What is a Goofus Asthmatic?

So, I've been doing a lot of thinking about what a goofus asthmatic actually is. I've described him as the asthmatic who does everything wrong, but how exactly do we define the phrase, "everything wrong?"

Ideally a Gallant asthmatic would avoid his asthma triggers. So does that mean if an asthmatic is allergic to dust that he is a Goofus Asthmatic if he is unable to keep up with the dust in his room. I mean, it's inevitable that it's going to build up there.

If that's the case, then I'm not a Gallant asthmatic at all. Like you, I'm a busy person. I work. I raise kids. I blog. I like to go out and have fun from time to time. And in doing all that I am inevitably going to be exposed to asthma triggers.

So what if I go to a restaurant and that restaurant has a smoking section. Sure I sit in the nonsmoking section, but you know you can still smell smoke. When you leave the place your throat is burning even though you were not even close to THAT section.

Is a Gallant asthmatic supposed to avoid restaurants with smoking sections? Is he not ever supposed to go to a bar with his friends? Is he never supposed to go camping where campfire smoke fills the air? I wrote about this in a recent post called: Asthma, hunting camp don't bode well together.

Think about it! How perfect do you have to be? Do you want to live in a bubble just because you have asthma? (I recently blogged thatAsthmatics can't live in a bubble). Do you have a completely allergy proof home? Not me. I have carpet. I have a big bed in my bedroom and I seldom dust under it. I would, but it's a ton of work. Call me lazy if you will (err, didn't I write that Jake Goofus was the lazy asthmatic? Eek!)

Am I a Goofus Asthmatic if I forget to take my Advair one morning? Or am I just a Gallant asthmatic who forgot? Well, then what if I forget two days in a row? Have you ever forgotten to take your asthma meds? I bet you have. So does that make you a relative of Joe Goofus.

You and I are asthmatics. We aren't supposed worry about perfection. What we are supposed to do is strive to be the best. We are supposed to take our meds and see our doctors regularly and otherwise be normal. Yep, asthmatics are supposed to be as normal as possible. Yes we can live normal lives. I do. Or at least I like to think so.

Yet we do have to never forget we have asthma. I think that's the most important revaluation for us asthmatics. We have to never forget. We have to Strive.

Perfection is not possible, and therefore Jake Gallant is merely a figment of my own imagination. For that matter, I bet Joe Goofus is a figment of my imagination too. I can't believe someone would be that much of a failure.

However, I bet most of us are closer to Joe Goofus than Jake Gallant. Yet, the goal for all of us is to keep up on our asthma wisdom and strive to be like Jake Gallant as I wrote about in this post: Being the best asthmatic you can be. So long as we strive we can maintain control of our asthma. Or is striving not good enough?

Quite frankly, asthma remains a conundrum; a riddle. Not even the worlds best asthma scientists know all the answers. Not even a lifetime asthmatic as myself does. Asthma expert or
not, I don't know all the answers? Do you?