tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7924439865196022375.post3631313621860935078..comments2024-03-28T03:16:58.351-04:00Comments on A Matter of Life and Breath: Breathing UnderwaterPiperhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01992462169607238118noreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7924439865196022375.post-71998164811003620612009-12-20T23:17:50.213-05:002009-12-20T23:17:50.213-05:00Great post Piper. I'm an avid snorkeler too an...Great post Piper. I'm an avid snorkeler too and hope to pull off a snorkel in 2 weeks but am in the hospital right now. Hopefully it won't be Jamcruise-snorkelgate for me.<br /><br />Keep up there with the posts. They are a joy to read and give me a good laugh as I deal with my progression down a similar path. I'm sending you lots of postive energy for happiness and peace until the new lungs arrive.<br /><br />Breathe well,<br />Steph<br />http://ifpigshadwings.blogspot.com/Stephanie aka PinkPigghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10335686929376267791noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7924439865196022375.post-5180099724000616302009-12-19T01:00:30.505-05:002009-12-19T01:00:30.505-05:00Hey Piper!
I love you post! I have been to Austr...Hey Piper!<br /><br />I love you post! I have been to Australia and been snorkeling... but never snorkeling in Australia ;)<br /><br />However, I think you should be proud of your valiant effort to snorkel! I generally try to avoid it now b/c it is just such a struggle to breathe. But, funny story:<br /><br />While on my honeymoon just this past July, my new husband was so excited to snorkel, I went along with it. After a false 1st start (I was panicking and went back to the beach to rest), I got really far out from the beach and was proud of myself (ok, still struggling, but made it and found rocks to stand on so i could catch my breath...) <br /><br />So, we're out there... and my husband gets stung by a sea urchin in the leg. We knew they were bad and you shouldn't get stung by them, but we didn't know what would actually HAPPEN if you got stung. So, we both decide to swim to shore as quickly as possible to get help. For all we knew, he was going to die in a few minutes! lol. Yea... a few minutes later, he was just about at the shore, and I was only a few feet from where we started... completely out of breath and sure I was going to drown. (What was I thinking trying to swim as fast as I could back to shore when I couldn't breathe in the first place???) The poor guy and his stung leg, had to swim back, drag me to shore, and THEN figure out if his leg was going to fall off. lol.<br /><br />Luckily, he was fine. He had some ink in his calf and a little pain - but it all went away in a few days. And, I gotta admit, I was a little relieved our snorkeling got cut short, and he DID NOT want to snorkel for the rest of the trip :)Kristinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15000769787949254331noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7924439865196022375.post-43908611321122543732009-12-18T08:31:22.669-05:002009-12-18T08:31:22.669-05:00Hi there. I'm a fellow CF-er who is now 8 week...Hi there. I'm a fellow CF-er who is now 8 weeks (today!) post transplant. My blog is willslungs.blogspot.com. Before my transplant I got ill fairly quickly over about a year and a half, which put me on oxygen when walking around and a NIPPV ventilator overnight, but before that I was pretty fit and had always been very active and 'normal'. I also did some ill-advised trips abroad including one where I had to buy myself a flight home from Zanzibar in Africa as I had such a bad infection - don't know how I made it through that flight back...<br />So what's the transplant like for someone used to being kind of ok, pretty active? Well it is very hard at first and you swap a life where you're in control, understand your lungs, feel well most of the time, for one where it is all new - the ribcage creaks and groans, there is a lot of pain, you feel sick, incredibly tired but too uncomfortable to sleep...BUT you can breathe like nothing you've ever known - there are moments of clarity where the pain is under control and you just lie there and BREATHE and it is an intense pleasure. Then you get on an exercise bike and laugh at the fact your legs hurt and you aren't even slightly out of breath. So the start is really hard, but 8 weeks in, I feel pretty much completely human and my life is already much better. There is no cough, no physio, no sputum. I can walk as far as I like, I'm about to start riding a bike. The pills are many and varied and a bit grim, but really it is great. So have courage and good luck!Will Cramerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14508088975549500412noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7924439865196022375.post-27147723056350641532009-12-17T23:04:07.484-05:002009-12-17T23:04:07.484-05:00Oh, forgot to mention the Barracuda's - GIANT ...Oh, forgot to mention the Barracuda's - GIANT HUGE ONES - in some of the underwater canyons. You never saw a bunch of kids swim so fast to the boat! LOL. The snorkeling was fabulous. I remember swimming along with the rays.Juliet Pagenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7924439865196022375.post-85830926094162758572009-12-17T23:02:22.257-05:002009-12-17T23:02:22.257-05:00Awesome Piper! Some of my favorite memories of su...Awesome Piper! Some of my favorite memories of summer vacation were down in the Florida Keys back in the 1970s as a kid... sailing on my Aunt's yacht between Islands with my family and my cousins family.<br /><br />Hey, have you thought about getting a fish tank!?!? :)Juliet Pagenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7924439865196022375.post-67985906942335714872009-12-17T19:16:13.583-05:002009-12-17T19:16:13.583-05:00I love lights too! There is just something about ...I love lights too! There is just something about all that LIFE that makes you feel awesome!<br /><br />Can't wait till you get new lungs! I want to see pictures of these fabulously bright fish :)Amyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12354849302798817593noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7924439865196022375.post-30771496284500489762009-12-17T12:34:42.096-05:002009-12-17T12:34:42.096-05:00You will be swimming CIRCLES around those fish whi...You will be swimming CIRCLES around those fish while you snorkel!!! <br /><br />Mike and I went snorkeling in Mexico for his brother's wedding.. pre-tx.. Mike had to literally drag me around the ocean b/c I just didn't have the breath or strength to do it myself. <br /><br />New lungs change EVERYTHING!<br /><br />So excited for you, Cyster!!!!OceanDeserthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03047791019620622430noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7924439865196022375.post-79836273506228576932009-12-17T06:30:06.578-05:002009-12-17T06:30:06.578-05:00I loved this post for so many reasons. However my ...I loved this post for so many reasons. However my FAVORITE is that I have the same love for lights at night! In Vegas I was in awe of them! Nothing like how they glitter in the night sky. Cool that someone else has the same love of this :) And YES COLORED lights are a MUST in our house too!Jesshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09807996961815741329noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7924439865196022375.post-77865709950749271592009-12-17T02:48:54.607-05:002009-12-17T02:48:54.607-05:00Ok, I know what we have to do! Let's find you ...Ok, I know what we have to do! Let's find you a glittery and shiny fish that tastes like candy!!!! I just KNOW there's something like that out there somewhere :)<br /><br />RonnieAnonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06849674714471543078noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7924439865196022375.post-5385822832961240502009-12-17T02:23:01.024-05:002009-12-17T02:23:01.024-05:00I am a self-proclaimed magpie who only allows colo...I am a self-proclaimed magpie who only allows colored light trees (in fact I FB posted about this tonight!)... and I too have floated on noodles while watching fish and hoping I wouldn't hork in a snorkel mask...<br /><br />Though I haven't been to Australia. I'm fairly sure that discounts the creepy feeling that I wrote this!Princess Talanahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06082094751775447984noreply@blogger.com