Ireland

I traveled for a month this summer. I took along the usual 7 days of prednesone just in case and the inhalers that keep me going. First two weeks, I was in southern France….Antibes and along the Mediterranean…used up my prednesone there….took the train to Florence and could hardly breathe. By the time I got to Rome and the humid heat of the summer of 2011, I was barely able to tour the city. I had gone through 4 inhalers and was on my last one. Pretty scary. Flew to Dublin, Ire. and on my second night in a Temple Bar area luxury hotel, I had the front desk call an ambulance…the ER visit was only 4-6 hours, but the doctor said he sees many, many cases of people with asthma attacks in Dublin. Flew then to Essex, England and another doctor visit at a nearby clinic. Both visits landed me more steroids and another 8 lbs. ….came home and ended up in the hospital for 6 nights in my hometown of Bluffton, SC….the worst heat ever……the summer of 2011 has not been fun and I’ve put on almost 20 lbs since May. – part 1 of 3 posts about asthma at home in SC and abroad -submitted by Khaki Berry in South Carolina