Wednesday, August 13, 2014

Noses useful after all

Who knew?

Recently, my breathing problems led me to an allergy doctor. I'd been avoiding them for decades because I had a horrible reaction to an allergy shot many moons ago. I ended up in the hospital, looking like Frankenstein. So much for priming the system to accept allergens. I never went back.

All my life, my nose has been a useless ornament on my face. It was good to hang glasses on, mind you. But after I started wearing contacts, even that benefit was gone. (Full disclosure: after I stopped smoking I did occasionally sniff through it to see what things smelled like. But only a trickle of air came in.) So I tossed my nose aside for all time and breathed through my mouth. It worked well, so I really didn't care.

But this new allergy doctor did the unexpected. She gave me a steroid nasal spray that brought my nose back to functionality. You can breathe through them! Who knew? It's kinda fun to feel all that air whooshing directly into your head.

I keep being surprised by its functionality. Last night I had the shock of my life when, as I lay in bed trying to go to sleep, I noticed that my mouth was closed. It seems you can actually breathe through noses when you're sleeping! I can't get over it. This is totally cool.

So it seems that noses are useful after all. Now I have to work on my lungs. I used a HEPA filter air purifier in the bedroom last night and lo and behold, I didn't cough and wheeze all night. Again, who knew this was possible?

I'm now looking for other body parts that may be functional, though unused. I figure my survey will be complete in a week or two. I'll get back to you at that time.

But seriously, noses are useful! I still can't get over it. Today I'm going to look for new things to do with my nose. Hmmmmmm.