Breathing Deeply: My Life With Cystic Fibrosis

The weatherman is not only blamed for his failure to foretell,
he is blamed for the weather itself.--Chuck Jones

Santa Ana conditions. Again. I could tell that today was going to be warm and dry because I was up half the night trying to catch my breath. I have been taking Singulair for almost a year now and I'm really happy with how well it keeps my symptoms under control throughout the night. Although I'm coughing more the last couple days, it seems to be largely due to asthma and allergies and not so much because of anything particularly nasty relating to CF. Still, Santa Ana season is not particularly enjoyable.

While I'm on the subject, I'd like to rant a bit about asthma.

A few years back I was a field tech helping with a pediatric asthma epidemiological study. I was simply astonished at how awful some of the living conditions were of some of the kids. I don't know about you, but it seems to me that if your kid has a chronic allergic condition or asthma, wouldn't you want to eliminate as many triggers from their environment as possible? Some of these homes had multiple indoor animals (dander galore!) molds growing in the kitchen, dust everywhere...basically it was a mess. Those things I suppose I could tolerate on some levels. I know that not everyone has the time or resources to maintain an allergen free home like I had growing up. What bothered, no, enraged me the most was the parents who smoked in the house with their asthmatic kids. Even more appalling was that some parents had no problem supporting their nicotine habit, but they did not have the ability to provide basic asthma medications for their child.

*Sigh* Enough of that. It breaks my heart to know that there are hurting kids out there who have to endure life with lousy parents.

I'm so thankful for my family and the many ways my parents provided for me (and on occasion still do) in order to make managing CF and its related diseases more manageable. I'm thankful that my husband and I both have jobs in a coastal city where the air quality is wonderful compared to Riverside. I'm thankful that God has provided in many ways so that we never have to decide whether our money should be spent on groceries or medications.