FIRST DAY OF SPRING 2014

Well today is the first day of Spring.  It is windy, raining and not a good day to be outside if you want to stay dry.  Some parts of New Brunswick are getting snow. But I am glad that for us it is rain.  I am really looking forward to warmer weather and being able to enjoy the outside.

In my last blog post I mentioned that I had to have a chest X-Ray and ECG. Well I had them and wasn't  overly pleased with the results.  The chest X-Ray report came back that my lungs were like those  of a person who had smoked considerably over their lifetime.

That was a shocker for me, I as a teenager tried cigarettes and didn't like them. I loved the smell of a pipe and I tried that for a couple of weeks and didn't like that either. 

I have been diagnosed with COPD.  How I got it I do not know as it wasn't from smoking and I did not work in an environment with fumes or even second hand smoke.  Reading about the disease on the internet, I did find out that it is possible to get COPD from Acid Reflux (GERD) which I also have.

At this point it doesn't matter how I got it, but what can we do to slow it down so I can enjoy life as much as it is possible. I believe I have had it for some time.  When I was going to my family doctor before he passed away I kept telling him how short of breath I was.  He passed it off as being over weight.  I believed him and struggled with it. 

On April 14th I go to Yarmouth for a CT Chest Scan and the next day for a breathing test.  The breathing test and scan will tell how serious the disease is and what medications I need to take. I also in June will be doing a sleep study.

The medication I am on now has helped my breathing somewhat.  But my activity level has fallen sharply.  I am finding by night time I am done in.  Has anyone come to the point where they are tired of breathing?  As of yet I do not have the cough, just difficulty in breathing.  I now understand more fully what my mother-in-law went through with her breathing problems.

I don't want to give up the church, but I may not have a choice. I am waiting to see how I am in month's time and go from there. With the right medication I may be able to stay on for awhile.

Valerie is my chauffeur and I enjoy that.  However, I like being independent and I find it hard to allow someone else to do things for me.  Any way we will get through this.

Other than that life is fairly quiet.  Hopefully in my next post to the blog it will be less about me and about something that is more interesting.  May God bless you all!

FIRST POST FOR 2014

I can't believe three months have passed by since I last posted on this blog.  I guess I have been involved in other things and procrastinated writing on here. But here I am.

Tania and her family were home for Christmas and went back on January 5th. We had a great time with them and hated to see them go.  It was during the time it was so cold in Ontario and planes were not flying out.  They left here in the late afternoon and arrived in Toronto, to spend the night on the plane on the tarmarck.  Well, I guess they had changed planes a couple of times.  They got to winnipeg the next morning but their luggage didn't arrive until a couple of days later.

My mother is progressing slowly from her fall in November.  However, she does not want to be alone and it is costing her a great deal to have someone day with her during the day.  I can see that she has failed considerably since her fall and she does not want to do anything. We try to convince her to do a little more for her self and build up some strength but she does not agree with us.

I get up to visit mother when I can. She gets upset when I do not call her or visit.  She has two of my other siblings near her.  She has been alone the last couple of weeks as the lady who was sitting with her is not able to come.  Her male partner is very ill.  So I call mother every other day to check on her and help her past the time.

I had got a cold during the middle of January and really did not get over it. Some days you think you are and then the next day it is back worse than before.  Now it has settled in my chest and I am having trouble breathing.  We do not have a family doctor as of yet, but I was able to get into the consultant clinic for those without a family physician and saw a nurse practitioner.  I will go back and see her on March 14th and find the results of an XRay and ECG.  

I am still busy with the church and am anxiously waiting for spring and summer to come. It will be nice to get outdoors and do some things outside.  I* am tired of winter and snow.

Well, I finallygot back in writing in my blog, so I hope I will not be so long in making another entry next time. I want to wish all my readers God richest blessings and will look forward to writing something again later on.