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today's minor medical drama

The gentle rain falling for most of last night and today in Minneapolis did not make local air conditions better, as you'd expect from raindrops carrying particulate matter from the air to the ground. Instead, the cold front took all of that Canadian wildfire smoke from throughout the air column and brought it down to the surface. Ugh.

Click to read the longer story of today's minor medical drama...

As soon as I woke this morning, I knew something was off. I had only an occasional cough, but something about my breathing was "wrong". It was half an hour later before I tried vocalizing, and my voice sounded like I had been coughing for hours, but I hadn't. I looked at social media and saw that air quality was a hazard today. (Like this post on Reddit. Strong language used.) I wondered if I was developing asthma? I know all about allergies, but I know nothing about asthma. I could inhale air just fine, but my body was telling me that my breathing was wrong somehow. I called for another doctor appointment today and let my supervisor know that I'd be out.

At the doctor's office, I was a terrible interview subject. I couldn't explain what was the problem. I still can't tell you. The best I can articulate now is that I can breathe, and I'm not gasping or wheezing, but my body is telling me it's somehow not enough. It's just somehow wrong. *unhelpful shrug* My oxygen saturation at the time was 95%, so the doctor sent me on my merry way, thinking it had something to do with my high blood pressure and sleep apnea, and they double-checked to confirm I had my upcoming appointment with the sleep specialist. Maybe I was mouth breathing during my sleep and dried out my vocal cords earlier? No idea. I'm pretty much fine now, although my eyes and lungs are still telling me that something's wrong. At least my voice recovered fully and quickly.

I took the micro bus to the grocery/pharmacy to pick up my new blood pressure medication, a higher potency combination than what I had before. A fire truck went by, and the bus driver commented that they had passed emergency vehicles almost every 30 minutes on their shift today, far more than usual. A minute later, an ambulance turned ahead of us into the parking lot for my grocery/pharmacy. There's definitely something going on out there.

People had been sharing photos on social media for a few days, capturing the beige skies from the Canadian wildfire smoke. That was fine. I was fine. Until today. News stories like this one were already talking about how bad the air quality is here. After I returned to work for the afternoon, I found this page with hourly measurements. Click the thumbnail to see the whole webpage screenshot.

That timeline matches exactly my own experience today. Perfectly fine last night. Wake up at 7am feeling bad and worried. Already feeling better by the 10am meeting with the doctor. Holding steady since then, with most of the crud coughed out of my lungs in that first hour after waking up.

I turned on the fan for the house central heating, so that filter will catch some of the pollution. I've turned on the corsi-rosenthal box in my bedroom occasionally to do an even better job while I'm at my personal computer. I'll keep wearing my mask any time I need to go outdoors.

The short version (original meme source on Reddit, and photo source on MSN via StarTribune):

*gigglesnort*

Apparently Minneapolis has the 2nd worst air quality rating on Earth today.

Edit Wednesday: I added the photograph of downtown Minneapolis half-hidden in the pollution, for better context.

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moodday,
work

potential employment trouble

There are so many issues I wanted to talk about today. I also wanted to talk about a Border Patrol helicopter spending about 2 hours overhead today. This is my Reddit post about it, but other people posted elsewhere too. Those topics all got pre-empted this afternoon by an email from our boss. In it, they explained that those of us whose home states were named in this update to our employer's remote-work policy will get to stay in our current jobs. They are still trying to get an answer if it would affect any potential promotions within our team.

The latest version of the remote-work policy is linked below, and it names U.S. states from which nobody will be hired for either full-time or part-time work. It's about half of the USA. These United States seem increasingly not to be.
https://hr.psu.edu/more/flexible-work-arrangements/out-of-state-notice

Minnesota is currently listed as prohibited for part-time work. I work full-time. It was also listed that way in the oldest archive copy of that statement, from after I was hired as a remote worker. Other people in my team are full-timers in now-prohibited states. Since I don't know why any of the states are on this prohibition list, I can't guess if I might someday be on the full-time prohibition list too. Or... if someday they might just suddenly decide that we can't stay employed either.

This kind of job insecurity wasn't on my Doom Bingo 2025 card. I need to save as much money as I can for any potential future unemployment. Unfortunately, I also have house repair/replacement projects that need to happen. We live in interesting times.

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NasalCrom

I've been using NasalCrom for several months, and it's an amazing drug. I've had severe allergies my entire life, and I'm certain they played a part in the 2 sinus surgeries that I've already had, thanks to sinus polyps that my overactive sinuses eventually generate which leads to blocked airways and high fevers due to infection. The allergies and the associated sinus troubles are not a real concern any more, thanks to Nasalcrom.

My thanks to wispywillow for mentioning it last summer. In searching for that post, I see that furr_a_bruin mentioned it back in 2011 too, although apparently I never gave it a proper try back then. That's a shame, because it works wonders.

I still can't figure out how it works. It's not a histamine/anti-histamine kind of drug. It's a mast cell stabilizer drug. I don't know much about MCAS (mast cell activation syndrome), but it's related to that. The best analogy I can find is that NasalCrom orders these cells to "Calm down!", so they don't respond with histamine reactions when your immune system tells them that you are exposed to allergens. So, you're still allergic to stuff, but... nothing happens.

That's my experience too. Taking only NasalCrom and nothing else, I can still develop an itchy nose plus a few sneezes. What changes, though, is that my sinuses fail to explode with mucus production. I also take generic fluticasone propionate (sometimes known as Flonase), which is a steroid to reduce inflammation. It's a drug commonly used to deal with asthma, allergies, and nasal polyps like I have a long history of developing. Together, I can even leave my window open at night if I want to, and I don't have to regret it in the morning. At most, I can sometimes tell that my sinuses might be ever-so-slightly swollen or sensitive, like they're on alert because they know allergens are present, but there are no debilitating symptoms that go with it. NasalCrom does the heavy lifting, while the fluticasone softens the few remaining issues.

Together, I'm hopeful that I won't have to deal with polyps blocking my sinuses due to overactive tissues reacting to airborne allergens. If I have no more polyps, then I have no recurring sinus blockage and raging high temperatures, and with no dangerous high temps over 39.5C/103.1F, then I'll have no need for a 3rd sinus surgery. It's a wonder drug, targeted specifically at my sinus tissue. I'm certain it's better for my body than eating pills that affect my whole body, just so I can survive another few hours with strong symptoms.