TRAVEL TROUBLES!!

By Mr. William

            I grew up going to the Black Hills every summer to see my grandparents and then in 1969 to develop the property my parents bought within the Black Hills National Forest itself.

            One thing I do remember as a kid though was the fact that while I loved the Black Hills, the Black Hills did not necessarily seem to love me in return as I remember many summers fighting my asthma nearly every day. I even recall that not one single trip that lasted more than three weeks did we ever get through our stay without having me take a trip to an emergency room in Rapid City for an epinephrine shot so I could breath. This was especially true if the weather had been really wet and maybe the creek on the property had risen and fallen, leaving behind who know what.

            So, as I made plans to migrate to the Black Hills for a weekend celebration of 50 years since we began work on the property, I knew to plan for issues.

            I made sure that as much as I wanted to stay at the family cottage, it would be best for me to stay in a motel where I could have more control over the climate I was staying in overnight. With that we found a wonderful little place on the edge of Hill City called the Lantern Inn – wonderful people, rustic but modern room and a well working air conditioner.

            Leading up to the weekend celebration, the weather at the cottage has been very, very wet. In fact, five weeks before the celebration there was so much water in the creek that the bridge that gives us access to the property was under water.

            That fact alone made me realize that my chances of having a good weekend may be in jeopardy, and I was right.

            Once we arrived on Friday it seemed as if the whole weekend rolled down hill in a bad way almost immediately.

            For whatever reasons, my oxygen levels bottomed out and at one point after just walking back to the car from the cottage (a walk of maybe 20 yards at the most), my oxygen dipped as low as 75 before immediately bouncing back to 88-89 but it really struggled to cross over to 90 or 91.

            That is the way it was for the two days we were there, it was a constant struggle to keep my oxygen at 90 or above, and for those who fight this fight with COPD/Asthma know that makes your whole body feel like you’ve been running a marathon.

            What was causing my issues – I am not truly sure.

            Was the elevation of Hill City (approximately 5,200 feet)?

Was it the moss, mildew and mold left behind from when the water went down in the creek?           

Was it the anxiety I had worrying about having issues when I was there?

Was it something I ate (I doubt it as I really watch what I eat)?

            Many questions, not a whole lot of answers. All I knew was that all of my plans were going astray and this meant that it messed up my time at the family celebration.

            I only spent a couple of hours at the cottage on Friday and stuck around for up to five hours on Saturday as it seemed to be a good day for my lungs, even though I was still struggling to get the oxygen above 90.

            My Mom used to call me her human barometer and on Sunday I would have made her proud as I felt miserable when I woke up, only to discover a new weather front came through over night and everything was all wet by the hotel.

            I was so miserable on Sunday that we just stopped by the family cottage to say goodbye to everyone. I was so pissed because we were going to have a family church service complete with the baptism of my newest great-nephew, a baptism that was to come from his great-grandfather (my father)!! 

            Funny thing, how much better I seemed to feel by the time we started cruising southbound on Highway 79 just east of Rapid City.

            So yes, I had ‘Travel Troubles’ and concluded that as much as I love the Black Hills and the family cottage, for whatever reasons the feeling is not working out to be very mutual.

            Remember, I will see you on the internet and Facebook – especially if you choose to keep up on all my postings that deal with COPD and severe Asthma at wheezingaway.com or https://www.facebook.com/copdtravels/.

            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.