Crazy frogs, things and other stuff

Why is the crazy frog - Axel F video so catchy, so funny? I don't know but I like it.

Still no sign of the thing, so maybe it left the way it got in. I don't need the details. My raid rant last night is all over now. I haven't bought any raid or other kind of insect-killing spray, just for the record =)

Was surfing on my TV and caught about 5 minutes of Walker, Texas Ranger. It reminded me of my uncles. We moved into my grandparents' house so my mom could take care of my granpa during his last years (he had bronchitis and was bed-ridden during the last 4 months). 2 of my uncles also lived there and you couldn't watch anything on TV without them providing a running commentary.

Seeing Walker tonight brought it all back to me. Also made me think of Macgyver. Cause both of those shows were favourites of theirs. Not because they loved them but they loved to criticize them. After some big 'take-down' on Walker or some feat of invention on Macgyver (who was forever making cool gadgety-things) Uncle T would say "I could do that!" or "That ain't nothing!". After which Uncle W would say sarcastically "Sure you could, You and what army..." They would go back and forth like this during each scene until the show ended. I can laugh about it now that I remember but at the time I found it very annoying. My uncles can argue about anything. It's amazing really. Kind of.

I have been on my emergency albuterol inhaler for over a month 3-4 times a day now. They changed my flovent to advair 250/50 then after 2wks to 500/50. After chest x-rays they said they thought that I have atypical pneumonia, gave me doxycycline for 10 days. Seemed to have helped a bit. I'm still not off the albuterol though. So now they've prescribed singulair as well.

So now I have to take advair, singulair, flonase and albuterol. I can't imagine how awful this would be for a child. I was reading on some med sites where parents were seeking advice because their kids had to take everything I'm on now plus prednisone. I can't imagine. I still have nasal drainage inspite of the flonase. I'm tempted to stop taking everything and just see how I'd do but I'm afraid that I'll end up in the ER. So I'm going to give it a month like my doc said and then see how I feel. At least I'm not on prednisone or theophylline. Both gave me nasty side effects when I had to take them in my early teens. I guess things could be worse.

As a teen when my asthma was quite severe, I can't even begin to desrcibe the number of home remedies I tried (was given, I was a very biddable child :) on recommedations from neighbors, well-meaning friends of my Mom, etc. Some were very gross like warmed shark & whale & cod liver oils and even worse than this was the liquid from a boiled snail - as gross and slimy as anything you can imagine, suprisingly tasteless though. I was also very anemic and had to eat liver - which my Mom cooked for me and I kinda liked it but she couldn't stand the smell herself. She also couldn't stand the smell of the warmed fish oils and would have to leave the room while I took them. This was back in the 80s in the caribbean. I'm pretty sure that such oils as those are not as readily available anymore (we got them from a local pharmacy), at least I would hope they aren't. I was either a very good child or my Mom is wicked persuasive. Probably a bit of both.

None of them seemed to really help. I guess that I'm just genetically pre-disposed for it. My Dad's mother died from asthma complications in her late 60s and my Mom's Dad died from bronchitis/emphysema complications in his 80s. Neither of them were smokers. Nor am I. It's just one of those things I guess.

I'm also going on an elimination diet (recommended by my doctor) where I'm not going to eat foods that are the most common triggers for allergies for a month. Which means - no dairy, nuts, bananas, strawberries, kiwi, tomato and chocolate. The hardest for me will be no ice cream/chocolate or dairy. Also much less pasta b/c if I can't have dairy or tomato what kind of sauce can I have? After a month, I'm supposed to introduce one thing at a time every 2 wks. This should help me learn whether the stuff I'm eating is also triggering my asthma. This is going to be hard so in preparation last night, I finished up the pistachio ice cream. I coughed for like 40 minutes afterwards. I suspect, I'll have to give that up for sure long term. This is going to be hard for me. I went to the grocery tonight to pick up a few things and stopped in front of all the foods I won't be having for at least a month. It made me sad, but I have to do it. I have to at least try it and see. The bananas are no problem as I rarely feel like eating them anyway and I've already given up both strawberries and kiwi even though I used to love both. Strawberries used to make my tongue itchy and the last time I had them, I got hives. Kiwi made my tongue itch as well and I decided to stop having it before my reaction to it could get worse. I'm trying not to think about all the stuff I can't have. No cheese either. I can live with that. I've sort of gotten used to this non-dairy cream cheese which I can have with the bagels I eat each day. So that's still good. Not as good as whipped cream cheese, but, what is? I used to have lactaid milk but I've switched to soy and am quite used to that now. Most of the cereals I eat are very plain so that won't have to change.