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.
First published in, Sandi’s Stories. New newsletter subscribers get access to all my cool ramblings PLUS a free copy of The Last Walk & Other Stories — a collection of five short stories.
May is the national Cystic Fibrosis (CF) awareness month in Australia. Buy a rose for the virtual rose garden on Sixty Five Roses Day and help improve the lives of people living with Cystic Fibrosis.
Sandi Parsons is a Cystic Fibrosis Warrior who has defied statistics since 1972. She lives with her favorite husband and two problem puppies. Her superpower is the ability to swallow twenty-seven tablets at once.
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