Can I wear this dress: [link] I would change the sleeves to be proper short sleeves, rather than the cap sleeves, which are not the most flattering on me. But it's so cute!

I have that dress in Navy and Green, and I really like it.

I think we've related the tragic story of JZ's four months of hacking coughing sleeping upright until her asthma

Hello, my life. I've been plagued with uncontrollable coughing fits and coughing at night my whole life. I remember a doctor somberly telling my mom when I was about 9 that my lungs were severly damaged by the pneumonia or whatever-it-was-I-had, that they "looked like the lungs of an old smoker", and that I might not live to see puberty. I didn't know what puberty was, so I lived in fear of sudden death for a year or so. The fact that my mom smoked a pack a day was never brought up as being a problem, of course; it was the 60s. How different my life might have been if anyone had thought my inability to BREATHE NORMALLY might be something to be concerned about. Of course, taking me to see a doctor might not have done any good, considering how awful the doctors I did see in that shitty rural town were. Bitter? Little bit.

that is a great dress

You can totally wear that dress, Steph!

Of course, all I wear is yoga pants and the t-shirt I slept in, with a fleece jacket on top (or, in warm weather, the same pair of cutoff jeans and the t-shirt I slept in) because I am a feral editor lady unfit for public consumption. I have no business buying a dress. But it's so cute! And Groupon had a deal that was $39 for an $80 GC to eShakti, soooooo...

I had some kind of lung infection as a baby, and the doctor told my mother that it might or might not cause asthma later on. As an adult, I get bronchitis pretty frequently, and whenever I get a cold, the cough lingers for weeks, but doctors keep testing me for asthma and the tests keep coming back negative. I've got an inhaler, though, because when I get a cold, I need it.

Zen - did you say if you use Advair. One of the things I was reminded of today is that it comes in three strengths. I use the medium strength normally (too lazy to grab it but it has yellow writing in the middle but I think it is 250). I have a sample of the high strength (red writing) for the next week. Maybe see if you can go up a level if you want to avoid Prednisone? (not a doc...don't even play on one tv).

a nice vacation at a beach house with Pix, N_D, and unnamed Others (likely Buffistas, but no names or faces or voices, just the welcome presence of pleasant Others). It was near the end of the vacation chunk and there had been a full roster of planned activities. We were getting ready to spend the last full day just relaxing on the beach with big floppy sunhats either sunning ourselves or under shady beach umbrellas. I was looking for my bag and sunblock when I woke up, already feeling warm from the soon-to-be-basked-in-sunshine. What a lovely change for my subconscious!

This is lovely! I want to go to there.

Zen - did you say if you use Advair.

I use Symbicort. It has a corticosteroid, which I think Advair does not? Not sure which would be best, but the Symbicort is working pretty well so far.