Soon I may be able to get the flu shot, which is useful even coming up to early February.

Key word, though: soon. And possibly, since taking prednisone for asthma contraindicates me while I am actively on it and for four full weeks after the date of last dose. Over the course of this pandemic I have honestly tried as hard as I could to stay off of prednisone, and I have had varying degrees of success depending on where in the year we have been at. I have certainly put substantially more effort into this.

If I can stay off of prednisone for more than four weeks, I may also be able to get the COVID-19 shot expedited due to the severity of my asthma since I’ve been told that I fall under one of the classes required to get it sooner than the general adult population… 1B, or something to that effect. I’m willing to get all recommended vaccines as long as I can tolerate them in that I am not, for whatever reason, contraindicated from them. Almost everyone else that I know is current on all of their vaccinations, at least the recommended ones, so I feel somewhat confident being protected by herd immunity… even though I’m aware that as various people enter my “bubble” when I do have to leave the house that they, for whatever reason, may not be up to date on their vaccines. I consider it a blessing that all I have to get is the annual flu shot and, whenever I am able to, the COVID-19 vaccination. Looking at you really hard right now here, prednisone.

I am continuing to wash my hair with water as necessary, having decided to eschew traditional shampoos and conditioners so that my hair can remain as bright as it initially was when I first dyed it… and because shampoos strip one’s hair of the natural protection that oils and sebum gives it, just to turn around and attempt to put some kind of protection right back on it with conditioner. I have found that frequently brushing one’s hair really helps make sure that the scalp’s oils are spread down the entire length of it, and I’ve also discovered that my hair is wavier than even I had first estimated, presumably because it is also soft and regular shampooing was damaging the natural waves because it was making it to where my hair had more of a difficult time holding a wave. Now granted, my hair has never been able to pass for straight, but this actually surprised me more than I thought it would. And at the same time… it didn’t surprise me at all.

I am now doing pulmonary function tests every six months since I am “stable”. As in, the severity of my asthma isn’t expected to change such that more frequent visits are warranted. These visits include the six-minute walk each time that I do them, although it’s a bit cramped on the third floor of the building that my pulmonologist now works in. But we make do, and my doctor gets the numbers that he wants from me…

I may also ask my primary care doctor (physician) to raise my dose of nortryptline from 50mg to 100mg, too.