Month: December 2018

The Christmas Rush

Christmas can be a time of of scheduled events, family and friend catch ups, gift and food shopping, racing round to see those lights. For me its a time of thankfulness, blessing and promises fulfilled and I like to make sure I have moments to stop, rest and enjoy the togetherness of family and friends.

Christmas is also a time of traditions and habits , things we do every year because we have always done so. I have spent my time this year assisting my clients in developing healthy breathing and activity habits and hope that they continue into the new year seeing the fruits of their labour.

I heard recently that we can be so caught up in being busy that we think that this alone is enough for justification of our time. Instead we need to stop and look to see if, and what, we have actually achieved, and if we cannot see something for our efforts then we need to re-calibrate and be more purposeful in our actions and not just busy.

I saw a video recently of Bill Gates talking about time and of a friend who had showed him his diary with spare days in it instead of every one filled with appointments. He had said to Bill, “I can buy anything I want but I can’t buy time”.

So this Christmas try to slow down and simply breathe…, noticing the breath in ….and out…, feel your muscles release and relax…. and give your time where it can be purposeful and make a positive difference.

Scouts Motto : Be Prepared

I have such wonderful conversations with my patients that often have lessons for both patient and therapist. The best patient centred relationship is one where we learn off each other.

We were discussing relievers and spacers and how research has proven the improved dispersal of the reliever when a spacer is used. My patient then went on to say that she has taken to travelling with her reliever and the hand held fan as a kind of mini pulmonary toolkit that gives her the confidence of knowing she is prepared for every circumstance.

It reminded me of a situation I was in last week whilst travelling in Tasmania.

Cradle Mountain, world heritage area of majestic beauty but also a place of extreme weather and unpredictability. I was climbing to the Mt Marion Lookout and found that half way up in the cold and floating rain I had trouble catching my breath.

Exercise induced asthma has little warning I find. As every good explorer should do I had a snack in my pocket and my bottle of water and was rugged up in beanie and coat against the cold.

However just shy of the top things got a little uncomfortable. That need to fill the lungs but not getting as much as I’d like  coupled with the knowledge that I was literally in the middle of nowhere and my nearest reliever was , you guessed it, in the car park an hour and a half away.

There was no way I was going to turn around and miss getting to the top so I used what I had to get relief. I stopped and leaned forward, blowing out through pursed lips and took a rest break to get my breathing under control. After a few minutes rest and hydrating with my drinking water I started up again pacing myself this time, keeping up the pursed lips as I went.

I made it and with a little sprint to compete with my 13 yr old daughter I got there ahead of the family and promptly claimed the seat to lean forward and recover my breathing once more.

To say the least, my patient was wise in her preparation and a puffer in my pocket next time will be part of my good explorer ensemble.