LET US PLAY CATCH-UP!!

By William (for wheezingaway.com)

          For a variety of reasons, I stopped authoring my personal story under the title ‘Lenny and Me’ a year and half ago after a very dear friend of 40-plus years died from his battle with COPD.

          It seemed to be the final straw on an extended period of dips in my health.

          In the spring of 2023, I changed pulmonologists because the one collaborating with me for 10 years wanted to continue working on my severe asthma and not gear toward slowing down the COPD.

          Summer of 2023, I was forced to change cardiologists due to a sudden retirement, and in July of 2023 I had a small, minor heart attack – something which resulted in my getting a TAVR replacement aortic valve. Man, did that make a difference.

          In August of 2024, my friend of nearly 45 years, Grant, passed away after a prolonged battle with COPD.

          Grant and I would talk at least once a month during those last eight or nine months of his life. We would laugh and share stories (many of which were the same as we had shared repeatedly before), but it was always an uplifting visit. Grant never let on to me how truly he was suffering, and it caught me off guard when I saw his obituary show up on my social media.

          Eighteen months later and I still miss my friend Grant, but I know I must suck it up and remember to continue a walk of life with an uplifting attitude of gratitude, hope, and faith!! The attitude about life which he carried within his own walk.

          Then came the last few days of March 2025, when I let a personal family situation get to me and I let myself go. Let myself go enough that within ten days I collapsed in my home with a huge exacerbation, complete respiratory failure as well as a physical deconditioning issue that would not allow me to walk.

          I spent 11 days in ICU and Rehab before I came home again. I look back now and realize I may have cheated death again, making it my sixth or seventh time.

          Now creeping up on me will be birthday number 70 in July and I have decided it is time to take on my chronic illnesses and disability head on and use my love of research and writing to get this website of mine back to full steam once again. Something which has not happened in more than two years.

          For those who do not know, I choose to name my chronic illness because it is a constant companion, almost like a twin – always there, always present, sometimes quiet, and serene, other times very intruding and unwilling to cooperate.

          I have also chosen to rename these writes about my own walk with a chronic illness and/or disability from ‘Lenny and Me’ to ‘to “Snaz and I” in memory of my late Uncle Snaz (Hustin to be exact).

          My uncle passed away in April 1999 after suffering a major stroke post heart surgery. My uncle was gruff to some, but for me – he was like a shining star at times the way he always was right there to help our family when needed.

          Uncle Snaz smoked a lot, but when I was around – he always did his best to stay down-wind or move further from me, just to make sure the smoke would not upset my asthma. He knew I had issues while at our family complex in the Black Hills of South Dakota, and he also knew how much I loved being there anyway. He just knew.

          There are times when my coughing up gook from my lungs or blowing out stuff from my sinuses that I realize I sometimes sound just like he did – Uncle Snaz was always clearing his throat, coughing, or messing with his sinuses. When my hair grows out, I have an identical flip in the hair on my forehead, just like the flip Uncle Snaz had.

          So, from now one I will honor him with ‘Snaz and I’ when writing about my dealing with my own walk of life with a chronic illness.

          There, a bit of catch up to why I have not written, though there is more to the story yet to be shared.

          I am and will be making an effort to write a ‘Snaz and I’ twice (maybe three) times a week to share where my walk is, how it is going, and how I am doing physically. I also promise not to make each write as long.

          Until next time, I hope all is well and all is well with all.

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

(Snaz and I for Today is COPYRIGHTED@2026 for wheezingaway.com and CrossDove Writers – no part of this article can be duplicated or shared without written permission.)