‘Lenny’ is my constant companion the doctors call COPD/Asthma.  Naming my constant health companion seems to make life easier for me in relating to my disease as it gives it a bit of a personality.  Besides treating ‘Lenny’ as a companion, come good days or bad, is much better than always dealing with it as an enemy.

This ‘Lenny and Me for Today’ is an occasional write about the adventures and handling of life together of ‘Lenny’ and me.

Let’s see where ‘Lenny’ and Me have been most recently – Hitting a Brickwall…..

Some of my past few postings I have talked about a very busy time of the year, with so many activities to attend for my grandkids, end of the season writings for my part-time job as a sports reporter and of course the big deal of helping my daughter, son-in-law and four grandkids get ready and move out-of-state.

I discussed some of this because I was hoping my stamina, and in particular, ‘Lenny’ would behave and not get agitated which in turn would cause me a problem.

Well after a stretch of having a commitment to something with someone, somewhere for 16 of 19 days, I began to hit the ‘brickwall’ the day we were packing the U-Haul truck for the family move to a new adventure.

As we prepared to leave on Sunday for the six-hour trip, I woke up with ‘Lenny’ not being in good spirits and a bit agitated from something – in other words my breathing would struggle with the least bit of physical work or effort.

Despite all my time traveling to and from the new adventure, I am still not totally positive on what was causing the problem, though I do have an idea.

What happened was traveling to the new adventure went fairly well since I was mostly riding along, except for the two-and-a-half hours I drove the twenty-foot U-Haul.  It was only when I would walk any distance or try and do anything physical that ‘Lenny’ would seem to get agitated and I would find myself fighting a short bout of SoB (short of breath).

While the kids new home was really nice, it had sat mostly empty for a couple of months and was found to be very stuffy and that seemed to tell ‘Lenny’ it was time to mess with my day, leaving me with no other choice than take an early exit for the motel.  I chose to stay at a motel because I knew what kind of bed I would have, I could control my room environment and it gave me more flexibility with my c-pap and nebulizer machines.

To make this short, the whole weekend seemed to go along the lines of myself being just fine if I sat around and/or moved around with little physical exertion.  , this really disappointed me in the fact that I was unable to help with any unloading, but thankfully my daughter and the family was very understanding and worked with me well.

I made it home and while working the brain muscles in trying to figure out what the heck happened, I realized when I got home that I had gained more weight.  Remember my discussion before the trip, commenting about it being a ‘diet problem’ – well the whole weekend was another good example of that as my diet included much too much bread products and not enough vegetables and fruits.

Another item which I have figured played into my problems with ‘Lenny’ and stamina – because I take meds that many times put me in a situation where I need ‘pit stop’ breaks more often than normal – I did not take any meds on Sunday or Monday morning and so we are presuming that not taking them may have helped add to some very unneeded water weight.

Now I am back home and back on track with normal routines and eating prospects, I have lost four pounds in less than two days and that is a much-needed feel good.

The important thing learned is that no matter how well you plan, how well you think you know how to deal with a change in routine – it is still very much possible to have a brickwall pop up and cause a total change in the intended outcome.  It is what it is and that is called life.

And that my friends, is where ‘Lenny’ (my COPD/Asthma) and me are at 4 today.

As always – if you or anyone you know have any symptoms involving lung and breathing functionality, and they linger over and over while disrupting a lifestyle – then please ask questions and get it checked out.

Remember – ‘a person without good breathing, is a person without a good life’, so let’s do what we can, to learn what we can, to improve what we can.

I bid to all – smiles, prayers, blessings and steady breathing – Mr. William.

(Copyright@2017, CrossDove Writer through wheezingaway.com – no part of this write may be used or copied without written permission.)

NOTES: Sometimes we share what may seem like medical information, but we are only giving descriptions and highlights of various aspects of having COPD and/or Asthma and no way do we ever want our information to be considered medical treatment type of information, always consult your physician for more, clearer medical founded information.