On the floor of the big top right next to the overwhelming sense of impending doom

[sovay]

As of this afternoon with the pulmonologist, it looks like I have asthma, common or garden, either inherited or triggered by three months of lung infection with allergies involved somehow. It may resolve, it may be lifelong, I will have no idea until it has been treated for some time. Honestly, I had been so worried about yet another unidentifiable illness or further permanent damage that being handed a heavy-duty inhaler and instructions to report back in three weeks comes as a relief. Asthma is not thrilling, but it is at least well understood. Also the results of my pulmonary function test—while diagnostic—were just as hilarious as I expected, i.e., it says on paper that my lung capacity is 114%.

I returned home to discover that selkie had sent me one of the four remaining novels by Theodore Sturgeon I have not yet read: the novelization of Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea (1961). I have no idea whether it is any good and I look forward to finding out. It was meaningless to me at the time, but I will always regret not impulse-buying I, Libertine (1956) from the pulp racks of Upper Story Books that one time in college I saw it.

Courtesy of moon_custafer: the jiu-jitsu lesson from Stand-In (1937). In the interests of pedantry, Leslie Howard is not actually playing the himbo of the century but an enormous nerd with the people skills of a rock, but in this situation it comes to the same thing.

spatch captured this most elusive expression of Autolycus' in the wild: the blerp.

Comments

[umadoshi]

being handed a heavy-duty inhaler and instructions to report back in three weeks comes as a relief.

That makes perfect sense.

[sovay]

That makes perfect sense.

I still feel crummy! But for once I feel crummy for reasons that people seem able to do something about. It is an infrequent experience. I'm trying not to jinx it.

[selkie]

...114% down from what, Dame Melba?

I hope it’s as gloriously schlocky as the cover promised!

[thistleingrey]

...114% down from what

This is a really important point--they calibrate against average adult white AMAB, which does not bar the possibility that some AFAB folks may've had more capacity pre-illness and thus have suffered significant diminishment.

[sovay]

...114% down from what, Dame Melba?

I'll let you know in three weeks!

I hope it’s as gloriously schlocky as the cover promised!

Opening sentence: "At the end, the bottom, the very worst of it, with the world afire and hell's flame-winged angels calling him by name, Lee Crane blamed himself." God bless pulp fiction.

[thistleingrey]

Here's to your lungs, though, because my capacity per PFT is 70%ish and I am definitely not asthmatic. :) And here's to the inhaler--may it bring you some relief.

[sovay]

And here's to the inhaler--may it bring you some relief.

Thank you!

(May your lungs serve you well, whatever their capacity.)

[yhlee]

I'm glad it's a treatable thing and hope the inhaler helps you!

[sovay]

I'm glad it's a treatable thing and hope the inhaler helps you!

Thank you! We've been joking about it being TB, but I really didn't want to have to explain that.

[asakiyume]

That tongue is DOMINATING Autolycus's face.

With you, I'm glad that at least the condition they've identified for you is one that's understood and treatable.

[sovay]

That tongue is DOMINATING Autolycus's face.

It went beyond blep.

With you, I'm glad that at least the condition they've identified for you is one that's understood and treatable.

Thank you! Plus I got to see a CT scan of my lungs.

[batdina]

Speaking as an asthma veteran, there are definitely worse ways to go. Still, very sorry you're going through this at all.

xo

[sovay]

Speaking as an asthma veteran, there are definitely worse ways to go. Still, very sorry you're going through this at all.

I appreciate the sympathy and also the reassurance.

[minoanmiss]

O delightful blep!

I should read more Sturgeon. I like how he writes about love.

[sovay]

O delightful blep!

That hath such kitten around it!

I should read more Sturgeon. I like how he writes about love.

He was one of my formative writers in high school. What have you read of his so far?

[sara]

My asthma is induced by allergens and/or VOCs; I have for the last seven months been running one of those fancy air filters with the sensor that turns it up automatically when there's stuff in the air, which I keep plugged in next to my bed. I find that this has reduced the badness enough that I now only need medications during peak allergen season (this week the trees are fucking, for example) or at moments of extremity (during fire season, etc.) I don't know if yours has similar triggers (and it took me years to figure out what my triggers even were) but if it's anything similar, I definitely feel like the filter was worth the money.

[sovay]

I don't know if yours has similar triggers (and it took me years to figure out what my triggers even were) but if it's anything similar, I definitely feel like the filter was worth the money.

Thank you. I have been since childhood allergic to dust, mold, mildew, and everything that pollinates, so for years I slept with an air cleaner in the bedroom; that has not been the custom in this apartment for reasons mostly having to do with space, but in any case it is a twenty-year-old air cleaner with the ordinary kind of filter you change out when it becomes horrifying. If the situation calls for it, I will look into one of the newer kind, since I didn't even know they existed. In terms of triggers, I am known to react badly to cigarette and marijuana smoke, but neither are in such abundance in our building as to have caused . . . this.

[gwynnega]

I hope the inhaler does the trick!

I had to stop myself from watching the jiu-jitsu lesson on a continuous loop.

[sovay]

I hope the inhaler does the trick!

Thank you!

I had to stop myself from watching the jiu-jitsu lesson on a continuous loop.

I had to stop myself from going to look for the movie! [edit: It's on the Internet Archive.] I am trying, please God, to write about a different one.

[nineweaving]

Let's hear it for explicable ills! I do hope the inhaler helps.

I, Libertine once came across my desk at work. It was that sort of job and I miss it.

The tongue and the backflip are adorable.

Nine

[sovay]

Let's hear it for explicable ills! I do hope the inhaler helps.

Thank you!

I, Libertine once came across my desk at work. It was that sort of job and I miss it.

I admire your restraint in not just taking it home.

The tongue and the backflip are adorable.

Leslie Howard was very cat. I suspect it is one of the things I like about him.

[pameladean]

I'm so glad your lung issue was not some mysterious entity. I hope the inhaler does a superb job.

I comment above but am still seriously amazed that Sturgeon wrote a novelization of what my father always called "Voyage to See What's on the Bottom."

P.

[sovay]

I'm so glad your lung issue was not some mysterious entity. I hope the inhaler does a superb job.

Thank you! (selkie almost had money on me growing a conifer.) I should know in a couple of weeks.

I comment above but am still seriously amazed that Sturgeon wrote a novelization of what my father always called "Voyage to See What's on the Bottom."

I want you to know that made me laugh out loud.

[muccamukk]

Awww. The cutest blerp!

[sovay]

Awww. The cutest blerp!

As we speak, he is purring like a drain.

[naraht]

Honestly, I had been so worried about yet another unidentifiable illness or further permanent damage that being handed a heavy-duty inhaler and instructions to report back in three weeks comes as a relief. Asthma is not thrilling, but it is at least well understood.

Not ideal to have asthma, of course, but I understand exactly what you're coming from. Medical mysteries are never good and asthma is certainly one of the more treatable things you could have. Hoping that it will resolve itself.

[sovay]

Medical mysteries are never good and asthma is certainly one of the more treatable things you could have. Hoping that it will resolve itself.

Thank you.

[shewhomust]

It's magic, isn't it? We know its name, so now we can control treat it! Got to be good news!

[sovay]

It's magic, isn't it? We know its name, so now we can control treat it! Got to be good news!

Healthcare by Le Guin!

(She was my first fictional exposure to the idea of binding by names, although I almost certainly got it from all the magic and folklore I was reading. Thank you.)

[ashlyme]

I'm really glad you know the name of the beast and hope the inhaler helps.

The jiu-jitsu scene is hilarious; hopefully Howard gets a bit less clueless before the end of the film.

I don't think I've read *any* Sturgeon apart from E Pluribus Unicorn and not sure about even that. Keep meaning to try The Dreaming Jewels. How the hell did I forget he wrote "Amok Time"?

[sovay]

I'm really glad you know the name of the beast and hope the inhaler helps.

Thank you.

The jiu-jitsu scene is hilarious; hopefully Howard gets a bit less clueless before the end of the film.

He does, in fact, although he never gets less nerdy, which is one of the reasons I love the movie so much. I found it on the Internet Archive earlier this evening and will undoubtedly rewatch it as soon as I've, like, slept.

I don't think I've read *any* Sturgeon apart from E Pluribus Unicorn and not sure about even that. Keep meaning to try The Dreaming Jewels. How the hell did I forget he wrote "Amok Time"?

I saw the episode before I paid any attention to the names of TV writers, so it happens! I think you might like The Dreaming Jewels a lot.

[mrissa]

Congratulations on a thing that is treatable.

[sovay]

Congratulations on a thing that is treatable.

Thank you.

[oracne]

A diagnosis that is of something common and treatable is such a blessing.

[sovay]

A diagnosis that is of something common and treatable is such a blessing.

Thank you.

[choco_frosh]

What they said, viz: Hurrah diagnosis! Hurrah diagnosis of something treatable! Boo Asthma! Hurrah inhalers!

An air filter sounds like a Very Good Idea.
Also, I am really sorry that you got put in a position where one had to say this, esp. in this day and age, but: Hurrah, it's not consumption!

[sovay]

What they said, viz: Hurrah diagnosis! Hurrah diagnosis of something treatable! Boo Asthma! Hurrah inhalers!

Thank you!

An air filter sounds like a Very Good Idea.

Yeah, sara's comments suggest that the one I've used since grad school (at least) may need to be honorably retired.

Also, I am really sorry that you got put in a position where one had to say this, esp. in this day and age, but: Hurrah, it's not consumption!

Look, I appreciate it!

*hugs*

[tree_and_leaf]

Sympathy. I may or may not have asthma, which may or may not be the result of covid, but they can't do the tests "until the pandemic is over." I wait with baited and slightly wheezy breath

[sovay]

I wait with baited and slightly wheezy breath

Sympathy returned. May you get useful information soon.

[a_reasonable_man]

I also am glad this is a treatable problem. I've also heard that drinking lots of water helps with certain types of asthma. I once met a fellow who swore his asthma cleared up when he started drinking a quart of so of room temperature water every day, as soon as he got out of bed, before eating or drinking anything else. I think this is a variant of a traditional Japanese "water cure."

[sovay]

I also am glad this is a treatable problem.

Thank you.

(I drink a lot of water already, I have to say.)