I went to my friend’s pool and worked out today after my 30 minutes on the bike and I will do another 15 minutes on the bike later. I am doing whatever I possibly can to get stronger and I think it MIGHT be paying off, not that I can breathe any better but I am not getting worse. I had to use my rescue inhaler repeatedly yesterday but I am pretty sure it was allergens when I was outside because I was okay when I was back in the A/C. There were two people at the pool after I had been there for about an hour. They were both smoking one cigarette after another and talking about how they could not believe how short of breath they are. They also both asked me if I feel a lot better now that I am on oxygen. They wanted to know if I am sleeping better. I told them that I was never having problems with sleeping that were related to anything other than pain and the pain has not gone anywhere so, no, I am not feeling a lot better. I get wound in the tubing every night, my nose hurts all the time, and I find nothing positive about the oxygen. Apparently, some people think it is a great answer to all their problems, the answer it to not get to the point where you need oxygen. If you are short of breath now, quit smoking, if you are lucky enough not to be short of breath yet, quit smoking. If you don’t have respiratory problems related to smoking, keep in mind that you MIGHT have circulatory problems, you might have a stroke, you might have esophageal cancer, you might have colorectal cancer, you might have heart problems that you don’t even know about yet…get the picture? If you are still smoking, for God’s sake, PLEASE QUIT. No one walks away without hurting themselves or others if they keep smoking. I can’t say these things to my friends at the pool because they would just get annoyed with me so I just left. I know that I am an addict and I know that THEY are addicts, I choose not to set myself up and feel as though I am being attacked because I am NOT smoking. Have a beer, Ellen, “no thanks”…”oh come ON”, are you afraid to drink? WHY do I NEED to have a beer? “If you won’t have a cigarette to relax you, maybe a beer will help.” I am relaxed, in fact, I was falling asleep before they got there. I told them I would make a deal with them, I won’t try to get them to stop smoking if they won’t try to get me to start again. Their mouths fell open and I told them that I love them both, which I do, and then I said I needed to get home. I smiled the whole ride home, I am sure that they dismissed what I said as being a result of my WANTING a cigarette, they are SOOOOOOOOOOO wrong. I know perfectly well that I could have asked either one of them for a cigarette and they would have frowned and then nearly sprained their wrists getting the cigarettes out of their packs to "welcome me back". I will go to the pool earlier tomorrow, before they are there.
