Wednesday 25 May 2011

Sasquatch!

I'm off to  Sasquatch with my good friends Allison and Rebecca! So I'll be incommunicado for five days or so! I have my dance pants on, see you on the flip side :)

Tuesday 24 May 2011

Coffee!!!!

I didn't drink coffee for most of my life, but second year of resp therapy broke me! By the time my last set of finals was upon me, I was trying to figure out a way to main-line the stuff. Fun fact in the hospital you can order an IV drip of pure caffeine. It took me a month to ween myself down to a reasonable two cups.

The world's best french press!
I've move back in with my parents, they went from being empty nesters, to first my brother moving home and then myself. It's actually great apart from one small fact... my family has a serious problem... coffee... Despite the fact we have the worlds largest insulated french press, I always seem to get the last cup. I figure we each drink between two and three cups in the morning. That along with the fact it is a dangerous endeavor trying to communicate with any family member prior at least one cup of coffee; we really should just start making coffee in the tub.

Monday 23 May 2011

It ain't easy being wheezy!

My good friend asthma, I've had serious asthma since I was about three. It's not your average run of the mill asthma, it's more the kind of asthma that makes me happy I live in the day of modern medicine. Darwin would not be impressed by my survival. At least I was a cute Asthmatic as a kid!

I take a shit load of drugs, for all the nerd out there here is the list. Salbutamol or Ventolin for the non RT people, is my rescue inhaler, used for when I cant breath which is often. I take Singulair, Nasonex, and allergy drugs.  I also take an inhaled steroid called Alvesco and an oral/ systemic steroid called Prednisone, they are controller drugs and essentially try and keep the inflammation in my lungs under control. Prednisone works like magic, but the side affect are pretty hairy, literally it can cause hair growth in new and exciting places, it also can cause: high blood pressure, cataracts, glaucoma, fluid retention, weight gain, a "moon-faced" appearance, fragile-thin skin, muscle weakness, brittle bones, purplish stripe marks on the skin, insomnia, mood changes, personality changes, euphoria, psychotic behavior, and severe depression. Now don't worry I wont change into a fat crazy wolf-man with brittle bones, for the most part I'm on a low alternative day dose, which keeps the crazy fat hairy wolfman transformation at bay. I'm lucky that way, I tolerate the drug very well.

 

So I take seven drugs to manage my daily symptoms and when I get sick there are more (like antibiotics etc). It takes between 650-1000$ a month to keep me alive. I'm a fan of medical insurance, MSP and fair Pharmacare. My pharmacist loves me, I swear to god they see money signs above my head and I'm pretty sure I'm most pharmaceutical companies wet dream.


Since entering the program I've gotten better at managing my disease. I also got attacked by my classmates yielding stethoscopes every-time I wheezed in class. It was pretty much a free for all on my wheezing, I'm proud to say I'm a lot of my classmates first real live wheezer. I'm thinking that will stop now that we will be seeing real patients at the hospital. It was funny whenever a teacher would say the word asthma in class often people would look in my direction. I'm not going to lie, I like the attention, for the first time, my asthma was cool. Well I thought my asthma was cool.
 

I haven't been to the hospital so far this year, and hopefully I wont have to hospital much as patient anymore and will only go there as student/working RT. I've spent enough time as a patient. I hope you like the picture of my drugs and my super awesome daily drug organizer! So one more time YEAH for modern medicine!

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Sunday 22 May 2011

So begins the adventure....

So to begin with, I say I have dyslexia but I have actually been diagnosed with a learning disability otherwise unspecified, this includes a dyslexic component and other fun weird things. I'll also get the other fun things that are "wrong" with me out of the way. I have a diagnosis of ADHD (98th percentile baby!), sever asthma, and I cant smell (related to my asthma). I'll post on all those things later on. So on paper it pretty much looks like I drool in a corner and probably cant spell my own name. Fun fact: I used to not be able to spell my own name, Mabeline Laderge, "Bs" and "Ds" are sneak sneak letters but I've since mastered my name.

I am registered as a student with a permanent disability. I was diagnosed in grade three and have been retested a regularly since, it can make my life more challenging but overall I just think it makes me more interesting. My good friend Allison says I have my own language Madelish and people usually know what I mean (Usually).


I decided to start this blog, as I enter my clinical year of respiratory therapy school, my life has been changing at the speed of light and I want to chronicle my adventures. Another disclosure I will not be writing about specifics of the hospital. It is essential I keep patient confidentiality but I will be more talking about my experiences as a student. Deciding to become and RT was one of the best choices I have ever made. It's not an easy program, and I have struggled many times during the programs but so far I'm good at it and so far I love it.     

So if you have decided to take a read be warned my spelling, sentence structure and grammar is creative at best but like I said people usually know what I mean.