Asthmatics can't live in a bubble

There's an old saying that says you can't live in a bubble. However nice it would be to create a perfect environment where there are no allergens or asthma triggers that isn't ever going to happen. And, on occasion, occasionally you have to go out and have fun too.

I'm sure you know many people who's face might crack if they smiled. They leave notes all around the office and lecture you every time you step on a crack or forget to dot an i or cross a t. You try to be humorous around these people and the world comes to a stop.

I certainly wouldn't want to live like that. And that's why, asthma or not, I refuse to live in a bubble. That's also why I don't let my asthma stop me from doing anything. When I was 10 YO I quit playing baseball because of my asthma, and that was my most regretted action my entire life.

So if I want to do it I do it. However, there is this thing called pacing myself. Yet even that's not easy to do. I remember being 16 or 17 and playing football with my brothers. I gave 110% to every play, even as the air started getting trapped in my lungs. And you can imagine all the allergy triggers in the fall: the cold air, the smoke from the chimney, running around in the mucky-muck.

I might have had to run in at halftime and every 15 minuets thereafter, but I never quit a game because of my asthma. I was never a quitter. Sure this action might have been right out of the book of Joe Goofus, but it's what I did.

I've tamed my self quite a bit since those teenage years, but I still, on occasion, do something an asthmatic shouldn't -- like to to hunting camp.

I don't think hunting camp, or camping per se is bad for all asthmatics, but it is for me. The smoke from the campfire, the cold fall air, the cold rain, the dust, the musty camper or cabin, the... you get the picture.

I wrote before that I went last Monday only for a few hours at night and left before 10 a.m. the next day. I took three days off and did the same Friday. The verdict is in: it worked. I did end up with some congestion, and I've been coughing up some thick white goobers (tasty) but no big problems.

Of course you guys know the reason I'm even able to survive with minimal asthma damage when doing something Joe Goofusey like this is because I work hard to mimic Jake Gallant most of the year. I take all the best medicines, see my doctor regularly, and for the most part stay away from my asthma triggers.

Whatever the other guys did so did I. The idea I had asthma never crossed any one else's mind. The asthma beast, as was discussed in this post, remained invisible -- which is how I wanted it.

The fact that the asthma beast has the ability to stay invisible for the most part is good so long as it's hidden due to good asthma control. And because of that good asthma control your humble asthmatic RT was able to survive another hunting camp and had a great time in the process.