“IT’S A GAME OF NUMBERS”

By Mr. William

For those of us who battle day in and day out a fight with an unstoppable disease, realizing that all we can do is do our best to battle it in a way to give us an opportunity to live better and longer, we must realize that some days it seems to be nothing but a game of numbers.

Many days it seems that ‘numbers’ rule our day, right down to my yearly attempt to share with all my own personal battle with a blog like this which I call ‘Lenny and Me 4 Today’. It’s been 46 days since I last posted a take on how ‘Lenny’ and I are doing and for me that is easily 39 days too long to put the fingers on the keyboard and let the thoughts tell it like it is for the moment.

So yes, even ‘numbers’ play a game in my postings – like when I get done will I have said what I want to say without typing out such a large word count that nobody actually reads it all the way through.

But getting back to the ‘Game of Numbers’ for those of us fighting an unstoppable disease – it is true that much of what we count toward the successes or non-successes of our fight will come down to numbers.

For me, ‘Lenny’ and I start the morning checking the oximeter as we ritually get our nebulizer ready for our morning wake up round of ‘ipratropium’ before taking a couple of other meds to help in a fight with retention of fluids and an increase of diabetes. 

Three days a week I also check my weight when I get up, another ‘number’ of grand importance in the battle as we all know that the more weight you carry around, the harder it is to battle the disease of COPD and Asthma.

Then we get into the eating portion of the day and the only way I can get or attempt to get the weight down is to be very, very careful on the ‘number’ of calories I may eat throughout the day.

Somewhere between the nebulizer and eating something lite for breakfast, ‘Lenny’ and I make a daily attempt to get on our old exercise bike in an effort to put at least 12-15 minutes of a workout in while hoping that we pile up between 1,500-2,200 ‘number’ of steps in doing so.

If I am having a good day, then I will get another 12-15 minute tour on the bike later in the day for another attempt to account for 1,500-2,200 ‘number’ of steps in doing so, and if I am having a great day and I am willing to run the risk of over doing it, I will try for a third attempt on the bike to get yet another 12-15 minute tour accounting for another 1,500-2,200 ‘number’ of steps.

Other things I check in the morning include the ‘number’ of the temperature both current and expected for the day, as well as the ‘numbers’ given in humidity, wind speed and barometric pressure. For those who battle a lung disease like I do, you know that the ‘numbers’ in the temperature, humidity, wind speed and barometric pressure can and will give you an inkling of how the day may proceed.

By the end of the day I am sure I have calculated the ‘number’ of steps I may have taken beyond what is counted on my phone to account for the times my phone is on a charger or left sitting on my desk or kitchen table. This ‘number’ is then added to what the phone may say to give me yet another ‘number’ as to the reality of my success for the day.

I count out the proper ‘number’ of remaining meds which I take in the evening to help fight high blood pressure, asthma/COPD, and a heart condition. Plus I also check weekly to make sure I have the proper ‘number’ of tablets in each prescription taken so that I know when to order a refill without either forgetting before it is too late or ordering too early and then having the pharmacy deny the refill.

Yet another ‘number’ has come to my attention, and that is the ‘number’ of words for which I have typed in processing my thoughts about the subject of ‘It’s a Game of Numbers’. And that ‘number’ is getting beyond the point of keeping a reader’s attention and that is not a ‘number’ I want to think about.

While I have discussed the ‘Game of Numbers’, I am very aware of the fact that I have many more discussions to process and share regarding ‘numbers’ and how they are something that those of us with a battle going against COPD and/or Asthma will continue to need to know and continue to understand how they affect the most important ‘number’ of our living – the days which we have left to live.

And that my friends, is where ‘Lenny’ and Me are 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.

ALWAYS REMEMBER > A person without good breathing, is a person with a life of constant caution’, so let’s do what we can, to learn what we can, to improve what we can.

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

(Copyright@2019, 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.