News!

Wow....heard on the radio this morning that Lance is making a comeback! Now it's confirmed! Finally the tour will get interesting again. Let's face it....Hincapie just ain't as much to look at as Lance is!

In other news I was diagnosed yesterday with mild, persistent asthma. I am still undecided on whether or not I believe it. I started having the tightness in my chest again on Sunday, same problems with breathing that I have had since the end of June. I have made two doctor's appointments, thinking I was sick, then cancelled both times because I apparently got better. Well this time I decided that I had to put an end to it! I went to Home Depot Sunday night and couldn't walk around without losing my breath! Doctor said that my lungs sounded fine, no fever, nothing. Then I blew into the inspiramotor and my lung output was only 200. They kept asking me if I was a smoker. Me: "No, I don't smoke." Dr: "Okay, then blow again." 200 again. Dr:" Are you sure you don't smoke?" Me: "Yes, positive. I really like to exercise and I don't smoke!" So I tried like 10 more times as hard as I could. They said that I should be blowing a 400 minimum and that endurance athletes should be able to blow all the way to the top. I told them I really couldn't breathe that well at all. They gave me a nebulizer treatment then I blew again. 300. Better, but still sucks on the scale of lung capacity. My pulse ox level was 98% (good) so they give me a chest x-ray to check for pneumonia or a collapsed lung. Nope. Nothing there. Then they start asking me if anyone has ever told me I have asthma. Nope. Haven't heard that before. Do I get respiratory infections a lot? Yes, like every other month it feels like! They said that asthma is often misdiagnosed as bronchitis. They gave me a fast-acting inhaler and then voila! 10 minutes later I blew a 400! Okay but they said I should really be at 600 with my training.

So I left with two inhalers and instructions to use them for one month and see a pulmonologist. They say it's not "exercise induced" asthma because most of the time I am not training when I start feeling crappy. I just find it a little suspicious that I have gone this long with no apparent "asthma attack". They said that I "adult-onset asthma" and it is more prevalent than most people think. People with bad allergies (that is me!) can develop asthma with excessive exposure to things like smoke, smog, mold, dust, (dog hair from Poncey and Bella probably counts too!)

Like I said, they said I have "classic signs and symptoms" but I want a second opinion. Mostly because the inhalers are expensive and one of them I have to use twice a day and replace every month. I need to figure out what my deductible is for prescriptions.

Today I did feel better and was able to run some intervals and get in the indoor bike for a bit. Last night I had a quality night's sleep because my chest wasn't bothering me! So that's positive too. Maybe being able to breathe will make me faster?