I did end up sleeping right through after that entry, and woke up feeling less achy and congested, but not breathing all that well. Asthma sucks ass. Called the respirologist yesterday morning, he told me to up my meds (which I�ve done) and if I got any worse to call him again. Wasn�t too concerned about rushing me in for an appointment, since I have to go see him tomorrow anyway. Since I�m uncomfortable but not in any danger, there�s no need to get me in there sooner, but it is a good thing to get started on the meds right away.

Have I expressed yet how much I love Symbicort? At one time, I was taking 3 different inhalers for preventative care, plus the one for relief. They helped, they didn�t do what this one does. This one replaces all the others. I take it twice a day (except times like this when it flares up, when I take more) and only very very very rarely do I have to take my relief medication (again, except times like this when it flares up). I didn�t know before what it was like to sleep through the whole night and not wake up wheezing. This stuff is great, I actually sleep all the way through now� unless I wake up needing to pee. It�s cost-effective, too. Think about it� while on the surface, it seems pretty pricey, keep in mind that I don�t have to buy all those other inhalers now. It costs me less than half of what it used to for maintenance. Add in how much better I feel in general� good stuff.

You know, years ago� they told me that they never expected me to be able to work full-time. I�ve gotten a lot better since then, and it proves to me� things can change, and doctors don�t know everything. Just because you have a chronic illness doesn�t mean your life is over. It doesn�t mean you�ll never amount to anything, or not be able to do the things you want to do. Yeah, I do have to be careful about my health, because common things like colds and flu tend to hit me harder, and I have to be careful about my environment and what I eat because of allergies� but you get used to it. You get so that it�s just a part of how you live, and you hardly even think about it. I think I am a better person for having been sick, and badly sick, sometimes. I know what is important in life� I don�t take a lot of things for granted. And I am aware that as frustrated and angry I get with my illness sometimes, there is worse. Much worse. And I have the good fortune to live in a country with good public health care, and have the good fortune to be in a job where I get good health coverage, and I have the good fortune to have people who love me and will help me as much as they can when I get sick.

Hoping that the meds kick in soon, because if I feel well enough to go out for a little while later, I�ll go pick up the new Evanescence CD, released today. The url for their site, where you can sample their music, is http://www.evanescence.com . I don�t know why my HTML tags never work on this page (except in my actual diary template), but they don�t, so I will have to remember to just post full addy�s in my journal. In any case, go there and listen. I think I likely won�t be able to go pick it up today (I�m feeling mighty low), more likely will be tomorrow� much as I�d rather have it now, I know I�m better off just resting today. Will have to go out a little later to go to the store, we need milk and bread, but that isn�t much of a trip and Oscar will need the walk anyway.