2016 A to Z Challenge Theme Reveal

Here is my theme for the 2016 Blogging from A to Z Challenge in April: Authors of mostly YA books, a few MG books, and maybe a couple of short stories I read during my younger years. For each post, I will name one author with an initial in their name that matches the day’s assigned letter. I hope to give a quote from each author and then share a little about their story and the impression it left. There might be book spoilers in some of the posts but that said, all the featured books are at least 10+ years old. So it isn’t like I’m giving away endings for new releases.

It wasn’t easy picking the authors and books for this month. Sometimes I felt a little guilty about choosing one author over another for there are many authors and books I could and should share about.  I also made a point of not profiling any book that I’d already written extensively about here. 

So that’s my blogging theme for April. Are you participating in the Blogging from A to Z Challenge this year? If so, what’s your theme?

Survive and Thrive Bloghop: Asthma

Today I'm participating in the Survive and Thrive Bloghop, hosted by Stephen Tremp, Michael Di Gesu, Diane Wolfe, and Alex Cavanaugh.  Copied from Alex's web site: The blogfest is meant to bring awareness of disease prevention and early detection regarding medical conditions that may be averted or treated if caught in the early stages. Our desire is to motivate people to go in for early screening, and if a condition is caught early and treated, then our world just became a little better place to live.  The topics are wide open. You can post about a particular cause you support. Or you can share a personal or family experience that is near to your heart.

I’ve had asthma since childhood. Being a non-medical professional, I really can’t say if there’s a surefire way for anyone to prevent scoring this respiratory condition that offers wheezing, shortness of breath, and the company of inhalers. But if I were to give a cocktail party response about how someone can avoid getting asthma, I’d say that a good doctor listening to your lungs when you’re miserably congested might be able to detect early wheezing, and then they can offer immediate treatment to keep the wheezing from becoming more serious.

Growing up with asthma wasn’t easy. I didn’t know many other kids, if any, with asthma. I remember sometimes getting up in the middle of the night when I was in elementary school, middle school, and high school. I’d sit in bed and just cough and cough and cough some more. My post-nasal drip, either from general allergies or catching a bug, would tickle my throat and trickle down to my lungs. My eyes would tear up and my back and neck would ache from the physical exhaustion of coughing and inhaling heavily. The inhalers helped some, but I still had many rough, unwanted all-nighters at home or in the ER fighting my shortness of breath.

My asthma improved by the time I was a spring-semester high school senior. And my symptoms continued to subside as I continued on to college. I am pleased to say (knock on wood!) that as an adult, my condition is mostly much more mild now than it was when I was younger. 

While asthma might've deprived me of a good night's sleep on a number of occasions and it has given me some challenges, I'm not the fragile image of the suffering asthma patient you might've seen on TV or in a movie. Having asthma hasn't stopped me from pursuing what I want to do, whether it is working, writing, traveling, exploring, playing, or connecting with others. 

I just need to remember to bring my inhaler with me.

Do you know anyone with asthma?