6:00am: This morning was a little rougher than most mornings, but I only had myself to blame. Yesterday afternoon Mandi and I went to see some friends play in their band at a local restaurant. Now the good thing about Arizona is you can't smoke inside at any public place, and that includes bars and restaurants. The problem was, they were playing outside on a patio. Now I think I only saw about 5 people lighting up, but 2 of them happened to be sitting at the table next to me. For most of the time, the wind was blowing the smoke away from were I was sitting. But once in a while the winds would change and I would get a nice mouthful of smoke. I didn't notice it as much last night, except for the coughing spasm I had right before I went to bed.
I did however notice it when I woke up. My lungs felt pretty junky and the mucus tasted like cigarette smoke. Yuck! I don't like anything about cancer sticks (cigarettes). The smell, the look, the smoke, the cancer causing affects that come with it, nothing. We could get on a whole other topic about why in the world somebody would want to destroy a perfectly good pair of lungs, when so many friends have died because of their bad lungs. But that's another topic for a different day.
Now in my "old age", I can't handle smoke at all. I used to be able to tolerate it when I was younger, but it probably never was a good idea to sit in a smoke filled bar. I'm very happy that the smoking laws changed in Arizona, although you would only find me at a bar about 5 times a year. Anyway, smoke kicks my butt now and I really try to avoid it. Not only did my mucus taste different this morning but it also had a different tinge to it. Darn that smoke!
After coughing all of the tar filled mucus up on the first part of my walk, my lungs started to open up more. My mucus became clear and I was pretty much back to normal. I was looking forward to getting back to my house and getting on my treatments though to make sure I would open up as much as possible. My lungs just had an irritated feel all morning that I'm hoping the treatments take care of that.
If you are reading this and you are a smoker, do me a favor, have one less cigarette today....Thanks.
Total Distance: 2.1 miles Time: 36'58"
2:00pm: I headed to the gym not really knowing what to expect. Today was shoulders and legs, and I killed my legs this weekend and burnt up my shoulders. If you need proof, go to yesterday's post and scroll down to the end. I, however, was pleasantly surprised. Both my shoulders and legs were stronger today than they have been any day thus far. It's so funny how are body can adapt to different situations that you put it in. And yes Mandi, I got that from you, who I think got it from your dad. Mandi's dad would always say to her, "Your body is unlike any other machine, in that it can adapt and adjust to any stresses that you put on it". Thanks for that Eric. Once in a while that mantra actually goes through my head while I'm lifting in the gym. Maybe one day I'll be as ripped as you.
Today was turned out to be a great day at the gym and I'm so thankful that I pushed myself through today's session. I was really dragging when I got there, so I actually increased the weight on almost all of the lifts just to make my body deal with it. I was surprised at some of the weight I was able to lift today. I should probably start challenging myself more and more like that in the weeks ahead. Current Weight: 187.5 lbs.
5:30pm: For today's walk, Mandi and I decided to reverse the morning loop. Problem is, we got lost and ended up having to wing it at the end. I think we managed to get the same distance in and possibly even more. We walked at a good pace, but were able to converse almost the whole time. This is important, because when this all began, I could barely talk during our walks. It was basically Mandi who would do the talking and I would just reply with grunts and head nods.
I was able to work some gunk out during the walk also. I think my lungs are almost all of the way recovered from the smoke last night, but it may take another day. It will be interesting to see what I feel like tomorrow. We have no plans tonight, so I'm looking forward to having a nice relaxing night on the couch with me and my lady. I know Mandi is too...she's been working her butt off.
Total Distance: 2.1 miles Time: 35'43"
Total Distance Walked for Day: 4.2 miles
I may cry... I just wrote you a novel of a comment and accidentally deleted the whole thing :(
ReplyDeleteIt’s a pity that people feel the need to smoke in every single place and don't even think about others. I'm considering wearing a large sign that says 'Smoke round me and I'll jam that cigarette up your nostril.' Too harsh? He he.
I found the letter you mentioned and I feel that it was way too rude. It’s not fair for people to jump down your neck just because one person ruined it all (I'll get to it...) There are nicer ways to ask, and to let someone know that others may be wary. Coming from someone without CF, they obviously have no idea that sometimes people may not want to share every single drop of information the second you go on a site (I prefer cf2chat.com) As for asking you to basically put a cork in it for posting a couple of entries more sooner than others, that was simply rude. You don't go around asking people to stop blogging do you?! There is no way I would have kept as cool as you did in that response.
Now... the boat that rocked the CF world. It was over the course of a few years, some woman, who pretended to be someone called 'Gina'/'Pepe' and another person called 'Blake' I believe, was pretending to have CF, that everything was flinging up the crapper and that they needed transplant. They had a blog but it was pulled down when the truth came out. People in the CF community donated money to her (it was given back in the end) and prayed constantly. I think the reason why it all came out was the inaccuracy of some things, claims of being so ill they were on the vent, but talking in forums and chat a few hours later. People just didn’t want to believe why someone would lie about having CF. If anything, you’d rather say you didn’t have it.
I joined the whole CF thing a few days after it all came out. Yet I was never submitted to as much interrogation as you were. Yes, it’s amazing that everyone can try and forget what happened to make way for the next CFers, but still, that letter you received was way out of line.
Oh and the marathon, I have no idea!! I’m gonna have to start gymming it up as a form of physio, and then eventually I’ll be able to have enough strength to do marathon training too. There’s no point in jumping straight into it without preparing. Xx
YUCK!!! Smoking is SO selfish!!!!!
ReplyDeleteUtah just went smoke free it is so nice to go out and not have to worry about it. I now can go anywhere I use to just frequent the bars that were smoke free