After surgery, I slowly started back at my past life of jewelry making and happily the custom orders started coming in. I am now back where I was prior to surgery (with my jewelry). I have approximately 4 custom orders waiting in the wings and I am about to start gathering the parts for my next one now.
I just finished two custom jobs and got them both shipped in one week. Both recipients are very happy. I really get great feelings of accomplishment each time I finish a piece, especially now, considering all that I have gone through.
As far as my surgery, now 3 month past, I am doing very well, and I continue to go to the Pulmonary and Cardiovascular gym to work out 2x per week, and I plan to continue this for the future. Yes, the future, no end time. It keeps me healthier, especially when one considers that jewelry is done pretty much in a sitting position. So for me, my workouts are now a part of life, and that's OK because without them I may not have much of a life at all, had I not gone to Pulmonary Rehab & LVRS. I dare say my quality of life would be very poor.
I rarely use any oxygen at home now, though I do use it when I work out mainly to feed my brain the good oxygenated blood, a very important thing, however I do turn it off during chair yoga, unless I feel the need to use it, which is rare. Chair yoga has been one of the surprises and awareness giving tools for me. I have learned some breathing exercises for lung capacity, that when used one can visibly watch the O2 saturation rise during the techniques!
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So my plans today, I went shopping for some birthday presents, that I will now wrap, and then I'll bake a cake. Tomorrow, the birthday will happen, complete with our daughter's chosen birthday meal of BBQ'd hot dogs, which we will spiral cut as a surprise to her. She'll have a mound of presents to open, chocolate cake with white icing (another item of her choice), and then it is outside for fireworks!
Fireworks are a biggie for me, because in the past several years, while I like fireworks I could not stand to sit outside and endure the smoke. The lung pain of not breathing well did not bode well with me (I did not go on oxygen until last August, so I was still dragging my sorry butt everywhere, in pain and gasping for breath at the same time). It is hard to maintain any semblance of a normal lifestyle when one cannot breathe; everything changes. So this year is a real celebration! I will of course take heed of any smoke since I do not want to repeat the damaging effects on my lungs. Now you know why I have been so remiss on this blog.... I am free! I am mobile! And I run out of time each day! Ok, the eggs are now at room temperature so it is time to make cake! As we say in chair yoga each week: Ohmmmmm...... Namaste.
