What I thought would be a difficult day turned out, in the end, to be a really rather good day. I spent a lot of it in hospital for yet another appointment with the consultant about my asthma. OK, I had to do loads of waiting, as usual for anyone attending a NHS hospital, but when I eventually saw the consultant he gave me some good news. My breath was stronger then before and it appear that the asthma is finally under control for the first time since I was diagnosed with it exactly two and a half years ago. Basically I've still got it, and will have it for the rest of my life, but I've learnt to manage it and can cope with it, at least for now. He has decided that I need not be one of his patients but to be treated by one of the asthma nurses at my GP's surgery - they will decide whether or not I need to go back to see the consultant again. Oh, and I am to try doing without one of the lots of medication and see how I get on.
As you can imagine I am really cock-a-hoop about this as it is the first indication that my health is really on the mend. Clearly I shall have to be careful at times, especially when it has been raining (fat chance at the moment!) or when certain pollens are around, but this is the first time I have had positive news about my asthma since it was first diagnosed.
Changing the subject somewhat why is it that waiting for a bus seems to take much, much longer than waiting for a train? It is an absolute nightmare trying to park at Broomfield Hospital. I have driven round and round before now trying to find a space - and when you do find one you have to pay a substantial amount to the privilege of doing so. So I decided to take the bus, which runs not too far from our house. It was a quick and easy journey and the total bus fare was only fractionally more than the car park fees, let alone the cost of runiing the car/fuel, etc. However waiting for the bus seemed to take forever, even though I have waited for much longer in railway stations for a train.
6 comments:
Waiting for a bus or a train would be a welcome happenstance, for me, Val. When we moved to Wichita in 1959 (we came by train--probably the last time I used a train for basic transportation), we lived within a couple of blocks of the bus line--which was how I got to the OB/GYN during the last 3 months of pregnancy with Dudette, or anywhere I wished to go for the year that we lived there. Then, we moved to Derby. No bus service, at all.
While working in Seattle in the mid-1980s, I was able to go to/from work by bus; but, that was my last opportunity. Unfortunately, we in America do not believe in mass transportation. We must think it infringes upon our individuality. (But, you can bet that no one frets about individuality when they want to be got out of a jam during a hurricane such as Katrina! It's "Why aren't you doing more for me?"
Well, I think that I am being unfair. Those who could afford individuality (and are the ones who regularly refuse to support the existence of good mass transit systems) drove out of the area in their big, honking SUVs.
Cop Car
P.S. Passenger trains have not stopped in the Wichita vicinity for at least 30 years. It is an hour's drive from our home to the nearest passenger train stop.
By-the-by, Val. I cannot imagine what it must be like to struggle for breath. It is wonderful news that you have your asthma under control!
CC
CopCar,
It's only in the last few years that public transportation has become very popular. For many years the Car has reined supreme. Nevertheless travelling from major city to major city is, on some routes, often easier than driving, when you are faced by overcrowded motorways, traffic jams and difficulties in trying to find somewhere to park when you (finally) reach your destination: for example the train journey from London to York takes about 2 hours to do almost 200 miles, whereas to drive the same distance would take at least 4 hours if you faced no traffic jams up the A1 - one of the busiest roads in the country and one that sometimes seems to have a permanent traffic jam, or two, or three...
Generally most urban areas do have bus services, although many rural areas have a bus service that is is either minimal or non-existent - for example the Dorset village where my parents lived until my father died only had something like 4 buses a week. I am not a great lover of buses, a throwback I suspect to my childhood when I had to get a bus and a train to get to school - and it was the bus that was so unreliable and I hated waiting for. Broomfield hospital is about 3 miles away and while I would usually drive there the parking is such a nightmare and finding a place in the car park so difficult that I decided to try using the bus service instead.
Incidentally I wonder whether buses may become more popular in future. What with the constant pressure to become more environmentally conscious and the fact that it is now getting so expensive to drive: over here petrol and diesel fuels cost us about £1 a litre.
Thanks for your comment about the asthma. I've been without my pills for 2 days now and no problems. Fingers crossed that this continues in future.
That's absolutely WONDERFUL news, Val! I have worried about your asthma a great deal, and wondered if it could ultimately be controlled. It seems you are making inroads, and that's just great!
When we first started talking, I was using an inhaler, and then the doctor added a second one. Then they changed to an inhaler that incorportated both medicines, and the doc added a different inhaler to the mix. It seems that the philosophy about which drugs to use changed in mid-stream on my treatment, but the doctor's were slow to let me know about that shift.
I'm very happy to tell you that I have not had to use an inhaler for about two years, BUT....we have also been in deep drought for a large part of that time. If we should ever go back to getting adequate precipitation, I wonder if I will see a return of the asthma?
At any rate....I'm so glad you're doing better!
Buffy
I had to use two different inhalers twice a day when I was in hospital when the asthma was first diagnosed and for about a month after I came out. Then like you they changed my inhaler to one that contains both sorts of medicine it's called Seretide. This I still have to take twice a day and this, it appears, will be ongoing. I am keeping my fingers crossed that I don't have to take anything stronger.
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