Where I left off a couple of days ago, I mentioned that I’d had a big flare up with my asthma. I’d been in to my local clinic, where I was given new meds for an infection and an increase in inhaler. What I didn’t know was that it was going to get worse. A lot worse.

(This is a good time to mention that I’ve never had asthma before last year, and that I have more or less assumed that the underlying problem wasn’t really something mild, like allergies.)

If the last blog post could have alternatively been called “pass the oxygen please", today’s post could definitely be called “call an ambulance. NOW".

Monday night involved me struggling to breath; Tuesday night was both struggling to breath and having incredible pain in my shoulder blades. And the most worrying of all: a strange uncomfortable feeling in my left arm, with a little bit of pain on the left side of my chest. Having listened to all those ads on TV giving the warning signs for heart attacks (and knowing full well how unfit I am in general), by morning I was in tears. Luckily for me my mum and I made a quick dial to ‘nurses on call’ (a nurse advises you over the phone so you can get the best advice quickly before heading to a doctor unnecessarily) who basically said “get thee to a doctor ASAP” and even that I should call an ambulance if necessary.

So my day pretty much meant heading to an ER and getting another round of tests, more inhalers, my infection meds, an oxygen mask, etc. The good news: I wasn’t having a heart attack, I didn’t have a blood clot, and I didn’t have a collapsed lung. The bad news: I still have no idea what’s wrong with me. … However, this time around I actually got a referral to a specialist - which I think I should have had a year ago, but anyway… - and yesterday’s little trip was to see them. From there, there’s still more tests to be done, more meds, some pain killers, more inhalers…

The biggest problem is, outside of my usual asthma-related issues, that the current meds I am on make me incredibly shaky. Yesterday I tried working on one of my prototype products, but found it really difficult to make the steady and tiny stitches necessary for what I was doing.

So I think it’s safe to say that the Kukcrafters challenge is most definitely over. I will of course be continuing to work on everything that I have planned, but it’s likely that I won’t be doing any crafting for a little while or at least until I get used to these meds. The good news is that I have plenty to work on which doesn’t involve my hands: character designs to research; solving the problem of rod attachments and other things; developing ideas for kits and similar items; and working on the tweaked web designs. Part of this will work perfectly with one medication problem: for one of my tablets I have to sit upright for an hour after taking it. This makes crafting difficult, but sitting on my computer ideal. And with any luck, I will be able to post blogs on my last two prototypes that I mentioned a few days ago: the prototype for the kit, and a plushie I’ve been working on.

PS. If you’re wondering: I feel much much better now despite what happened on Mon/Tues. I’m still having breathing problems, but at least now they’re not making me feel like I’m about to die.