Breathing Is Something Many Take for Granted
Reflections on the eleventh anniversary of my lung transplant
The urge to answer the phone was strong.
I knew I had Buckley’s chance of making it in time, but I gave it a crack anyway. I turned off the BiPAP. I clipped the oxygen cord into my prongs. My morning cough arrived with an intensity that left me exhausted. My back ached, my head pounded, and my lungs tried valiantly to suck in just a little more air.
Still, the phone rang. No one leaves a phone ringing this long unless it’s important.
A few breaths later and I was ready to shuffle. The shrill tones of the house phone ended as I took my first step.
Plan B it was.
I shuffled slowly to the kitchen and unplugged my mobile from the charger. I sat, gathering my breath. It was 10 steps back to bed. I could do it. Reluctantly I stood and started, concentrating on one step at a time.
I sat on the edge of the bed, looking at my mobile. What I really wanted was to slip the BiPAP back on. Let the machine take over my breathing. But if I was right, if the first call was important, my mobile would ring any second.
As my hand hovered about the BiPAP, my mobile rang, and it was a phone call that changed my life.
Eleven years on, I no longer wake with the dreaded morning cough. I can breathe without struggling.
Breathing is something many take for granted. Until you can’t breathe anymore. Until you’re sucking in air as hard as possible, yet it still feels like you’ll never catch your breath again.
Every breath I take is sweet and full of promise that another will follow it. Words alone cannot express my gratitude for my donor and her family.
Their decision gave me the opportunity to have a future.
It’s Cystic Fibrosis Awareness month in Australia.
For the last four years, I’ve had a busy May with 31 Days of Cystic Fibrosis. 31 days of exploring my journey, other people’s stories and those impacted by CF. (You can read these snippets on Medium or Facebook),
Between cross-posting on various platforms, writing and chatting to others about their CF journey, it makes life pretty busy. This year I was supposed to take a break. But I couldn’t help myself and wrote two stories about Cystic Fibrosis.
The first, “You’re So Lucky You Have Mild CF” and 5 Other Myths About Cystic Fibrosis explores some common myths about CF.
Read on Vocal.Media or Medium
The second Could Chopin Be the Most Famous Person With Cystic Fibrosis? explores the possibility that the ill-health that plagued Chopin for years may have been CF. For a while, I was up to my eyeballs reading medical and research papers!
Read the full essay on Vocal.Media or Medium
Today is my eleventh transplant anniversary — and it’s also Sixty-Five Roses Day.
Want to make a difference? Sign up to be an organ donor or buy a rose for the virtual rose garden on Sixty Five Roses Day and help improve the lives of people living with Cystic Fibrosis.
Thanks for reading,
Sandi xx
Ways to support my writing habit
🐕Purchase Pepsi the Problem Puppy eBook
✏️ Purchase my Wacky Writing Prompts Journal (perfect for ages 9 -12)
✍️Join Medium using my affiliate link
📖 Read my articles on Vocal.Media.
🥤Buy me a drink on Ko-fi.
Thanks for reading, Sandi xx