BaycitywalkerBaycitywalkerTribulations and triumphs of a lung challenged marathon walker and wannbe racewaker. 
Articles
Rock & Roll training complete
2009-09-21 21:45:00 My training for the San Jose Rock &Roll half marathon is complete. Now all I have to do is stay healthy enough to do the actual race. I will remain in rest and recovery mode until race day. In training for this race, I did (22) 5-mile tempo walks, (1) 8-mile LSD, (3) 10 milers ( two LSDs and one at race pace) and (1) 12 mile LSD. I total, I only spent 7 weeks preparing for this one (which is a record for me), and I didn’t do any gym workouts or cross training of any kind. All I did was walk. I hope it’s enough. This is both an exciting and important race for me for several reasons. Firstly , because this will be the first half marathon Ive attempted in two years (excluding the 2008 ET midnight marathon which I never count) and I have no idea on how well I’m going to perform. Generally I can push myself a little harder during a half marathon, because I don’t have to worry about stretching my lung power out for 7 or 8 hours, like I would in a full ... More About: Training , Complete
30 Things About My Invisible Illness
2009-09-18 16:35:00 I rarely ever do these question and answer things , but some of my favorite asthmatics are doing it and it’s for a good cause…. so what the heck. 1. The illness I live with is: asthma 2. I was diagnosed with it : at the age of 2 3. But I had symptoms since: birth in 1954 4. The biggest adjustment I’ve had to make is: learning to live WITH the disease. 5. Most people assume: because I’m able to walk marathons, that I’m totally healthy 6. The hardest part about mornings are: that they end too soon. 7. My favorite medical TV show is: I don’t watch medical TV shows. 8. A gadget I couldn’t live without is: my Mp3 player. 9. The hardest part about nights are: making it through them. 10. Each day I take 12 pills, 3 inhalers and 6 nebulizer treatments . 11. Regarding alternative treatments I: have tried just about everything. 12. If I had to choose between an invisible illness or visible I would choose: probably an invisible one. 13. Regarding working a... More About: Things , Illness , Invisible
My stress reliever
2009-09-17 06:11:00 Yup, I’m a severe asthmatic and my stress reliever is a cat! How weird is that. I should do a survey to see how many severe asthmatics have cats! More About: Stress
Im going to Pennsylvania to be studied.
2009-09-13 21:55:00 As I eluded to in my last post, Dr. Wenzel along with the folks at the University of Pittsburgh’s Asthma Institute, have taken an interest in my case and have invited me to participate as a research subject in the Severe Asthma Research Program. The SARP is one of the most comprehensive studies of severe asthmatics ever undertaken. My study is scheduled for the 3rd week in November. The project I’ll be involved in is titled : Inflammation, Myofibroblasts and Loss of Elastic Recoil in Severe Asthma.The Severe Asthma Research Program ( SARP for short), is a collaborative research effort involving 4 different Universities, each adding their own research specialties to the mix. The basic goal of the SARP is to determine what make “severe” asthma different than the moderate of mild forms of the disease. The information they gain by studying people like me, is added to their already extensive asthma database, which is available to lung researchers worldwide. ... More About: Pennsylvania
Im 20,089 days old !
2009-09-12 18:40:00 I can’t believe it . Today I obtained the age of 55, and the official rank of “Senior Citizen”. I guess I should start acting my physical age huh? (That’s a scary thought). In my wildest dreams I never thought Id be around this long, but 13 marathons and 500 blog posts later…I’m still walkin, bloggin and breathin. I owe a lot to my friends, my readers and my partner Douglas for supporting my crazy endeavorers over the years. Because I’ve been more fortunate than most people with the severe form of this disease, I’ve decided to give back, by devoting more of my time in the coming months to asthma research and education. In November I’ll be lab-ratting myself for an important severe asthma research study in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania (more about that in the next post). I’m also serving as an Asthma Community Administrator over at Medpedia.com and have become an asthma and fitness health advocate for several other organizati... More About: Days
Asthma and marathon training updates
2009-09-11 15:40:00 It’s generally been a rough couple of months on the asthma front. This disease has been kicking my butt. Seems like Ive been sick more often than not. A couple weeks ago I started flaring again pretty severely, and as a result, had to up my prednisone to 50mg for a few days. The prednisone did it’s job this time and kept me out of the hospital, but weaning back down was really tough. I always have a difficult time tapering down below 25mg…. my peak flows bottom out and my symptoms come back with a vengeance. I probably wean too fast, but I know my body, and I would rather risk rebounding and breath crumby for a few days, then to stay on the higher doses and suffer the side effect of the prednisone itself. A few weeks back I had a sleep study and echo-cardiogram done to see if they might shed some light on why I’ve been having such a difficult time with my breathing at night. I’m short of breath pretty much 24/7, but more recently , especially in ... More About: Training , Updates , Asthma , Marathon
Darn…..and I thought I was unique!
2009-09-07 18:42:00 Thought my fellow asthmatics might get a kick out of this. A few days ago I chatting with friend and famous asthma researcher , Dr. Sally Wenzel , and I had mentioned to her how I wasn’t feeling that great , and how I had just upped my pred to 50mg in an attempt to stave off a prison stay. I told her I feared that if the pred didn’t do the trick that Id probably end up in the slammer, but that I would try to hold off from going in as long as possible. This was her response : ” Grrr. Sorry you are on the high dose pred at the moment! We need to TRY the Qvar in you, for sure. MIGHT limit the bumps (might not, but won’t know until we try). Funny, your words on prison, slammer, not going until you really need to, etc, are SOOOO typical!!!! Sometimes I think you guys must all get together and come up with the lingo. There really is a “severe asthma personality” I think!” Well fellow asthmatics……. I think the jinx is up ! She&... More About: Thought , Unique
Boston 2010
2009-09-04 17:22:00 Yippe!!! Registration for the 2010 Boston marathon starts this week! I can’t wait to get my entry request in. I’ll be applying again for a slot in the mobility impaired division and I’m crossing my fingers that my 2009 finish time at Boston will be enough to qualify me for 2010. Hopefully I’ll find out if I’m approved a lot sooner this time around, so I can get a jump on training and all the trip planning involved. Yeah, I know I said I wasn’t going to do anymore full marathons, but this one is special. I really had a pnenominal time last year and it would be great to do it again…..this time WITHOUT the finish line shenanigans. Oh….and for next years race, I have a sponsor! (More about that later) “HAPPY LABOR DAY WEEKEND EVERYONE!
Keeping the dust out.
2009-09-01 16:41:00 One of the biggest problems of having asthma and living in a 120 year old Victorian house, is trying to keep the dust at bay. It’s not an easy task when you also have 3 indoor cats.. The fur collects everywhere. Now I know what you’re thinking…You’re an asthmatic and you have CATS? While my lungs are extremely sensitive to dust mites and other air-borne allergens, surprisingly, I’m not allergic to cat fur or cat dander, and therefore I choose to keep my furry feline friends. Nevertheless, pets create a lot of dust, so I vacuum frequently and I try to keep them out of my sleeping space. Here are some of things Ive done to try to reduce the amount of dust in the area of the house in which I spend most of my time.
Bronchial Thermoplasty promising?
2009-08-28 17:28:00 Earlier this week I participated in an asthma focus group , put on by the AAFA and sponsored by the company who makes the new Bronchial Thermoplasty equipment. I think there were 11 of us in the group, plus 3 silent observers. The severity of disease among the participants ran the gamut from people who had such severe steroid dependent asthma that they could barely speak or move , to those who had only used their inhaler once a month. The age range was 26 to 60. Oddly there were no female participants ( though they tried to get one on the phone during the conference). The entire thing was teleconferenced and lasted about 2 hours. The first half of the discussion was introductions followed by the usual opener questions like..” How does asthma impact your life? How does it impact your family? How does it make you feel as a person ?”, ” Do feel that current the currently available therapies are adequate?”..”How do you feel about all the medication you ...
“mile”stones
2009-08-25 16:03:00 Most recent Mile stones: Milestone #4 Occurred yesterday. See the odometer above? Since beginning this blog in the summer of 2005, Ive walked just over 4,000 miles. That equates to an average of about 83 miles that Ive walked every single month, for 4 years in a row. Not bad when you consider that the average healthy person probably walks or runs less than a 1/10 of that. And btw, those 4,000 miles are above and beyond the regular walking that one would do during a typical day at home or at work. Milestone #5 …Occurred last week when I completed my 1000th walk across the Al Zampa Memorial bridge in Crockett,Calif. Walking that bridge accounts for more than 2,000 of those 4,000 miles . If you remember, my friend Melvin celebrated his 1000th crossing of that bridge just a few months back. Milestone #6 …After suffering a near fatal asthma back in August of 2004, my partner was told by the doctors, that I had less than a 50/50 chance of surviving another 2 years. ...
Happy to be training again.
2009-08-20 19:18:00 I’M TRAINING FOR A MARATHON ….well actually a half marathon, but it’s so nice to hear those words again. Hard to believe it’s been almost 5 months since Ive done any serious distance walking . To be honest with you, since the Boston marathon back in April, I’ve been in such a rut with all my breathing problems, I wasn’t really sure if Id ever be able to do another race. The fact is, my lung function has declined to an all time low and my endurance level totally sucks . But setting aside my physical limitations and the training obstacles I’ll probably face, mentally, I feel more than ready to take on the challenge of a half marathon again. For the next 5 weekends , if breathing well enough, I’ll be doing a series of long slow training walks beginning with an 8 miler this Saturday and culminating with a 12 miler sometime towards the end of Sept. In between the LSDs, I’m gonna try to increase the number of 5- mile baseline walk... More About: Training , Happy
Sleep Study
2009-08-17 17:23:00 As I mentioned in a previous post, Ive been having a real tough time lately getting any rest at night (don’t we all?) because I sometimes wake up gasping for air. Not sure if it’s my asthma, because the only thing that seems to help when this occurs is to get out of bed and sit straight up. Neb treatments don’t seem to help much. More than likely it’s another condition they call “ Paroxysmal nocturnal dyspnea” (”PND”) , also known as , believe it or not…Cardiac Asthma. Wouldn’t that be just swell if I had Cardiac asthma on top of Bronchial asthma? So anyways, tonight they’re doing a sleep study on me to see if they can pin down a cause for this PND, then next week their gonna do an echocardiogram to see what my heart is doing. One of the thoughts, is that my oxygen saturation might be dropping and my CO2 rising when I sleep ( possibly a result of sleep apnea), causing me to wake up gasping for air. I’m n... More About: Study , Sleep
Empowered
2009-08-13 19:47:00 I wanna thank the folks, Lisa and Regina, over at theEmpowered Zone who were kind enough to send me this really cool hat with their special empowered symbol and the word “BREATHE” embroidered on it. What could be more fitting for someone like me? I really love the concept behind their products and the fact that they always give back to the community events in which they sponsor. If you get a chance, please check out their line of custom inspirational apparel and Jewelry. They have some beautiful stuff there…. oh…and tell em Steve sent you. Can you tell I’m proud to wear it? If you liked this post, please share it!
Learned something new about my asthma
2009-08-12 16:58:00 Just when I thought I knew everything there was to know about asthma and COPD in general, a couple of my lung docs kindly corrected me on a few misconceptions I had regarding my own lung disease. Misconception #1 : I always thought that because I have a chronic problem with air trapping and the breathing discomfort that accompanies it, that I surely must have elements of COPD (emphysema) mixed in with my asthma. Not necessarily. There are several ways that air-trapping can occur. My Pulmonologists believe that my air-trapping is caused primarily by chronic and persistent inflammation of my smaller airways, rather than by structural changes that you would expect to see in a patient with COPD or Emphysema. While it’s true that I have chronic severe asthma and probably have some airway remodeling, my lung doctors believe that my lung disease is still most likely “pure asthma” and not COPD or emphysema which is caused primarily by cigarette smoking. A major res... More About: Asthma , Learned
Better luck next time
2009-08-10 17:22:00 I thought Las Vegas was fabulous as usual, but apparently my lungs didn’t share the same view, and as a result, I was unable to do the ET race. I’m not sure if it was the desert climate or being exposed to the smokey environment of the Hotels and Casinos, but by Saturday afternoon I could definitely feel a change in my breathing. My peak flows were dipping below 300 and the stress of doing a midnight race would have probably put me back in the hospital , so I decided to do the smart thing and not do the race. Of course I’m disappointed that I missed another event because of my breathing, but I think I made a wise decision. And from what I’m hearing from other people who did the race, sounds like I didn’t miss much anyway. They told me that the event was very disorganized this year and that the breakfast at the Lil alien was less than tasty. Hopefully they’ll work out the bugs for next year. On a positive note, Barry Manilow’s Saturday ... More About: Time , Luck
Take me to your Leader!
2009-08-06 15:43:00 …. ” And would it be asking too much, if you could beam me up to your space craft and zap me a new pair of lungs?” In just a few hours, this lung defective humanoid is off to Nevada to not only do the ET marathon, but also to attend a string of 3 Manilow shows. (Here’s some photos I took at last years shows) As far as the race goes,I’m only doing the 10k event this year and I won’t be doing any racewalking at all…just plain old fast walking. My lungs, while doing extremely well last weekend, haven’t been behaving very well this week and I don’t to aggravate things by pushing myself to hard. That, plus it’s kinda difficult to racewalk in total darkness anyway. Anyways, this is the shirt I’m gonna wear for the race. I purchased the decal at the Lil Ale Inn cafe after lasts years race and I already had this bright ass day -glow shirt, so I threw the two together…and wallah.. I have my costume! It&r... More About: Leader
Treatment plans for the future
2009-08-04 17:26:00 Wednesday I have a pulmonary follow up visit at the UCSF chest clinic. What makes this appointment different, other than the fact that I will be breaking in a new Pulmonary fellow, is that we will be discussing some future treatments options, including bronchial Thermoplasty and Endobronchial Valve therapy (EBV) . At the present time, both of these procedures are still considered investigational,but both are in the process of seeking FDA approval . The latter (EBV), has never been done on an asthmatic, but because I have severe air -trapping, similar to that seen in emphysemic patients, it might be an option. I’ll go into more details about these specific treatments options in a future post. I’m also requesting a referral to be seen at the University of Pittsburgh Asthma Institute in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania . World renowned Pulmonologist and severe asthma researcher, Sally Wenzel who’s part of the SARP team, has agreed to take me on as a patient. Dr Wenzel ta... More About: Future , Treatment , The Future , Plans
Boston still follows me
2009-07-31 00:56:00 I didn’t even know that this was out there until an RT blogger friend on Facebook told me. Mike and I are on page 61 of the current issue of the “AARC Times”. The Times is a publication of the American Assoc for Respiratory Care, a national organization that thousands of Respiratory Therapists belong to. They also put out a science journal out called “Respiratory Care” in which I was featured back in 2008. Click the cover to see the article If you liked this post, please share it! More About: Boston
Dave does San Francisco !
2009-07-29 04:39:00 Coming to the San Francisco Bay Area March 5th-7th, 2010 ….Well actually, he’s doing the city of Tiburon in Marin county, which is just a stones throw from San Francisco Bay…. , but just the fact that he’s coming to my neck of the woods to do a weekend clinic…. is awesome! Friend and fellow racewalking fanatic Lizzy has been kind enough to host one of Dave Mc Governs world famous racewalking clinics here in the San Francisco Bay Area March 5th-7th at her home in Tiburon,California. The $175.00 fee covers all 3 days of clinics and includes Friday nights pasta dinner. And of course I’ll be there. You can download complete information and the registration form here . I’ll be posting more in the coming weeks, including info on nearby lodging. Who’s that handsome guy in the black shirt? Carmel Clinic 2007 If you liked this post, please share it!
A good weekend
2009-07-27 05:26:00 Had a great weekend, one of the best actually, in quite some time. On Saturday I was breathing so well, that I was able to go a full 12 hours without having to take a neb treatment. I did use my inhaler a couple times, but overall, I think it was the best breathing day Ive had in the last 3 months and I am grateful. Spent part of the weekend with two of my runner friends, Brandon and Rachel who came up for the marathon. I gave them a mini tour of the city like I always do, this time including a drive up to Twin peaks followed by lunch and shopping in the Castro. The weather was classic San Francisco with fog at the beach and total sun on the other side of the hill, perfect temps all weekend long. After lunch we went out to the marathon Expo so my friends could pick up their bibs and goodie bags . I’m not sure why the SF marathon promoters moved the Expo so far away from the starting area where most people stay , but this is something Ive noticed happening at more and more mar... More About: Weekend , Good
GOOD LUCK SAN FRANCISCO MARATHONERS!
2009-07-23 20:55:00 I’d like to wish all my friends and all those people coming in from all over the world, a warm welcome to the city by bay, and the best of luck at the San Francisco Marathon on Sunday! They’re predicting near perfect SF weather for the start of the full marathon, but remember that no matter how cool it is at the 6 am start, by the time you reach mile 20 it usually starts to get really warm. Id be doing one of the events myself, but I’ve just been too short of breath lately to train properly. I may go downtown this weekend to check out the festivities though. Too bad they put the Expo way out in the boonies this year or Id check that too. Next race for me will be in 2 weeks in Nevada… maybe I’ll see some familiar faces out there in the desert. Have a great weekend! If you liked this post, please share it! More About: Good , Luck , Good Luck
About my “Latest Breathing Stats” sidebar
2009-07-22 03:29:00 In much the same way that you would keep a diary of your asthma symptoms, I came up with the concept of posting my daily breathing parameters as a way of letting others out there know, (i.e. my doctors, family and fellow asthmatics), on how my lungs are doing on any particular day. I often forget though, that while most chronic lungers know what this stuff means, a lot of people who visit my blog probably don’t. So, if anyone is interested, here’s a little explanation of what all that junk means…. I hope it’s not too confusing. There are 4 major components to my daily breathing stats: a Peak flow measurement , an FEV1 measurement a Breathing Update ( which is basically a subjective description of how I’m breathing on that particular day, and lastly, a section labeled Todays Fitness Activity where I jot down what, if any, exercise I did for that day. (Ive used the above links for general definitions of what Peak Flows and FEV1 measurement... More About: Stats , Sidebar
October race choice
2009-07-18 17:25:00 And the winner is…………&hellip ;.. With so many good ones out there this Fall, this was a really tough choice. If I was healthier and could pick only one race, it would have probably been the Portland marathon…. it’s one of my favorite of all time. Alas, my lung function has declined to the point where it would be really foolish, even for me, to attempt another full marathon…at least right now. So Ive decided instead, to play it smart (for a change) and do a shorter race much closer to home. The SJ Rock and Roll half marathon is a relatively new race here in this part of California, but its received really good reviews and my friends rave about it. This will be my first R&R race, so it will be a new experience for me. The event organizers have posted my story on their website(scroll down to the bottom of the page). With all the live music, it should be a really fun event. Id love to see you out there. For those of you who are t... More About: Race , Choice , October
A little Racewalking music please…
2009-07-17 15:11:00 On Thursday, just 3 days after being discharged from hospital, I completed a 5 mile walk in 1 hour 17 minutes with only mild respiratory discomfort. I think one of the things that motivates me to get out and walk, even when I’m not feeling that great, is the distraction that listening to ones favorite music, can offer. It’s no secret that I take my music player everywhere I walk, but when I racewalk, I like to listen to something that’s very upbeat with an almost dance-like tempo to it. Don’t laugh, but my favorite racewalking tune for this month is… Jai Ho (You Are My Destiny) Having just come back from a very dark place, this tune makes me feel happy to be alive. It has a nice tempo for a 13:20 walking pace and the lyrics are appropriate for someone with a passion like mine. The movie wasn’t bad either( I saw it on the plane on the way over to Italy last March). Now if I could only get the damn thing out of my head. If you liked this... More About: Music
72 hours of hell.
2009-07-15 01:12:00 I always try to write a little something about each and every hospitalization Ive experienced, but this is one Id just as soon forget about. In total I spent 7 days in the hospital, 6 of them in the Intensive care unit, 3 of those days on continuous Bipap in a living kind of hell. I’m usually the first to poke fun at my own disease and sometimes I’ll even video tape some not- so- pleasant moments in the hospital, but the video my partner captured this time, actually made me cringe. This time around when asked what my wishes were concerning intubation, I chose not to.. ( not to be intubated that is) …..Big Mistake, I thought I was doing the brave thing by declining to be intubated if my breathing got bad enough. I thought that I was such an old pro at this, that I could fight off the attack with only continuous nebs and Bipap. Had I known just how difficult it was going to be to breath on a bipap machine during an asthma crisis, I would have definitely opted... More About: Hell , Hours
Number 95
2009-07-14 04:41:00 Released from the hospital on July 14th, but still very sick. This was a real bad one. Will try to update in a few days when I’m breathing better. Thanks for all the well wishes! Share this post More About: Number
Flaring again?
2009-07-07 12:49:00 I was going to blog about a nicer topic this evening, but my breathing kinda put a damper on that. Ive been flaring mildly on and off all week, but on Monday afternoon, my peak flows took a nose dive. In a matter of minutes my chest got really tight and my peak flows dropped from 350 to 190. A possible suspect for the flare -up could be allergies ,as my eyes having been bothering me too. The fact that I’m so tight and not wheezing, has me a little concerned. It’s now 4 am Tuesday morning and I just emailed my doctors to tell them whats going on. Ive been awake all night trying to fight off this attack,but I’m starting to get a little pooped out. Ive been taking neb treatments every 30 minutes with only minimal relief and a few minuted ago I bolused myself with 60 of pred. As crazy as it sounds, the only reason I haven’t gone to the ER yet, is because based on the way I’m feeling right now, they would for sure intubate me…yeah it’s t...
Propofol
2009-07-03 17:10:00 This is a picture of me on a ventilator during a severe asthma exacerbation . See the little IV bottle inside the blue rectangle with the milky looking stuff inside ? That’s Propofol ! (click to enlarge) Also known as Diprivan or “Milk of Amnesia” in medical circles, this is the drug that the media has been talking so much about in the Michael Jackson tragedy. When I heard the allegations that they found this drug in his home, I couldn’t believe it. This is the very the same stuff they use on me when my breathing gets so bad that I require a breathing tube and a ventilator to breath. I can tell you from personal experience that is an extremely powerful sedative anesthetic. A great drug for keeping someone under during surgery (or in my case, being maintained on a ventilator), because it works so fast. You can basically control someones conscienceness with the flip of a switch. The moment the drug hits your blood stream you’re out instantly , and d...
Propofol
More articles from this author:2009-07-03 17:10:00 This is a picture of me on a ventilator during a severe asthma exacerbation . See the little IV bottle inside the blue rectangle with the milky looking stuff inside ? That’s Propofol ! (click to enlarge) Also known as Diprivan or “Milk of Amnesia” in medical circles, this is the drug that the media has been talking so much about in the Michael Jackson tragedy. When I heard the allegations that they found this drug in his home, I couldn’t believe it. This is the very the same stuff they use on me when my breathing gets so bad that I require a breathing tube and a ventilator to breath. I can tell you from personal experience that is an extremely powerful sedative anesthetic. A great drug for keeping someone under during surgery (or in my case, being maintained on a ventilator), because it works so fast. You can basically control someones conscienceness with the flip of a switch. The moment the drug hits your blood stream you’re out instantly , and d... 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 |
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