My Constant Companion

Though I'm a reasonably well educated person, there are many things I just do not understand. Such as why some Japanese companies think "Dew-Dew," "Hacker," and "Eye Power" are smashingly appetizing names for candy.

(To see that, look here)

Here's another confession of ignorance: Let me introduce you to my constant companion, my best buddy, my I-can't-live-without-you sidekick:


This, my friends, is my nebulizer. I use it for asthma. A lot. Especially in the winter. I have to have it on the same story of the house I'm on at all times. When I get up in the morning, it comes downstairs with me. (Let me not forget to mention my other pal, the little "rescue inhaler," which, if I wish to survive, I must carry on my person, in my pocket, or in my purse. By the way, perhaps it should bear the name, in large letters, "Cute 'n Fun.") The nebby's purpose is to keep me from having to go to the hospital every day. But note its name: "Sport Mist II."

Because, as y'all must know, ASTHMA IS SPORTY! Yep, every time I finish a nebulizer treatment, I feel like jumping up and running a marathon, along with all the other oxygen-depleted lungless wonders in the respiratory therapy ward. What could be SPORTIER than turning on a small machine that's as loud as the backup generator for a skyscraper, hooking up some scary hospital-machine tubing, screwing a mouthpiece on it, sticking that in your mouth, inhaling and exhaling "sporty" mist, and having people remark, "Hmm . . . the way you look right now reminds me of something . . . oh, I know . . . It's the smoking caterpillar in 'Alice in Wonderland'!" And then there are the people who want to carry on an animated conversation with you, when, HELLO, there's no talking going on here because there's no breathing going on!

I guess Sport Mist I wasn't sexy enough, so they had to make model II? Or maybe too many people on the first one died from feeling so good they went out and ran marathons?