Family members who just dont get it...again

[Guest guest]

Weve all had those experiences where people are insensitive regarding

asthma situations. Normally it doesnt bother me too much or I just

take it in stride figuring they dont understand, but this time really

really irks me. I cant say how much it irks me...

We stayed at one of my aunt & uncles (Ill call them Aunt & Unlce A)

houses the last week of November so that we could celebrate

Thanksgiving with family. Aunt & Uncle B hosted Thanksgiving day

dinner at their house. Now, let it be known that Uncle B is not

exactly the type of person that people swarm to be around...most would

rather avoid him and the 4 of us (me, , Aunt & Uncle A) reallly

only went as a formality and to be umm...polite. Aunt B has asthma and

smokes. Uncle B is COPD and supposed to be on Oxygen...AND HE SMOKES.

Thanksgiving day we get there and Aunt B was hacking and hacking until

it looked like she was going to either pass out or vomit. Any of us

who have had bad bronchitis know exactly what Im talking about here.

We asked if she was ok, and she said, " yes, its just my asthma. "

So...long story short here, we determine she is not on any kind of

controller meds and only has an inhaler to use supposedly every 6

hours. We never saw her use it at all while we were there, and the

time frame that we were there she should have used it at least once.

All evening long she hacked and coughed. This same woman washed, cut

and cooked all of the food we ate for dinner. Her husband did nothing

to help her but thats beside the point. All night long she kept saying

the cough was from her asthma. Yet, to my amazement, I dont know why

this amazes me, she went out to smoke at least twice.

Last Monday my Aunt and Uncle A started displaying symptoms of a cold.

My aunt had a migraine headache. Tuesday morning I had a migraine

headache that was by far the worst one Ive had in a very long time. I

thought I was going to be sick to my stomach and it just wouldnt go

away...I managed to find my Advil Migraine and it went from a raging

storm to a mild disturbance. Then Tuesday night my husband had the

start of a migraine...so I gave him the advil. I found out about my

aunt and uncle when we talked on Wednesday.

They have had a cough and sniffles since the headaches...so did .

On Thursday my back started aching, but I figured it was related to

unpacking so much stuff since Monday. Friday it ached more and I had a

fuzzy feeling throat. It wasnt sore, but it didnt feel right either.

I thought about thrush, but no white patches were visible anywhere so I

kinda put that on the back burner. On Saturday we went to a 4 hour

choir workshop at our church and afterward I was exhausted. I wrote it

off as being due to getting up at 630am that morning. I took a short

nap and we went out for a little bit...my back started aching again and

I was exhausted again. Sunday we got up, and my voice was funny...but

it cleared up before we went to church. At church I sucked on a cough

drop while we sang and everything seemed ok. We even went shopping

afterward.

Then Monday when I woke up, I felt like a freight train ran me over.

It took me forever to clear my throat and I couldnt blow my nose

without coughing..and my nose wasnt that stuffed. I had one place on

my chest that hurt when I walked around and when I did my peak flow the

best I could muster was a 350...when on Saturday I blew 500 with no

problem. So...I called the clinic at the base only to find out that

the system hadnt been updated yet so we didnt show up. I had to drive

to the base and show them my paperwork, at which point they could

override the system and schedule me an appointment. So..I get there,

and with full knowledge that my issue is asthma related, they tell me

the best they can do for me is DECEMBER 19!! I instantly start crying

b/c I now feel like dog doo and I now have MORE beauracratic red tape

to go through. The lady told me the only other thing to do is go to

the ER at the base hospital...fine..Ill do that then b/c I cant wait

till December 19 to treat this.

In the long run Im glad I didnt screw around...and Im glad the ER staff

didnt write off my history of asthma. Proactively they decided to do a

chest xray...to rule out pnuemonia. They fully suspected it was

bronchitis but wanted to be safe. Well...its a good thing they DID the

x-ray b/c it showed early stages of pnuemonia on both lungs! For some

reason I decided not to see if taking my morning meds would increase my

peak flows...they did, but not all that much. I was well on the way to

being a seriously sick cookie. I kinda thought that they didnt give me

enough as far as meds go, but decided to wait and see....they only

prescribed ventolin every 6 hours and a Z-pack. My peak flows are in

the middle yellow range as of yesterday which is only day 2, and I feel

much better than Monday. I have a cough, but its nothing like Ive had

with bronchitis before...and nothing a cough drop cant help. So I

guess what they gave me is working so far. Ive also gotten alot of

gunk out of my lungs the past 2 days and my chest doesnt hurt anymore.

Sooo...in further discussion with my aunt A, she overheard my aunt b

tell someone else that she is getting over a really bad case of

bronchitis the other day. This is the part that ticks us off...she

will tell friends where they live that she was sick, but didnt have the

common sense to at least tell us the truth about being sick...AND...on

top of it, when we left she made sure she planted a nice big juicy kiss

on our lips. I didnt think to turn my cheek to her till it was too

late. Im positive this is where I picked up my cold from b/c she is

the only person all 4 of us were around who was sick, and all 4 of us

have been sick. Im just the only one lucky enough to have asthma.

I wouldnt have changed my plans if I had known she was sick, but at

least I would have went into the situation knowing that I might get

sick out of it. The way it stands, I wasnt given the ability to decide

whether it was worth the risk or not b/c she didnt give us the courtesy

of saying hey...im dealing with some bronchitis issues here..just to

let you know. Aunt & Uncle A had offered to do thanksgiving at their

house when Uncle B had some surgery the week before Thanksgiving so its

not like that wasnt an offer that was still on the table either. They

couldve come over there and my Aunt A and I couldve done the prep work

and cooking so my other aunt wouldnt have to...then our exposure

couldve been minimized. But Aunt and Uncle B dont see it that way.

(At least Uncle B takes the oxygen off and goes outside to smoke...they

dont smoke in their house).

Ann