Breathing In Life

The hospital sent me home with oxygen. There is now a machine that sounds like a pulse and a heartbeat in the center of my house.  I drag this cord around and wear this thing all of the time.

My daughter asked me why I didn’t do something sooner. She noticed when I coughed I turned blue.  I told her when I’m hacking up a lung and trying to get air the last thing I do is go to the mirror and say, gee what color am I.  I have been getting little oxygen for months.  I can only hope I have not done permanent damage to my organs.

It is hard getting around. I’m exhausted, as everyone said I would be with pneumonia.  I’m doing my breathing treatments twice a day and trying my best. I’m also on the treadmill still slowly, but I’m committed.

How do I get out and get groceries? I’m so thankful for Amazon Prime Now and Kroger delivery. I’d stick with Amazon Prime now as the delivery cost is in my membership, but they don’t have as many fresh vegetables. It is a bit of a hassle to set it up Kroger delivery, and they do charge money for delivery, but I think everyone should know about this especially those that are sick or elderly.

Back to flesh color,
Pusche

Monday I went to my doctor. I have been coughing for weeks. I mean I would go through these spurts of an uncontrollable cough. It was exhausting. I’m still documenting my oxygen, and on the treadmill, it is often in the low 80’s. (I’m now doing 30 minutes on the treadmill daily.) I woke feeling funny the other night and took my o2 levels and I sware it was in the 60’s, but someone said if that were the case I would be dead.

I didn’t want to go back to the doctors. I knew the drill, antibiotics, and steroids.  When I went to the doctor, she did her thing, examination, and x rays and said, ” I can’t send you home. I’m afraid you might die in your sleep.” That is a little dramatic I know but I sometimes need hard slaps in the face like that.   I want you to go to the hospital emergency room. I’m calling you in right now.”

I asked if I could go home and get clothes and things and she said no. I did anyway.  I called my daughter and told her what the doctor said, and that I planned to admit myself into the nearest hospital to my home. “I’m on my way,”  she said. This surprised me. Not that my daughter is not a caring person, it is just that I have gone through such great extents to do this “strong woman; I can go it alone” thing that I didn’t consider there would be anyone there to do things like this with me. My daughter stayed the duration.

In the hospital, I was probably the healthiest on the wing, or I thought was. One doctor said there were 20 patients on the floor with pneumonia. I can’t help but wonder if it did not have something to do with the Harvey floods and the chemical plant blowing up.

I would not do yoga on a hospital floor, ikkk, but I did do my Dragon Tiger qigong, and I walked the halls every day sometimes twice a day.  They wanted to give me blood thinners because they said: “patients are in bed so long.” So instead I promised to walk. Donning an oxygen tank, which was too heavy for me to pull and walk with, I guess I was weaker than I thought, I walked the halls my daughter walking alongside me for the days that I was weak. I tethered to a machine.

This I know for sure- my vital signs would not have been as good as they were in the hospital had it not been for the lifestyle change that I started a few months ago.  This double pneumonia would have made me old quick.

I spent four days in the hospital. I’m not sure how much this is going to cost me. I meant to look at the insurance policy to investigate other insurances after the divorce, but this year was so crazy with the fire, and the project and the threats from clients that… well, it was not a priority. I have made the decision not to worry about it.  I will thrive and get past it. But for now, I heal.

Healing,
Pusche

I have searched for the best things for my body. I have loved taichi and qigong and have done it before. There is something about the flowing movements of each of these practices that tap into a deeper part of me. As I was trying to decipher what I would learn and commit to I was looking for yoga moves that would help specific areas. I wondered if there was such a thing with tai chi or qigong and came upon medical qigong. In my search Dragon and Tiger kept coming up. When this happens, I find my intuition knows something, and I’m drawn in a certain direction. It is usually a sign to pay attention. I tried to find a medical qigong practitioner in my area that knew Dragon and Tiger Qigong, but I was successful. I liked several things about Dragon and Tiger.

Few moves to learn. Unlike the tai chi long form which has something like 103 -108 moves. Dragon and Tiger Qigong is medical qigong that consists of just seven moves. I liked this. I thought, hey seven moves, I can learn that.

Results no matter how poorly you do it
Several videos said, that even if you don’t do it entirely correct, there are still health benefits. ( Warning, always with Tai chi or Qigong be aware of where your knee is. Don’t move your knee past your ankle.)

You can do Dragon and tiger no matter what your health.
The one video talks about how you can do the moves in bed, or standing. So, I knew I could learn and do this no matter what condition I found my body.

I could not find any good online videos that taught all the moves per say, but I did find this website on the energy arts. I also purchased the book and began to practice it. I hope to have the second edition of this book as I feel it may teach more of the inner meaning of each move.

Practicing Qigong, at first, can feel like rubbing your belly and tapping your head. But I began to get the hang of the moves. Now I do them every morning.  I love this commitment and am excited to have this in my life.

I’m not sure I am moving qi, but I’m getting limber and staying in shape and if there are added benefits then I’m all for that.

These videos do spell it out for anyone that is interested.

Learning and practicing,
Pusche