Post by TomBrown on Nov 27, 2012 10:21:58 GMT -5
I'm willing to bet I'm the only "senior citizen" here with an 8-year-old, 3rd-grade daughter! I also have daughters 30 & 34 from my first marriage. No grandchildren yet, but I often get compliments on my "lovely granddaughter." I tell people I'm from West Virginia (true) and 'make my own grandchildren' (just to be humorous).
In the middle of a long, painful divorce 1993-1998 I stopped smoking in 1996 because I was hospitalized and told that I was going to die if I smoked any more. However, nicotine is the world's most powerful addiction. I was discharged from the hospital on a 21-mg patch AND boxes and boxes of nicorette gum. Over the first 6 months I got off the patches, but here we are 16 years later and I still use nicotine lozenges.
In 2006 I watched my father die of COPD, and now I feel as though I'm in the same boat. In 2009 I was told I needed to be on oxygen all the time, but there was no way I could afford it even though I had a full-time job. In 2011 I turned 62 and took early retirement from all of my various jobs and early retirement from Social Security. In 2012 it became clear that running around with O2 saturations in the 70's and 80's was not going to be good for the heart, other muscles, and brain. But with a diagnosis of "extremely severe bullous emphysema," I'm on oxygen now. I have insisted on remaining active, and my pulmonologist got me into the wonderful pulmonary rehab program here at Wake Forest / Baptist Medical Center. I just finished the 36-session program, but intend to return twice a week under the maintenance program. Rehab has gotten me into better physical shape and helped me learn how to manage oxygen, rest, diet, and exercise.
The good news: I have that lovely 8-yr-old daughter, who is not only tall and beautiful but smart, too. And I married her wonderful mother, my best friend, in 1998. So I have a great support structure.
In the middle of a long, painful divorce 1993-1998 I stopped smoking in 1996 because I was hospitalized and told that I was going to die if I smoked any more. However, nicotine is the world's most powerful addiction. I was discharged from the hospital on a 21-mg patch AND boxes and boxes of nicorette gum. Over the first 6 months I got off the patches, but here we are 16 years later and I still use nicotine lozenges.
In 2006 I watched my father die of COPD, and now I feel as though I'm in the same boat. In 2009 I was told I needed to be on oxygen all the time, but there was no way I could afford it even though I had a full-time job. In 2011 I turned 62 and took early retirement from all of my various jobs and early retirement from Social Security. In 2012 it became clear that running around with O2 saturations in the 70's and 80's was not going to be good for the heart, other muscles, and brain. But with a diagnosis of "extremely severe bullous emphysema," I'm on oxygen now. I have insisted on remaining active, and my pulmonologist got me into the wonderful pulmonary rehab program here at Wake Forest / Baptist Medical Center. I just finished the 36-session program, but intend to return twice a week under the maintenance program. Rehab has gotten me into better physical shape and helped me learn how to manage oxygen, rest, diet, and exercise.
The good news: I have that lovely 8-yr-old daughter, who is not only tall and beautiful but smart, too. And I married her wonderful mother, my best friend, in 1998. So I have a great support structure.