I've got Asthma!

I've not been in the best of health in the last few weeks. At first I thought it must have been the heavier than usual workload both in the office and with my Alumni groups. However, when I started having breathing problems and started feeling tired too easily, I decided to see the doctor.

I first went to see my GP. I've been with him for the past almost 10 years. When I described my problems to him, he referred me to see Prof. Azman, a cardiologist at UH. I kept the referral letter but ultimately did not find my way to UH. Finally, when my health did not improve significantly after about 2 weeks, I decided to see Dato' Dr. George Ananda, a physician at Assunta Hospital. He did a full medical on me sometimes last year so I thought it is best to see him again. He was in fact highly recommended by my boss who is a personal friend of his.

So last Friday, 21 Sep, I took an appointment to see Dato' Dr George. He checked me up and gave me a very good rating on my blood pressure, 120/80. I have been very diligent with taking my medicine, Norvasc. But he told me that I had asthma as I was wheezing. What? At this age? I was told that if you get asthma at a late age, it will be bad. Anyway, I went through the whole full medical tests, except the stress test as I was fasting. I had my ECG, Echo and even MRI on my kidneys and liver. I did not wait for the test results but told the nurse that I'll come again at a later date to see the Dr for my results.

In the meantime, he prescribed some asthma medications for me. I know the medication very well because my dear wife is asthmatic. When I got home, I decided not to take the medication as I was confident I will be okay and I'll wait after seeing the Dr again. However, over the weekend, I was persistently coughing and I knew it was not the "normal" cough. I had no choice but to take the nebulizers. And sure enough, I felt a lot better better after taking them. But I had to take them 3 times a day and one of them contains steroids.

So, here I am having to carry my nebulizers every where I go. Previously I kept nagging my wife for not taking her medication. Now she can do the same to me:-) God is very fair. I hope I will be able to control my asthma so that it will not affect my life too much.

Keep healthy.