Steroid dreams

I have a long history of allergies and asthma and pneumonia. I am no stranger to steroids by mouth and a few times in an IV. I've taken allergy injections for at least 1/3 of the years of my life, off and on. My allergist has kept me off injections and reasonably symptom free for the last decade, God bless Dr. Randolph's heart....

But last week, after this weird winter, something popped into the air that threw my whole respiratory system into tsunami mode. Mucus like you wouldn't believe from all sources, sneezes that lasted minutes long and finally, regrettably, the dank, think liquid's descent into the lower regions of my lungs.

Walking upstairs left me breathless. Watching TV is exhausting. Nothing but laying down with my C-Path machine, which forces air into me, felt very good.

I've now, as of today, been on 60 mg of prednisone for 5 days. It is beginning to kick in. I can actually stay horizontal for hours without passing out. I celebrated a wedding and went to a pulled pork dinner and watched some TV without having to take a nap or gasp for air.

But what I always forget about massive steroids is the dreams.

Steroid dreams are like Hollywood block busters. Steroid dreams are like no other dreams. There are sound tracks and remarkable visuals and a cast of thousands. It's never bad, only BIG, BIG, BIG.

There was one last night when I was in the Philippines and then Hong Kong--and the production was first class, "Titanic" like special effects and whizzing around in remarkable sets and big stars as well as people I know and it was like a high class mystery-drama with me as the star even though I had no idea, in the dream, what was going on. Angela Jollie and Julia Roberts were on my side and the bald guy from that awful police drama was the bad guy and some of my childhood friends were walk-ons and it was really tense and amazing and never scary but big-budget, really big-budget.

This afternoon I just drifted off for a few minutes and had a conversation with Michelle Obama and Rodney Dangerfield about global warming and the big storms coming through the Midwest tonight. Actually, Mrs. Obama was funnier than Rodney.

If your dream life is a little dull, get some steroids and lay down to pleasant dreams....