A Veritable Asthma Convention
by Caroline Hellman

Asthma Anecdotes

The other day I was rushing out the door for a weekend in Boston, at which point my fiance stopped me to ask if I'd brought my inhaler. Usually I keep one albuterol in my purse, but I recalled I'd taken it out of my purse to use on a run the other day, and left it in my car. This meant retracing my steps, finding a new inhaler, and trying to set off once more.

But before I reached the safety of the car, my father (we were leaving from my parents' house) asked if I had my Advair with me. Yes, I was tempted to reply, even though I could visualize it sitting on my sink in our apartment, where I had left a few things I meant to take with me on our long weekend.

Fortunately my father happens to be a doctor, and so he just happened to have some spair Advairs just lying around. We set off once more, complete with Albuterol and Advair. At the same time, my fiance has to take Advair to get rid of a nasty perpetual cough. So we had one for him, too, of a different strength than the one I use.

In the meantime, we also had my Epi-Pen; I am deathly allergic to nuts, and need epinephrine shot immediately if I accidentally ingest any nuts. The result when this happens is a major asthma attack, among other things, so I guess it's good that we had the albuterol.

Last week, we went to pick up my brother at school, and he toted Advair with him, too, in addition to trusty Pulmicort.

We're a fun bunch! I admit that it's fairly important to have one's medication with one at all times, when it comes to breathing. Here's to calm bronchi and breaths that don't rasp!