More health-related stuff

So for the past 5 or 6 years I have had very rare but somewhat disconcerting issues with my throat/trachea/larynx. Sometimes when I'm awake and sometimes when I'm totally asleep, I suddenly can't breathe. My trachea simply closes right up. It happened last week when the dental hygienist was cleaning my teeth. It freaked her out and she insisted that I see someone before I ever returned. It has been scary to Russ, too. It only lasts a minute so I don't pass out or anything but no air can pass into or out of my lungs. So, I went to an ENT specialist this morning to find out if he could figure out what the problem is. We went over my history of thyroid surgery in 1974, tonsils and adenoids (twice) removed as a kid, exercise-induced asthma, periodic but chronic hoarseness which I thought was caused by acid-reflux, and these strange episodes. He numbed my sinus passages down to my throat then put a scope up my nose and down my throat. He told me to force air through my sinuses and to sing "Eeee", twice, then said, "Interesting!"
He asked if I had had any hoarseness after my thyroid surgery in 1974. I told him my surgeon had told me at the time that I shouldn't plan on a singing career because I probably wouldn't ever be able to sing like I had before. Well, right after the surgery I had no voice for awhile but then it seemed okay. Recently I have noticed more hoarseness and I can't sing quite as well as I used to. I just figured it was another aspect of aging. Then he said, "Well, one of your vocal cords doesn't work, it doesn't move." Amazing! I guess I have been compensating which might explain why I simply can NOT get consistent high notes when I sing. The doctor said that what I'm experiencing is spasms of my larynx which can be caused by any little thing and there is nothing that can be done for them. He suggested angling the head of my bed up to help avoid the possibilities of acid reflux during the night stimulating a spasm. He said the good news was that he didn't see anything seriously wrong so there isn't anything requiring surgery.
So, I have a bit of a dilemma. In researching c-diff (mentioned in my last post), I found out that those most prone to this chronic disease are people who have had lots of antibiotics or people on PPI's. That's me (Nexium). A PPI is a proton-pump inhibitor which is what you take when you have bad acid reflux. The decrease in stomach acid can allow the nasty bacteria to multiply. On the other hand, I could have more problems being able to breathe if I do any less than I am currently doing to cut down on acid reflux. Ironic, huh?

Is this it?

There is a scripture that states, "For a desolating scourge shall go forth among the inhabitants of the earth, and shall continue to be poured out from time to time, if they repent not, until the earth is empty, and the inhabitants thereof are consumed away and utterly destroyed by the brightness of my coming." There are other similar references. As I have become aware of horrible diseases, I always wonder which is the scourge the Lord is hoping will get our attention. Was it polio? Was it malaria? Is it AIDS or any of the STD's? How about the "super bugs" that seem to be cropping up lately now that our wonderful vaccines and antibiotics have killed off the wimpy plagues? Lately I have learned of another possibility- it's called C.diff which is a nickname for clostridium difficile. I don't know what the first word means but the second word is French for DIFFICULT and that's what this thing is! It's a bacteria that lodges in intestines and causes horrible diarrhea with fever and basic mind-confusion. It can be brought on by the extended use of antibiotics (and even proton pump inhibitors like I take for acid reflux) which tend to kill the stomach bacteria that are GOOD for us because they kill other nasty bacteria. Ironically, the only way to kill these bacteria is an even stronger antibiotic. Now for the nastiest part- the bacteria appear to have gone, by stool test results, BUT, they have only gone into hiding. They hide out in little pockets of the intestine then as soon as you have any even slight illness that takes your immune system's attention, they start multiplying again. IT NEVER GOES AWAY! To make this even worse, the most prevalent place for this bacteria is hospitals and nursing homes. The very places people go to get better can give them something that will never go away and makes them slowly waste away with reccurrent diarrhea. It's like the old horror stories from before the medical professionals knew about keeping things sterile. Now we keep things sterile, spending billions of dollars a day on disposable everythings, and we have just whittled the diseases down to where we have this monster bacteria. We currently know of at least 3 people in our circle of acquaintance that have it. It is just so incredibly sad. We are just more and more anxious for the "brightness of His coming"!