I feel that this blog should mostly relate to work and the regular
stuff
that
can happen
during the week. Needless to say, not all weeks are exciting. I did
learn how
to kill a person
when I went to the Marine Reserve building and was taking pictures of
Christine Sanchez
for a story. They were showing how to place the hand effectively across
the
neck and what
part of the hand to place where on the neck. Just a basic sleeper-hold
type
of thing, but it
was exciting nonetheless.
In other news, I only had one midterm this week and it was on
Wednesday. That
day was a
pivotal moment this term and in my entire life. That particular
Wednesday was
very busy,
the busiest of the term. That particular morning, I woke up as usual to
work
out at 6:30 a.m. ,
and then I have class until 1 p.m., I worked until a doctor’s
appointment
at 2 p.m.,
then take a picture
for a story when I got done and then study for my midterm at 4 p.m.
That
required
that I eat
while in my car. I always bring a lunch because I never have time to
get
food. It was a good
plan, but life always finds something to change things up a bit.
My doctor’s sppointment was to see if I have exercise-induced asthma. I
normally workout
twice a day, and when I run or play ultimate Frisbee I notice that I
have a
problem catching a
deep breath sometimes. Not a big deal, I’m probably just not the
greatest
runner. On the
Oregon team, I would say I am somewhere in the middle of fastest to
slowest.
I’m talking of
Oregon Ultimate.
So, I went in to get my lungs tested out. The nurse hooked me up to a
machine
in which you
inhale as much air as you can muster and then exhale as hard and as
fast as
you can for a
lot longer than humanly possilbe. You do this three times and then it
spits
out results. The
only great thing about this is my first three tests were “good”
according to
the machine.
This doesn’t refer to my asthma, only that I exhaled fast and hard
enough for
the machine
to read it. The nurse explained that most people trying it for their
first
time don’t get a
“good” test and have to do it again. I am a natural.
The results pointed out that, yes, I have asthma. Though I didn’t know
how
bad. She then
hooked me up to a machine in which I was inhaling the basic Albuterol
medicine
that is found
in inhalers. After which I did the blowing test once more and my
numbers were
better. Next
I went to see the doctor so he could tell me exactly what the numbers
meant
and hopefully
to get an inhaler.
The doctor walked into the room, sat down on his chair while looking at
my
results, looks up
at me and says, “I can’t believe you aren’t really sick and in the
hospital.”
I’m confused at
this point and thinking there has got to be a hidden camera somewhere.
Turns
out, however,
that I have chronic asthma. That would be the worst kind, far from the
simple
exercise-induced asthma I was hoping for. Now instead of one inhaler, I
have two and
have to take
them each four times a day, twice. That would make 16 inhalations each
day.
On the plus
side he said that my endurance should improve and everything else
because my
body was not
getting enough oxygen before.
I can report that my practice the following day was significantly
better, and I never
once got tired. So, now I’m wondering just how fast and far I can go
and will
be pushing
myself everyday, and in a couple months we will see what kind of
difference
there is. This
doesn’t have much to do with photography and is kind of on a more
personal
note, but I
haven’t thought of anything else since I found out.
P.S. My doctor’s appointment ended at 3:42 p.m. That left me enough
time
to run
across the
street from the health center to the dorms where I took the picture I
was
supposed to take,
and then leave the dorms at 3:53 p.m. and walk over to Willamette Hall
studying my
notes on the
way to my midterm at 4 p.m. No, I probably did not do as well as I
hoped,
but I’m
sure that I
passed. And I didn’t have to catch my breath when I got there.