Still Breathing ...

Today I start my 5^th week of self isolation. It is not easy, but attacking all those small household projects that I never seemed to have time for prior to the pandemic has helped a lot. I try to do one every day. It keeps me busy and there are other benefits too. I find useful things that have been stored away for years. The item pictured here is a good example:

It is an incentive spirometer and is used to help open the airways. I had completely forgotten I had this and, after I thoroughly cleaned it I decided to test myself. I put my lips around the flexible tube and took a long, slow & deep breath in. As I did so the piston inside the large column moved up registering my lung capacity. I was surprised to see that I could barely get it to the 1000 mark. This really annoyed me but it scared me too. I realized that I did not have the lung capacity that I had just 4 years ago. It was a wake up call for me to take some action.

I decided to put the spirometer in the one place where I couldn’t help but see it … right here on my desk, next to my computer ! Now I use it as often as I can every day. There is a little arrow attached to the big tube and I can set it to the number that I’ve reached. This is my reminder of how high I have been able to raise the piston with my breaths and I strive each time to get it a little higher.

I’m happy to report that I can see real progress in the three weeks that I’ve been using this and I plan to keep on doing it. (I’m over the 1500 mark and hope to get even higher !)