help, and to get out of the smoky clothes and to ventilate the flat thoroughly. The latter I've done/am doing. I had no idea my clothes smelt, but the doctor said she could smell the smoke on me. Must wash my hair too. I'm about to wander off for the bath, which sounds blissful. After that, I'm hoping to finally get some sleep as I've now been awake for well over 24 hours and I'm amazed I haven't just keeled over.

At least I feel better now, I definitely did the Smart Thing *nods* *yawns* Bath. Sleeeeeep.