COPD and breathing

The snow is snowing and the wind is blowing but there is no fire to keep me warm in the fireplace. Firewood, lots of firewood, used to be my number one concern when I was as healthy as a horse, smoked a pipe and a pack of cigarettes once every few days. Now, after ruining both lungs I am not even eligible for a lung transplant. So the doctor told us that I should not use the fireplace because it would do me no good to smell the smoke from it or get the particles from the smoke into my lungs. So we sealed it up and now it is a decorative dent in the wall that is illuminated by overhead lights.

So, I am stuck with toting around a bottle of oxygen or using an oxygen concentrator with a cannula stuck in my nose 24/7 day and night. It takes some getting used to. Since suffocation is not the way for anybody to go, I do my duty and use oxygen any way I can get it.

Things that are supposed to be OK to do and some are thought to be good for you if you do them on a regular basis, like sex, will often surprise you. One day you reach in there looking for the hose that put out so many fires, and you can't find it! That's not something you run to the doctor about until you're positive you are missing an important part of your anatomy. And when the Mrs. agrees it is gone missing, it is time to ask the doctor for an explanation. Studs Terkle's account of shooting the head off a dead man's penis comes to mind when I think about it. So, I try not to think about it.