GASP, GASP TOO

     For a whole year Hanah lived in a house taken over by mold. All her clothes smelled like mold, her books turned green, and every glass surface was covered by watery residue. She and her roommates had to buy dehumidifiers to have minimally habitable conditions. I told her, as soon as I found out about it, that she should move, but everything else for rent was too expensive. She moved just half a month ago before coming home for a vacation. 

     Now she told me that she has moments when she can not breathe. She coughs without having any cold symptoms too. It was time to take her to doctor!

     Today I did it. We went together, but at the clinic she decided that she should go into the office by herself. She is a big girl: I didn't dare to object.

     She found me after the appointment. I asked, what the doctor said. "Asthma" - she answered.

     "Asthma?! How could this be?!" I was stuttering from shock. Asthma is a big deal, right? She only said: "The adult onset."

     We got her the medicine and went home. On the way, all these questions began to swim round and round in my mind. The doctor prescribed her a usual for the asthmatics medication with steroid in it. I would not object to it too much if I was sure of the diagnosis. But the doc didn't even send her to the x-ray or to do any other tests. What if she doesn't have asthma? What if she'll take these meds, that mess up one's system and make one fat, for nothing? And all the while, the mold in her lungs will grow and take over! 

     The longer I think about it, the more I worry. 

     Taka came home, and I told him about asthma. "I wish, I could get another opinion or something!"

Taka answered my doubts through the food in his mouth: "Zhen, get it! Bether yet, why don't you ashk to see a lung shpecialisht?"

     This is one of a few times that I am grateful to be married to him!