In January 2005 we went to a gallery exhibit put on by our friend Claudia at the l’oeil de poisson gallery in Quebec city. Her exhibit was great and we were very priveleged to go. It was something like -24 C in Quebec that night and it was windy. We were so cold!! We went out for supper at a funky restaurant and thought about going down the ice chutes, but changed our mind because of the weather (see Dan’s blog for more descriptions). When we were in the gallery, many students, friends, family and aquaintances of the other artist with works on display arrived and all hung out together in the hallway. Unfortunately they were all smoking as well (oblivious to the no smoking sign in the entrance of the building). I have NEVER been in such a smoky atmosphere in my life, never, not even when I was young and both my parents smoked at home, or in any restaurant or pub I have ever been in throughout the world. The air was so thick it was hard just to breathe it. I tried in vain to go outside and get some fresh air, but it was so damn cold that I could only handle about 5 minutes before I had to go back inside. Because of a complication with travel arrangements, we had to stay at the gallery longer than expected so by the time we left I think we had been in the gallery for about 5 hours, 4 of which were smoke-saturated.
A couple of days after I got home I started to cough and didn’t stop until about a month later. I think I had an accute case of bronchitis that was brought on by the smoke and the cold. Bronchitis is an inflammantion of the major airways in the lungs, and acute bronchitis is caused by exposure to something that temporarily inflames the bronchi so much than the tiny cilia (hair-like things that beat upward to remove particles from the lungs) stop working. So someone who is having an acute case of bronchitis ends up coughing a lot since they must cough to clear their bronchi of the dust and other particles that collect there. Fortunately it is reversible when the swelling goes away, and this is exaclty what happend for me. I have never experienced this in my life, and I can say I don’t ever want to again! I was coughing all the time, and when I went anywhere that irritated my lungs I almost couldn’t eat or talk because of the coughing. I went to a cheese party at our friend’s house and had to leave early because of it.
I honestly wonder why the people in the gallery were smoking so much … the air was really toxic! I guess thoughts like “Hmm, I can’t see the ceiling in there anymore, maybe its a little too smoky in here” or “I can smoke at home but I am in a gallery tonight and I don’t want to ruin someone’s art by smoking here” didn’t cross their minds. I guess I just don’t get it. I realise people who smoke enjoy doing it, especially if it is a social event, but there should have been at least some respect for a) the artists and b) the other people in the gallery! It’s tough being an asthmatic here in Quebec because I really feel that I cannot ask people to not smoke around me (e.g. public places or waiting in line for the bus), even though it makes me quite sick. Its not just that it smells bad or bothers my nose a bit (if this were the case I would accept it without complaint), but it really does damage my lungs.
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