A depressing, hair-raising hour sitting or two sitting in a hallway and trying to determine whether I'm getting better or worse as time went by.

It doesn't sound like much but the thing is that the difference between 'trouble breathing' and 'unconscious and asphyxiating' is about 5 minutes, and the difference between 'unconscious and asphyxiating' and 'brain damage' is about 5 more.

I had just travelled was really not used to the combination of 20 below zero with dry air, and my asthma, which hadn't bothered me in over a decade, was having none of it.

Eventually I decided I wasn't getting worse, and chose to take the risk of heading back home, blasting the car heater and buying coffee purely to inhale the steam. I went to sleep boiling a kettle in my bedroom. Yes, I bought one of those, too.

I never did fully adjust to that climate, but it never fucked me up half as bad as it did the first year I was there.

If it had been the NHS, based on my prior experiences with their treatment of my asthma, they would have stuck an oxygen mask on me without question or fee.

Realistically, If I had chosen to be admitted, I would not have ended up actually paying $13,000 in the end, but that is not really what you're thinking when you're wondering if you're about to fucking suffocate.

And really, should I have to haggle with debt collectors over such an obviously bullshit price tag? I knew I didn't need $13,000 worth of treatment.

A depressing, hair-raising hour sitting or two sitting in a hallway and trying to determine whether I'm getting better or worse as time went by.

It doesn't sound like much but the thing is that the difference between 'trouble breathing' and 'unconscious and asphyxiating' is about 5 minutes, and the difference between 'unconscious and asphyxiating' and 'brain damage' is about 5 more.

I had just travelled was really not used to the combination of 20 below zero with dry air, and my asthma, which hadn't bothered me in over a decade, was having none of it.

Eventually I decided I wasn't getting worse, and chose to take the risk of heading back home, blasting the car heater and buying coffee purely to inhale the steam. I went to sleep boiling a kettle in my bedroom. Yes, I bought one of those, too.

I never did fully adjust to that climate, but it never fucked me up half as bad as it did the first year I was there.

If it had been the NHS, based on my prior experiences with their treatment of my asthma, they would have stuck an oxygen mask on me without question or fee.