Smiles for Progress

Dr. Olson.
         Dr. Amy Olson.

That name stands alone as a powerful force. She's comforting, thorough, brilliant, and compassionate. I am here because I want to be well and feel good more than anything I can imagine. As if that isn't motivation enough, I find myself working even harder toward challenging goals and pushing through tough tests because I don't want to disappoint her.

Today she was disappointed because I've lost several pounds in the past week. I feel like I eat all the time. I don't understand my body. She's pretty serious about this though. Apparently if my BMI drops too low it can cause more problems than I'm already dealing with. Neither of us want that! Luckily, that conversation was followed by better news. My ENO is down to 55! Oh yes! That's right! I did say fifty-five! No kidding! She was even smiling about my spirometry! There was less truncation in the loops and my lung function was much better. I still haven't achieved the 6 second mark on the expiratory loop. Today I was less than three seconds. Honestly, I don't know how people breathe out for that long. I'm working on it though, and as she said "let's just smile for progress!" I know that one day very soon I'll be writing about surpassing this goal too!

Because my lung function is stable, she felt comfortable increasing my treatment dosage. She and the other doctors have consulted and feel they need to push the limits while they're monitoring me so closely to see if it will work for me at all. She said the negative side effects will probably worsen, but if the tests continue to show nothing positive we'll stop and try something else. Once again, I just have to keep reminding myself that this is why I'm here and I knew it wouldn't be easy. I can handle this because better times are coming.

VCD Irritant Challenge

I felt like there was a lot on the line with this appointment. I was pretty nervous as I headed over to the rehab floor. This was my first session with Carly where we were really going to push my body to some limits and work on beating my respiratory system's hypersensitivity to irritants. What a goal!

Today, she set up the challenge using strong perfume. I had to enter and exit the room over and over increasing my exposure time with each session. It sounds so simple now that I'm writing about it, but it was a true challenge. The first time we entered the room my body reacted instantly. I've been living with this for so long that it doesn't scare me, but it frustrates me endlessly. I've been breathing better for the past week than I have in months, maybe even more than a year. Things are on the right track for once. It's so disheartening to know that exposure to an irritant can have so much control over my body. With that in mind, that's another reason I love this place, and I know this is where I'm supposed to be. No one else in my medical history has even tried to help the whole me in so many ways. I am so thankful to be here where they have the resources to help me in all these creative ways. It's going to take many more of these challenges to desensitize my respiratory system and keep it from shutting down, but that's what I'm here for & they're in it with me. :)

I walked away realizing that the road ahead of me is still quite long, but I'm walking it with amazing people!