EPILOGUE - RANDOM ACTS OF KINDNESS

Today I feel compelled to write an addendum to my previous post, RANDOM ACTS OF KINDNESS. Sometimes the words I choose convey an attitude or feeling which I did not intend.

Briefly I had helped a gentleman, with more extreme shortenss of breath than I, access our hospital when the parking lot shuttle was not available. I carried him in my car to the entrance and then I had to walk from a remote parking area with uphill grade, which caused extreme shortness of breath myself. This scenario was complicated by bitterly cold wind, a nemesis to persons with lung/breathing deficiencies.

Two days later my deteriorating breathing had become more severe, so I made the decision I needed emergency help and went to the area emergency facility at 10 p.m. that evening..

My post upon reflection sounded a tad whiney that the result of my helping another soul perhaps caused me to incur the E.R. trip even though I would certainly do it again in a minute.

The E.R. trip was a blessing as I learned I needed to have my COPD/chronic bronchitis/asthma conditions re-evaluated, and that the source of my continued shortness of breath after a heart procedure, is my lungs, not my heart.

A few phone calls, and I am being setup for a better treatment regimen involving nebulization which reaches deeper into the lungs, which I discovered while in E.R.

Then, when my dearest friend finishes her breast cancer radiation treatments and makes an appointment with our asthma/allergy physician around March, I will also will set up an appointment for re-evaluation and assessment. It has been quite awhile since my condition has be more closely assessed.

Changing medications or changing the mode of delivery into the body often is a simple solution. Also, after a long period of time, the body may ignore a routine medicine, the intended effect fades, and a sugar pill is just as effective. I've been on 5 different hypertensive drugs since 1991 when I was first diagnosed with hypertension.

Therefore I view my emergency room visit a definite plus, a blessing in disguise. Even though I travel to specialists in Arkansas and Missouri, I am thankful that we have a regional hospital in our somewhat remote rural Ozarks, which offers services not often available in similar settings. We also subscribe to an Emergency Heliocopter service which can airlift us to various metroplexes with specialized facilities -- a PLUS in our area, too!