Getting Healthy On-The-Road Again: Day 1

So after four months in Florida, and exposure to too many allergens, I left to visit some vandwellers in Georgia… and there I added insult to injury…. and there I got too much second hand smoke from 3 smokers, too much cat hair, too much house dust… and my body just couldn’t fight any more.  But how can I visit with them… without being exposed to things that are not healthy for me?  No way to do it.  And the visits were really good, but now I pay the price.  I can not and will not do it again in the future.  My health has to come first.  I just had no idea things could get this bad, breathing wise.

But, …. a surprise birthday party…. a 7-layer cake and coffee ice cream –sure lifted my spirits.  Nothing better than coffee ice cream as a birthday gift.  Thanks to Hairs and cuzzin Dick and David Jr.  Marvelous, even if I did think I should have gone to the hospital that day.

The vandweller project for cuzzin’ Dick is coming along nicely.  His rig is going to be sweet.  David (and David Jr)… you are marvels.

The day after my birthday, I did take myself to the Emergency Room as I couldn’t breath.   Something about open airways has great appeal to me.  I was coughing so hard, I was loosing control of all other bodily functions, my ribs hurt, my head was splitting, I couldn’t eat.  My blood pressure was going out of sight, and I’ve never had an issue with that before.  So after 8 hours in the E.R. with no food, no water, no relief, they admitted me.  All they did was bruise me…. 3 IV sites… I looked like I had been mugged…

but I found this little guy to keep me company and to keep my mind on the prize… the open road!

Four nights later, at 8pm on a Friday night, the doctor comes to my room and says, lungs clear, blood work good, nothing wrong, just COPD… you can go home now.  I said, but, I can’t breath.  I’m camping out and the air out there is really really bad and I can’t breath in here.   So he waves bye bye and sends me down the hall hacking my head off.  I requested copies of all lab work, and my x-rays on a CD… and he said… what for????  There is nothing there.  You are o.k.  WTF?

 

Next morning, I headed to Cleveland, TN  in the hopes air quality there would be better.  I have two classmates David and Phyllis Altopp (‘62 high school class with me) who live there.   I was hoping air quality up there would be better but it was only slightly better.  I had a wonderful visit with them, beautiful meal, good company.  Just wish I had had a voice.  That Phyllis, can she cook… those were the best rolls I ever ate.

We visited(as best I could with no voice),  I helped them with the reunion list, our 50th is coming up next year.  The air quality was only a little better there than 30 miles south.  I could hardly make myself understood, but we had a nice visit.  Spent two nights… and most of the time I was in my van… running my Air Conditioner.  I have a new nick-name for ol’ SwankieWheels…. “deIronLung.”   I then returned to Dalton where the air quality had gotten even worse so I decided I had to leave Dalton the next day and seek out mountains. 

Now I’m giving great thought to doing the Midwestern states as I head westward toward AZ and maybe, only maybe, returning to do the Southeastern states during a very early spring or very late fall… or even winter…. just not when it is humid like this.  I can’t see how people live here.

And if desperation overtakes me, I have even considered tabling all my kayaking plans and heading right back out to the CA coast and good old salt air.  Or even the Pacific Northwest.  There is just something about being able to take a deep breath… that I’m rather partial to.  I had no idea what people with COPD and Asthma have to endure before this month.  This is just the worse.  But, I’ll find some beauty in the world this week… and maybe, just maybe become a little less “canary-like.”   Oh, I saw a big Eastern Indigo snake as I pulled in to camp here.  Sorry, missed the photo op.  Will watch for him  and try to get it. 

What to do now?  Last night at Hair’s I had to run the A/C in the van most of the night, and so I got up early in the morning, and headed out for the mountains.  Meds not working, doctors not working, hospital not working, can’t run the A/C forever. Well, let’s see… if I can’t take the pollutants out of the air…. I’ll have to take myself out of the polluted air

Here I sit, about 20 miles outside Dalton GA… in the forest, along a babbling brook… wondering how the hell do I get healthy again.  The past two weeks have been nothing short of hell.  My birthday was 5/16 and it was without a doubt the worst birthday out of the previous 66 birthdays.  I’ve jokingly called myself the “canary” in the coal mine… as I seem to have very low tolerance to environmental allergens. 

Now, I’ve got a lovely camping spot on a beautiful creek…. and the air temps are cooling off.  Still very very humid and I can’t stay outside long. It is suppose to rain… and I pray it does.  Rain, please rain.

And I have projects to keep me busy:  1) compiling David Hair’s wife’s genealogy.   Hope to have a nice report printed out for her in the next couple days.   2) a couple art projects to do… as thank you gifts to those people who have been trying to help me through this.   Basically though, my chosen task is to find my voice, get my lungs clear, and resume my kayaking adventure. 

Hypoallergenic Vandwellers–subgroup forming.

(my pets must be able to breath underwater)

I’ve decided to post this to my blog… because it is very important to me.  After suffering for years and years with repeated bouts of bronchitis I have learned there are limits to what I can be exposed to if I wish to remain healthy.  Any airborne particles can cause me breathing issues.  I am under the care of a doctor and on meds that seem to keep things at a more even balance, finally, and since becoming a full-time Vandweller, I have avoided getting bronchitis again.  I have this fear/feeling that if I get it again, I will die.

   

SO, to those of you NOT camping with animals, my thoughts originally were to find people I could enjoy camping near without troubling myself or others with my health/lung issues. I thought if I could find a few, and we decided to gather... we could do so some walking distance away from the "animal" camp... and therefore be able to walk there and visit outside for a short time, or others could leave their animals home and come join us for a quick campfire or a meal.

I realized after camping with a couple of people/pet pairs... last year... that that was a doable situation and for weeks at a time with them, I never got sick. The pets pretty much stayed in their camps and even when we were all together, there was plenty of fresh air and I had no breathing issue. And I might add they were both short haired dogs which could have made a difference. I love animals so much and I can't be around them with out interacting and petting them, but I am always careful to go wash my hands afterwards and I try to keep them off my clothing. They didn't seem to have any problem learning their boundaries... that they could play with me, be petted by me, but could not jump up on me on my clothing. It was a very comfortable camp situation and one I will cherish for a long time.

  

My education continued with camping in other locations with larger groups of people and more pets. I did not faire as well in the more populous setting for a number of reasons and know I will avoid those situations in the future. When weather is bad and folks take to visiting inside... I shouldn't go in but have in the past. I won't in the future... and so found myself being/feeling left out, or at risk health wise. I took the risk last year due to my very strong desire to socialize and be with my "chosen" family. I really really HATE being left out of the fun. It's really unfair... but no one's fault and something I will have to learn to accept.

So, for me it will be easier to stay far away from large groups so I don't even know when people are gathering, laughing, having fun, etc. That way I won't know when I'm missing out on something. Last year when I tried that from a short distance, each time I heard laughter, I was drawn to it... only to realize awaiting me there would be furry critters... sometimes inside other's van homes. There really was never a happy solution to this dilemma.  Maybe I have to accept it as just something I cannot do in the future.

I know I am not the only vandweller out here with COPD/Asthma/allergy issues... so I'm still trying to identify you guys... so maybe we can gather in a satellite camp not far from the furry camp... and at least remain part of the tribe at arms length.

Again, this is no personal attack about anyone else... it's just explaining my history and planning for my future. I don't want to be totally alone all the time... that's not fair... but if I must, then I shall.

If any non-animal campers wish to write me, I welcome your email swankie.wheels@gmail.com.  Anyone in Florida this winter who might like to have a small gathering, let me know.   I will be meeting one Vandweller in January for kayaking.  Happy to also meet up with the “animal” folk as well as long as they understand, my health comes first with me.

unFurry Swankie