The New Mexico Asthma Report or How I Spent My Summer Vacation (vehicle, places)

[RamblinRoseRanch]

Jazzlover,
I appreciate the advice, but there is realistically no way for me to spend several months there. Between the houses here, the jobs we both have, the kids and critters- it just isn't possible.

I have no allergy problems (and never have, ironically) and with my triggers being unventilated cigarette smoke and humdity only, I don't see how the asthma problem can excerbate out there.

Thanks for the link. I've been reading the American Lung Association's site, but not theirs.

Lol, I don't worry about the y'all.... ask Jane, she's talked to me. You can definately tell i'm from the south. My drawl is a bit different.....I've spoken this way for thirty some odd years so I don't think changing is an option now. As far as the afraid of heights... well, I don't see that changing either. If i'm ostracized for a rational fear as well as a pattern of speech engrained in me since birth, then we're gonna have some problems out there, I reckon.

[jazzlover]

Originally Posted by RamblinRoseRanch

Jazzlover,
I appreciate the advice, but there is realistically no way for me to spend several months there. Between the houses here, the jobs we both have, the kids and critters- it just isn't possible.

I have no allergy problems (and never have, ironically) and with my triggers being unventilated cigarette smoke and humdity only, I don't see how the asthma problem can excerbate out there.

Thanks for the link. I've been reading the American Lung Association's site, but not theirs.

Lol, I don't worry about the y'all.... ask Jane, she's talked to me. You can definately tell i'm from the south. My drawl is a bit different.....I've spoken this way for thirty some odd years so I don't think changing is an option now. As far as the afraid of heights... well, I don't see that changing either. If i'm ostracized for a rational fear as well as a pattern of speech engrained in me since birth, then we're gonna have some problems out there, I reckon.

If New Mexico (or wherever) gets you some relief from your asthma--then you should go for it. Life is too short. Living someplace that makes you sick sucks--period. I posted my cautionary note because asthma is actually a pretty common problem in the Rocky Mountain West. I had an employee who--along with her children--has very severe asthma. The place it bothered her the worst was when she and her family lived in the desert outside of Phoenix. Like you, they had give up their life there and move just to get some relief from the misery. She now lives at 6,500 ft. elevation in an area with a climate similar to much of New Mexico. She does better there, but is by no means symptom free. Now her biggest problem is the altitude. Her lungs are compromised enough that elevation bothers her significantly. She was raised at 9,000 ft. elevation, but now must use oxygen at night at anything over 8,000. No, she has never smoked.

You say you have never had allergy problems, but have you ever been tested? When I went and got the full battery of allergen tests, I found out I was allergic to all kinds of stuff that I had no idea about.

Anyway, good luck.

PS--If you don't like heights, then this road probably is not for you (admittedly, it's in Colorado). No, this isn't my photo (public domain Photobucket), but I've driven this road many times--it's a native Rocky Mountain resident thing . . .

[IMG][/IMG]

[RamblinRoseRanch]

Jazz, that sorta pic is the thing that'd drive me (lol) to drink.

I just keep remembering the difference between here and there. There I was normal people, didn't need to carry my inhaler on me, heck- I even left the car and left it in my purse out there! Didn't have to use my handicapped tag, I could walk and talk like I used to- it was awesome. I've actually been pretty depressed and tear up at the drop of a hat, like a big freakin' weenie everytime my chest tightens and aches. My blasted rescue inhaler ran OUT late evening on the third and since my pharmacy was closed, not only couldn't I get it filled there, I couldn't even transfer the script. :-(

About the altitude... before we headed to Tres Piedras, the woman we were meeting had sent me an article about altitude sickness. I was pretty concerned, giving my compromised breathing anyway. Oddly enough, I couldn't feel a difference. My husband could, though. He's a smoker, so I don't know if that has bearing or not.

The woman we met mentioned that she'd had to have a formal let out as it no longer fit around her ribcage after living there a while.

From what i've read and heard, TN is one of the worst states for asthma sufferers. You'd think that all the trees would help clean the air, but the pollution is too great. I have a permanent colorful nightly sunset, due to all the crap floating in the air in Knoxville.

I'll be seeing the allergist as soon as this blasted insurance starts. I called this week and they're bumping it back to October. This is insane. I'll have been with the company for ten months then... if i'm still here and not out west.

This is the sort of bridge I mean. Not my pics, btw:

[norm]

Being afraid of heights has nothing to do with being a "flatlander". My wife and I grew up and worked in high rises all of our lives, I once worked on the 69th floor of the Empire State Building but we still both get queasy when when looking down from heights (she is much worse then I am).

[RamblinRoseRanch]

For reference, here's one of the shots Greg took from the top. Obviously this is not zoomed in at all. That wee red dot is a raft and they're people in it looking up at the wee dots standing on the bridge looking down at them :-)

[Towanda]

RamblingRose:

The photo of Tres Piedras is great! Spectacular view.

I think you should post it in the New Mexico photo thread!!

[jazzlover]

Originally Posted by RamblinRoseRanch

For reference, here's one of the shots Greg took from the top. Obviously this is not zoomed in at all. That wee red dot is a raft and they're people in it looking up at the wee dots standing on the bridge looking down at them :-)

OK, if you want a real hair-raising story, I'll tell you one about that bridge. A good friend of mine (in his 70's now) worked in southern Colorado and northern New Mexico during the era when that bridge was being built. One "evening" he and bunch of his co-workers--after a considerable period of getting "oiled up" at some dive in Taos--decided to "explore" that "new bridge they're building." Well, the thing was only about a third finished--partial decking, no railings, etc., etc. My friend (who shakes when he tells the story now) wandered out onto the bridge--doing a balance beam act in several places--and proceeded to thoroughly explore the bridge from end to end. The next day, nursing a terrible hangover--he and his friends returned to see where they had been the night before. He allowed, that had he been sober the night before, he would have probably fallen off the bridge because it would have scared him so badly. He drove over that bridge many times afterwards--each time getting a little pang remembering how he staggered all over it one summer night. Sometimes, as many New Mexicans like to say, the little "patrons" sit on our shoulder and protect us when we do something really stupid. My friend always says the patrons were with him that night.

[Towanda]

jazzlover -

Well, that story made ME queasy.

I will think of it every time we cross over that bridge in the future~

[RamblinRoseRanch]

Err......*shaking FOR your friend* that's just SCARY.

Thanks, Towanda. I'll try to get it up there when I get home. :-)

[GregW]

That Colorado road is narrower than the one to Mogollon. What town is in the valley?