I like winter. I like the stark beauty of bare trees again the snow, the freshness of a world blanketed in white. However, this is the fourth year in a row that winter has caused me significant problems with simply trying to breathe. But in this case the weather had a helping hand in that the boiler broke down late Xmas eve meaning no heating and no hot water. Not good when the cold is a major asthma trigger for me and with everything closed for Xmas holidays nothing could be done until the new year. No matter how often it happens it’s still scary not being able to breathe properly and having to spend all your time focusing on each breath you take. It’s also exhausting.
At the moment I’m still on oral steroids alongside my Seretide 250 inhaler. The side effects are not too bad in the scheme of things. I’m mainly extremely tired, irritable and having real difficulties in concentrating on anything for very long, but at least I can now catch my breath, and I can actually have a conversion again. I’m not sure how other people feel about that but I’m happy at least.
The current plan is to reduce the oral steroid dosage slowly and then start on a low dose of Montelukast alongside the Seretide. I’m not particularly looking forward to that as last time I tried Montelukast I had some really terrible side effects, but at the moment with everything that’s going on in the world I’ll give it another go and hope the lower dosage is more manageable. If anyone has any advice, I’d be happy to hear it.
Now I’m starting to guilt trip myself about being behind in my studies. So, the next couple of weeks is going to be spent catching up on French for the OU. There’s nothing like the pressure you put on yourself. The creative side of my work is having to take a back seat for now which is annoying, but I’ll get back to it soon enough. I just hope the rest of the year improves.
EHillson - Writer and Artist 