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.

[selkie]

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

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

[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.

[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]

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.

[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.

[yhlee]

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

[sovay]

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

Thank you!

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

[sovay]

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.

We have no idea of my healthy baseline: for all the various parts of me that periodically try to fall apart, my lungs have heretofore been stable enough that this was my first test of this kind. I hope to be able to establish one in future, not because I hope it will ever be relevant again, but because I want to know.

[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.

[selkie]

How are they on fire at the bottom of the sea j’ai les questions

[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.

[batdina]

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

xo

[umadoshi]

for once I feel crummy for reasons that people seem able to do something about.

It's such a nice change! Which is horrifying! But yay for ACTUAL TREATMENT.

[sovay]

How are they on fire at the bottom of the sea j’ai les questions

I presume we will unbury the lede in due course of the narrative! The best part is that I have never seen either the film or TV series of Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea and will have no ability to evaluate how closely the book resembles either if at all. I will refer to spatch, who interacts with the pop culture.

[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.

[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]

*hopes and hopes*

[minoanmiss]

O delightful blep!

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

[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.

[gwynnega]

I hope the inhaler does the trick!

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

[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?

[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.

[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.

[sara]

This is the unit I have and it's much more compact than the old style and you can wash the pre filter in the sink: https://www.costco.com/winix-true-hepa-4-stage-air-purifier-with-wi-fi-and-additional-filter.product.100662892.html

Much better than they were back in the day and there's not much I can say that about.