So It's Summertime, Folks

 

Yesterday, about lunchtime, I was feeling good.  Who wouldn’t when you’re preparing to go home from the hospital and feeling that your health problem you wanted resolved had been, in fact, remedied!  I spent more than 48 hours in the hospital because of a sneaky asthmatic condition.  I don’t know much about the science of asthma to educate you well on it, but let me tell you my personal experience with it.

Since about two years ago, me having asthma has always been part of my thought patterns after this very young lady doctor told me at the UPLB Infirmary quite briskly, “you have asthma!” after a quick touch of the stethoscope.  That condition that I have asthma didn’t register in mind perhaps because I didn’t like the way the doctor laid it out to me.  But, in fairness, she was the first to diagnose me with asthma.  When I consulted other doctors later, they agreed with the diagnosis.

Still, I wasn’t really worried about being an asthmatic until very recently – actually, about a couple of months back, when I started having difficulty breathing and suffering from shortness of breath most of the time, thereby resulting in what was terrible tiredness, fatigue, and congested chest that ultimately induced chest pains that connected with my heart condition.  Well, that’s not all, but certainly that’s the brief flow chart.  A very short distance of 10 meters would result in gasping for air.  A flight of 5 stair steps got me gasping for air and I couldn’t recover easily.  Such episodes had been happening twice daily, usually noontime and midnight, in the last month or so.  My life during that time was like I was frequently and regularly on the verge of drowning in a pool of water the bottom of which I could hardly touch with my foot and had nothing to hold onto to keep my nose above water level while my strength grew weaker and weaker.  In time, usually I recovered and could gain more air (well, until the next episode)   And I thought it was already a given, and I had to endure it.

Last Sunday before noontime, that episode happened again as usual and I could not bear any further episode of it anymore, so I told Jegs that I wanted to have myself confined in the hospital again and see if I could even gain a day’s rest (I was also worried about her being under intense pressure because she had to look after me and my condition wasn’t exactly easy to deal with, given the nature of a patient that I can be).  So I told her, “I’d like to be confined now.”  Apparently, she was thinking of the same thing although she didn't tell me because she was concerned I wouldn't like the idea at all.  She was quick to put the things she thought we would need and loaded them into a small basket, which she loaded in the car.  Before we left for the hospital, Jegs and I first checked the hospital's Website.  From there we identified a possible pulmonologist to look into that concern of mine. Then, off we went to HealthServe.   

Also, before leaving for the hospital, I texted my cardiologist, Dr. Lantican, telling him what I was going to do and seeking his advice, but before he could respond we got to the hospital.  I had specifically mentioned to him that I also wanted to consult a pulmonologist, and gave him the name of Dr. Claudette Gabrillo, whom  Jegs and I simply identified from the hospital's Website. Jegs and I had heard of the name of one listed in the Website, but she was on vacation, so I selected the other one based on what I read about her on the Website.  Dr. Lantican agreed to invite Dr. Gabrillo to be my pulmonologist

While Jegs was looking for a space in the HealthServ parking area, I entered the ER and told the staff nurse that I wanted to be confined.  I told her who my doctor was (Dr. Noel Lantican), and also told her that I wanted to be seen by pulmonologist, Dr. Gabrillo.  The Doctor on duty at ER asked me if I was being referred to Dr. Gabrillo, but I said I only identified her from the hospital’s website.  After the quick preliminaries, I was wheeled into the X-ray room for my chest ex-ray, which I was told, would be needed by Dr. Gabrillo when she came in to evaluate my condition.

One of the things that Dr. Gabrillo noticed was that there was a little amount of fluid in my lungs (which one, I didn’t ask) and she tried to get that out through medical therapy.  I took the medicine she prescribed, and, boy, did that tablet have an effect on me!  Every hour I had to urinate, and apparently the fluid in my lungs was gone overnight.  I felt good the following morning.  The shortness of breath and the feeling of congested chest after a slight exertion of effort were gone.

As a result, I requested to be discharged Tuesday noontime.  I thank Dr. Lantican and Dr. Gabrillo for such quick improvement in my system.   

That's the news report part.  Now, the personal interpretations and beliefs..

A few days ago, I had reported to my doctor that I felt gas was building up in my stomach each time I ate something, or even drank water.  And each time that I felt gas was building up in my stomach, I felt I could no longer add more air into my lungs because the space may have been taken over the gas and my lungs could no longer expand anymore.  I thought that simply getting rid of the gas would be enough so I pushed the gas in my tummy downwards until I passed wind, but the gas simply would build up again.

Perhaps you have experienced this before.  When you feel you’re building gas in your tummy and you take a breath because you need fresh air, you feel that your lungs could not expand anymore so there’s no more space for the new air you have breathed into your system.  This condition results in quick, short breaths that does not really result in air intake.  So you keep on taking very short breaths and you feel you’re losing air.  Apparently, that’s what happens when you have liquid in the lungs.   

The liquid takes space of your lungs and  when there’s a large amount of liquid in the lungs this condition leaves less space for the fresh air.  When there’s too much liquid in the lungs, one suffers from what many who have experienced such episode as “drowning.”  Come to think of it, that must have been the feeling in the last few seconds in the lives of most of those who perished with the Titanic.

Well, anyway, I’m not saying you have liquid in your lungs.  All I'm saying is, I hope I'm done with those kinds of episodes so I can enjoy my life.  

You’re all very robust and healthy.  For those who have asthma, though, it may be wise to prepare for some eventualities during the Summer break.  Since asthma can’t be cured, we can only avoid the triggers such as inhaling pollens, dust, smoke, pollutants, and even smell and hair of pets.   

On this last one, though, I'm taking my chances with Waku, our three-year old shi-tzu.  Our neighbors told us that during the two nights that we were in the hospital they heard him crying or howling softly about midnight, just about the time he would normally wake me up so I could let him out the apartment to pee.   For a pet owner, no matter how stern or even unforgiving, such brief episode is tough to deal with and extremely sentimental that can melt one's feelings in seconds.

Anyway, you can avoid the likely triggers of asthma by using a medical mask whenever you’re outdoors or even indoors.  Avoid the sudden drizzles, they can be nasty, as well.  And by the way, avoid, too, the intense heat of the sun. Stay under the shade of those large trees.

Otherwise, enjoy the summer outdoors as you listen to Theme From a Summer Place by Max Steiner..

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