One of the things through the years that has kept me from panicking about cancer and scar tissue in my lungs (oh, yeah, I forgot COPD was diagnosed way back when too) was the fact the my blood oxygen levels are consistently at 98%. That is very good. I have my own little fingertip sensor and my Garmin also tracks it. I attribute this to cardio. Plain and simple, I work my lungs.
I got sick a couple of times in the last few years and it really affected my lungs. Suddenly I couldn’t do cardio for more than 30-45 seconds at a time. That was okay, I still kept trying and my levels stayed at 98%. Then all hell broke loose with my hips and shoulder. Running was off the table. So I stopped and didn’t replace it with anything. In the last few months my lungs have felt terrible. Just terrible. It is absolutely a struggle to breathe sometimes. My blood/ox has been stuck between 88%-90% now. Which is still pretty good for someone who has one lung with a big old mass of scar tissue at the top, but I can feel the difference, and I don’t like it. It’s like breathing with a big old cement block on your chest and sometimes I sound terrible.
Talked about it with my husband this weekend and he set my bike back up on the stationary stand. Right now I’m riding till I break a sweat plus a few minutes. I don’t want to overdo it and have my knees and hips be the determining factor again. So I alternate – Treadmill walking with a super high incline and bike every other day. So this is out starting point. We’ll see where the numbers are in a month.
Also, I just reached up and brushed my hair out of my face while I was typing this and HEARD something hit the table. that’s just creepy.
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