949 Days
I was born 9/9/49 so I have a particular attachment to the number 949. I remember when it was going to be 9/9/99 and I told people it MIGHT be my “expiration” date. Turns out it wasn’t, no thanks to me since I was not doing a good job of taking care of myself.
I have three more appointments for pulmonary rehabilitation and then I “graduate”…I am pretty excited. I am working out every day that I can at the pool, I am still on oxygen at night and I have to have the oxygen for the treadmill and the bike in rehab although I MIGHT be able to go without it on the bike. I do 40 minutes of exercise in rehab and follow that with another 45 minutes in the pool on the days I have rehab. I am definitely noticing some changes in my muscles, have not lost an ounce but muscle weighs more, it just takes up less space. I have no desire to smoke, I am less and less tolerant of the smell of smoke because I worked really hard to clean out what lung tissue I have left, I don’t want anyone else putting their waste into my body. I don’t yell at people, I just move or leave quietly.
My lungs are definitely not getting worse but they are also not getting better, they are holding their own. I have not regretted quitting for one minute and it was worth every single moment of discomfort I felt in the beginning. I can almost hear my old self yelling DISCOMFORT, you call THAT DISCOMFORT? What are you, NUTS? Okay, it was hard, it was more than discomfort, it was sometimes miserable but every day I added showed me that I COULD keep going and that I was a whole lot stronger than I thought. It has been worth every single moment of every tear that was shed, I have grown so much and I am so grateful. My thanks to all of my fellow EXers. I am getting ready for bed, I have rehab in the morning…then I will be down to TWO!
I love you all and I wish for peace for those members who have passed and for their families and close friends. Smoking is a killer, craves are just a pain.
