Life as an Asthmatic

I have been having a hard time the last month or so.  The cold weather makes it more difficult for me to breathe.  I know the dogs don’t help but there is no way I am giving them up!   I keep thinking that my next dog should be a non-shedding breed but I love the border collies so much!   Oh well, I have years before the day will come that I can get another dog.  Although I would like to get one before Dylan retires from Flyball!

I saw the Allergist today.   It’s a new doctor and the first one that hasn’t harrassed me about getting rid of the dogs.  I told him upfront that I have dogs and that’s just part of life.  He didn’t bug me about it at all!  That made me happy!  He did say it was best to keep them clean though. 

The good news is, he’s pretty sure he can help me feel a whole lot better.   Once he does, I can start getting allergy shots.  I haven’t been a candidate in the past because my lungs are too unstable and that makes me too high risk.     I would LOVE, LOVE, LOVE, if allergy shots would help me!

The doc beleives I may have a combination of Asthma and some vocal chord issue.    We are going to adjust some medications the next few weeks and then I will go back.  If things aren’t better they will do some testing to see if I have this vocal chord problem.   Apparently it’s commonly misdiagnosed as asthma because it has a lot of the same symptoms.  While I definitely have asthma, I may have both which explains why my Asthma has been so difficult to control.  I would be thrilled if this new doc finally found some way to make things easier - even if it means I have yet another chronic illness. 

Guess only time will tell.  I took the new medication this morning and have been feeling well.  My worst time is early mornings and late in the evenings.  So we will see how I do tonight!  It may take a while to start working I would guess.   All in all, I am hopeful that maybe there will be some relief in the future!