Purgatory's Pit of Doom

*Pushes aside hellhound waste to make room for Tri under the couch*

(((Red))) Feeling any better?

Thanks, Red & {{{Red}}}

(((Red))) Feel better!

Tri grins at Snappy, happily wallowing in the shite.

madderblue said:

I just had an epiphany. If you don't have anything out there (on sub or with an agent) then you have nothing to fear. There's no anxiety, panic, impending feelings of doom.

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But what about fear itself?

Just everybody be on the lookout for my left lung under the couch. His name is Cletus. He's smallish for his age and a little shy.

(((Red))) Does Cletus respond to treats? *waves maggots around*

RedScylla said:

But what about fear itself?

Just everybody be on the lookout for my left lung under the couch. His name is Cletus. He's smallish for his age and a little shy.

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What happened? Did you get sick from vacation?

Inkie -- Are you going anywhere on vacation?

Yep, came home with bronchitis which is headed for pneumonia. Are you going on vacay, DVI?

RedScylla said:

Yep, came home with bronchitis which is headed for pneumonia. Are you going on vacay, DVI?

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Red, get thee to a doctor if you haven't already. My sister came to visit me (from Chicago) last year with a very nasty strain of bronchitis. It didn't turn to pneumonia, but I had to take her to the emergency room, and finally had to call 911 when it got really bad.

I have bronchitis and pneumonia nearly every winter. (See the part about Cletus being small for his age.) So I'm keeping an eye on how I feel. I've got some tricky lungs, but I'm pretty used to reading them for impending doom, so I'll head to the doctor if I get any nasty changes.

Well, Cletus is a special case. He's sweet as can be, and he tries so hard, but he's really a short bus lung.

((Red)) Get well soon! I'm working with a lung specialist because mine are really weak from asthma, recurrent bronchitis, scar tissue in the airways, and two rounds of pneumonia back in 2009 that still affect me. Maybe you can see a pulmonary doc. Mine has done amazing things for me. You might have had it a lot and think you know how to deal with it, but perhaps a doctor can strengthen up your lungs so that you don't get as sick each year.

You can grow you lungs with breathing training. It's possible to expand the girth of your rib cage at least a few inches with your lungs.

Red, do take care.

I'm going on a quasi-vacation. We're leaving Friday to visit some friends and won't be back until late Tuesday.

I hope it's a restful visit, Inky.

Thanks for the concern all. I used to go to a pulmonary doc but I think we exhausted out options after a few years. I do ok, but the annual bronchitis gauntlet remains.

{{{Red's Lungs}}}

Have a moderately pleasant quasi-vacay, DVI

SteveCordero said:

{{{Red's Lungs}}}

Have a moderately pleasant quasi-vacay, DVI

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Stealing. (((Cletus)))

RedScylla said:

Just everybody be on the lookout for my left lung under the couch. His name is Cletus. He's smallish for his age and a little shy.

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I thought it was a throw pillow. Sorry, Red, here you go. Little bit of drool. I'll wipe that off for you.

I have awful lungs too. Lots of pneumonia and bronchitis as a kid. A couple years ago I went in and the doctor looked at my x-ray and said, "Have you had TB?"

K. Taylor said:

You can grow you lungs with breathing training. It's possible to expand the girth of your rib cage at least a few inches with your lungs.

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This is good to know. I was blowing up balloons a few weeks ago and challenged my husband and son to blow one up with a single breath to see how much lung capacity we all have. Son (who plays trumpet) was impressive. But I lost to my husband who has smoked a pack of cigs every day for thirty freaking years. I nearly cried. Now I'm doing lots of deep breathing and long walks. Still can't walk up the stairs without getting winded though.

And adding my luke warm regards to Ink's vacation.

(((Red))) (((Snappy))) Hope you both feel better soon.

madder -- my lungs are fine, but I can't walk up stairs without getting winded either.

{{Red}} Who took care of the animals while you were gone?

Catwoman said:

{{Red}} Who took care of the animals while you were gone?

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This girl I lived with right after my divorce while I was remodeling my house, she's a dog sitter. I helped her out a LOT that winter, which was nutso, so she gave me a very good deal on watching the dogs for the weekend.

Ha! Madder, I've been asked similar stuff. In fact, when I was born, they thought I had TB. The going theory is that because I was more than a month overdue, my lungs were permanently damaged by being soaked in amniotic fluid when they were ready to breathe. At any rate, I've had sooooo many problems, and then ... I went to Honduras in college and got TB. Ooptie. I have about as good of function now as I've had at any point in my life, but I'm still just a misstep away from pneumonia every winter.

Oh, and there's a Pittish fact: TB is associated with so many creative types, because it creates these magnificent, nearly hallucinatory fevers. Before I knew I had TB, I was really enjoying the early stages--this rich, hazy, magical, aphrodisiac fever every night around 10 pm. I wrote like a fiend for 5 or 6 hours a night, then crashed by dawn. Then, bummer, found out I was gonna have to get treated.

Red, fascinating about TB and creative types. When I was heavy into my Kafka phase, I do remember him having tuberculosis. And later I remember reading about it being seen as such a "romantic" disease. You're cool for having had that experience and kicking TB's butt. (Just wish you had super-strong, pneumonia and bronchitis resilient lungs now.)

Red, that's so interesting about TB. Never knew that. But eep!

Thanks for the vacation wishes. We leave tomorrow morning on a looong drive.

TB is scary. Both my grandma and a cousin had it. She was a nurse in 1950s and caught it. My cousin, who's old enough to be my father, caught it in the 1970s and was so bad he had to live in a sanitarium for a while. He recovered but has to live in a climate agreeable to his lasting lung damage.

In 2009, I got H1N1 and was one of those otherwise healthy young people who wound up with pneumonia. That was in March. That November, I had a relapse of pneumonia, and it's taken years to get my lungs back to where they are now. I backslid when I was pregnant last year, but it's been a slow improvement.