Summary of breathing problems, Oct 25, 1990, 12:18am
----------------------------------------------------

Started having to swallow (some deep-inside-throat mucus, I think)
after dinner, especially, at Dartmouth. This started during the winter
of either my 2nd year; i.e. about Jan. 1987. (Winter of 3rd=last year
is Jan 88, graduated March 88 (winter term), hung around till June
'88, then till Sept '88).

	[NOTE: I was vaguely apologetic, to myself, about having had
problems at Dartmouth, too, despite there being a day-vs-night huge
difference in how bad between that and Chicago; after the phone-
research, however, I am now pretty sure that at Dartmouth too, it had
been due to pollution (not my allergies to pollen, cats, dust mites,
etc, the set of symptoms for which, {runny nose, itchy throat, watery
eyes, ...} is entirely disjoint from {chest pains, chronic shortness
of breath over a year, ...} exactly what ozone and other pollutants
are *known* to cause. I forgot to type in a short article, "Chest
pains, smog, linked" from the Chicago Tribune, but at least the known
effects of ozone are mentioned in the articles file.)]

[At any rate, at Dartmouth it was almost just annoying, here it's
very serious, there really isn't any comparison. I don't think I've
written in this file that I found out my roommate has some type of
morning mucus symptoms, some breathing problems (not shortness of
breath, and at any rate much milder than what I have) which started
roughly this (nasty air days) summer at Chicago, after living here for
6 yrs.; sounds vaguely like what I eventually had at Dartmouth, a
condition to which -clearing throat, mucus- I'd gladly return to, no
constant shortness of breath, etc, almost just like pollen-allergies
(in severity) --Nov 16]

Regular clearing of throat, I remember, spring at 1 Webster Terrace,
Joel thinking it was just nervousness or whatever, bothered me at
movies when I had to out loud. Saw doctors on at least two occasions,
I remember, the 2nd being summer just before going to grad school. He
suggested Dartmouth-area allergies. He, like previous, gave
medication, didn't do anything. At that point I had phlegm, but not
that much, not that regularly.

Got to Chicago around Sept 3, 1989. 90-95 degree "summer" days. For
first time in my life*, literal, definite, distinct, make no mistakes
about is chest PAIN very shortly after going outside on such days.
This happened on at least 3 (no more than 5) occasions.

Winter of my first year, for the *first* time in my life, again, I
started to experience shortness of breath during the night (waking up
to go to bathroom) and just after waking up, for first (1/2)-(1) hour
strongly, then often less notably for next few hour(s).

Spring of first year, during exams, I must have caught something (ie,
unrelated); green phlegm... after about 1.5 weeks, I got better, but
the improvement, I remember thinking at the time, never fully
compensated for the initial worsening. During this period, I think, I
remember a weazing sound when I exhaled; had never had this. But when
you demonstrate this is can look like you're forcing it. I remember
saying god, this is another permanent worsening, something I'd not had
before, another step.

[Summer after first year I saw Dr. Mintz, about this among other
things; "nothing to worry about" or some such.]

I think I tried to note changes when I went home during summer between
my 1st and 2nd years. Can't remember; I think I noted some
improvement, but didn't pay enough attention, plus had no air-cleaner
at the time to be able to "factor out" allergy to dog (and pollen) plus
mom's parents from Israel, dad's father, and finally having tortuous
1st year over with, well, it (health) was out of my mind.  Physically,
I was in bad shape anyway, having lived at my desk, essentially, for a
year.

When I returned to Chicago, this was around August 1, 1989, a few days
later there were hot, humid, "hazy" and, without a doubt, smoggy days.
Got notably worse. Then, one night, following particularly thusly bad
day-weather and night weather, woke up around dawn, couldn't breathe
very well at all. Coughed up *lots* of phlegm (amount had been slowly
increasing over year at Chicago; now "several times", I would say, the
relatively minuscule quantities I had had at Dartmouth), but it kept
continuing, very hard to breathe, more phlegm, etc. I remember looking
up hospital's number; it was that bad, but not quite bad enough to
call an emergency. I remember thinking if this gets any worse the next
night, I'd really have to call the hospital, and use Ventolin (brother
David has one) to risk life/health wrt not enough oxygen.

[I also should recall the shortness-of-breath feeling, which started
winter of first year, at this point. One description which comes/came
to mind is someone sitting on my chest. It there every night, although
for some short periods it was out of my mind, while at other times I
wanted to scream --frustrating not being able to breathe well, day
after day, and you can't "go" anywhere to stop it. At any rate, in
general the "shortness" means simply that between full inhale and full
exhale, there is a significantly smaller differential in volume of air
than usual.]

[Back to summer between 1st and 2nd year, in Chicago, August '89]
I called the family I had bought some used stuff for my new
unfurnished apt. from a few days earlier (when just returning from
Mass) and said, yes, I am after all interested in the air conditioner.
Actually, I'm pretty sure I must have done this the day before the big
attack, because, the morning following the attack (I usually wake up
very late, but that day I woke at 5 or so and couldn't fall back
asleep) I called Ho at about 8am, and may have woke him up... [at any
rate, prev. day, while I was already w/hoarse voice, coughing, she
said her husband wanted to keep A/C for last days before they leave
because of the weather (despite hearing me over the phone), so I'd
have to wait that many days.] So following attack that night, woke up
Ho early morn, and he drove me to buy new AC that day, for $480 (some
$70 for we-come to-you 5-year repair warranted), unfortunately.

I remember considering northern IL, and mentioning breathing problems
to Peter May, something like early spring of 2nd year(?)

Also, I suddenly remember something else from that period; thinking is
it me being a tense person, but what's this constant (many times
during day) need to sigh?... [Well, I am tense, but not that tense,
and now, many, many months later, paying close attention to body, have
noticed the same sigh even on several occasions I was particularly
relaxed during]

At home summer between 2nd and third years. Paid close attention to
body -- to lungs, esp.ly. Shortness of breath disappeared (or very
nearly so). Easier to monitor at dad's house, no dog. At mom's,
allergic reaction after first night there; notably worse, quite itchy
throat (etc, BUT symptoms strictly disjoint from shortness of breath);
third night, so bad I *definitely* had to change houses. Exact same
three-day sequence the next time I had moved to mom's house. But then
we got (primarily for David) an air-cleaner, and I was able to sleep
7-9 straight days (till day I left) at mom's. Very little allergic
reactions to dog. Points are: one *can* be scientific and observe
definite patterns about body's reactions; and also, due to not having
eyes/nose/throat reaction to dog, much easier to notice whether have
shortness of breath; perhaps very weak (I'm not 100% sure, can't
recall definitely) shortness of breath but nothing like Chicago. What
this means is that:

When I returned, I immediately (2nd night of sleep, certainly, if not
first) noticed it was back. But that's just one day, and not all that
strongly, though noticeably, so you put it out of your mind. You
ignore it. You don't run to the streets and shout "See! this one day
definitely proves it!" Studied hard during Sept '90 for topic exam.
Shortness of breath definitely with me.

Three days (or so) after topic exam classes start, and some week after this,
worsening, (yet) more phlegm, (yet) more coughing.

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I forgot to mention three items:

During 1st year, found article saying IL ranks 7th=8th in (million of
pounds of) toxic emissions. That's when I started thinking of moving
to Northern IL (where I had heard it was "cleaner")

During Earth Day (April(?); spring) 1990, I read in the literature,
among other things, that people work at "The Loop" take in an
equivalent of smoking *two packs* of cigarettes, per *day*.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

When I came back from Mass in Sept 1990, I found out, some weeks
later, from my roommate, who had been living in Chicago for some 6
years (undergrad, then working), who had never had any breathing
problems in his life, some symptoms, including shortness of breath
(apparently, *much* milder') since (some particularly nasty days)
during the summer. [Also, people here seem to be coughing, clearing
throat, spitting phlegm, more often that in New England, but this I
need to pay much more attention to be say with a fair amount of
certainty] Only I, not he, had an AC in my room. I forgot to say that
the A/C, since the summer just before 2nd year, made sleeping at night
much more tolerable, but still the shortness of breath. Also at some
point during my 2nd year I found an article about a NASA study showing
common house-plants can filter out/remove indoor air pollution.  I
looked up but never got the specific plants mentioned (except a
mini-philodendron (tiny one)), not sure why. I did get several other
plants, especially, two large ones, robusta-rubber-plant and a
tropical one, 4 and 3 feet, nearly, in height, respectively, for my
Blackstone (2nd year) apartment. I moved the former into my room
around Oct 1.

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At any rate, day after day, significantly worse than before breathing
at night. Even shortness of breath (which had previously been there)
during the day (just more noticeable this time, I think) Seriously
thought about moving out of Chicago, but put it out of my mind. Wed
17th of Oct, to Thursday 18th, woke at dawn, bad coughing. I think
(it's hard to compare) it was nearly, but not quite as bad as that
first Major attack Aug. '89. This was/is October, after all (although
the A/C had (some 2 weeks prior) been removed from my room so I
couldn't use it at night even if it was humid and warm enough to
operate) Scribbled down various things in half sleep (never fell
asleep, of course) while tossing in bed and coughing, difficult
breathing, including that I need to get out of here, but soon, forget
sticking around until end of third year and then moving out (that
would be 1 out of the (avg.) 3.5 more years I'd have to be in Chicago
anyway), to get more plants, to find the special air cleaning ones,
during the last months I have to stay here, etc.

Saw Peter May that day, finally caught up with him (finally fell
asleep at 10, till 2pm, met student at 3pm, then May not around for a
while) around 5pm. Told me. Same deal. "Doesn't matter if it's
physical or psychological" [!!!]; "if it bothers you *this* much,
then.." and various BS to try to show it's psychological; e.g. I
didn't have the problems while I was studying for my topic, right??
(of course, I had the shortness of breath at the time, which returned
when I returned to Chicago, but I told May of recent week/s worsening,
before the attack that previous night) And he also said, well, it
seems that it only when I'm "floundering"... 
(this after I literally aced my 2nd topic exam (granted "floundering"
doesn't directly mean doing bad academically, still, that particular
word I though was even worse than the previous BS))
...that I seem to experience these breathing problems, right??
Saunders MacLane comes by, and I leave May's office, shocked but not
angry. Gradually angrier and angrier at JPM that day, the more I think
about his reaction and what he had said.  Saw Arunas Liulevicius (2nd
topic examiner for topic exams 1 and 2, and v. friendly person, with
whom I'm comfortable) on Monday, Oct 22.

...