Breathing Room

During the past three weeks, my asthma has gotten worse and worse. Yesterday at school I started having a mild asthma attack but of course I had left my inhaler at home. So I mooched a Diet Mountain Dew from one of the seventh grade teachers to hold me over until I could get some albuterol.

Well, I got home, used both my inhalers, and my breathing did not get better. In the middle of the night, I used my rescue inhaler a couple of times, and one time Eli covered his head with his pillow and asked me to go use my inhaler because I was making so much noise trying to breathe (though I had already used it!).

Today, we took his cousins, S and A, to campus and then to the football game. I have never been as winded and unable to breathe as I was today. Short jogs chasing the cat who got out of the apartment made me breathe heavily. Short climbs uphill walking around campus killed me. Climbing the stairs to my seats about did me in. This is the worst its ever been.

Now we're home, and I'm trying to calm down and get my breathing to regulate, but I'm just able to take shallow breaths. My chest is starting to ache. I just told Eli that I'm thinking about going to the emergency room, and he told me to come into the back room, away from cat dander and dust and see if it gets better. Well, it's not getting better.

And, of course, I don't have an asthma doctor here yet. I only have one choice. I'm going to wait a little longer to see. At the rate I'm going, I'm not going to be able to sleep tonight.

**UPDATE** I went to the ER and I can breathe better now, but it's not perfect. The nice docs did not want to give me steroids since I'm pregnant. It's so good to breathe.