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Yeppers............. everyone, thanks for all your kind comments.
Life is changing for me... I go to Walmart now and I have to ride a card cause I don't have the wind to walk through the store. People older than I look at me kinda funny.
I'm on ADVAIR puffer and it helps a little bit. I hope I don't have to go on OXYGEN and tote one of those masks and tanks around all the time, but I am so short-winded. I can't hold out hardly to even cook a meal without sitting down at least 3 or 4 times as I am preparing it.
SMOKING WILL KILL YOU.................... I knew it and smoked anyway. We pay for our stupidity.
Thanks, Guys/Gals
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Ray,
It saddens me to hear you are having such a rough go of it. Best wishes from my home to yours and of course I will pray that the man upstairs lightens your load.
Later,
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ray, i smoked for 20 years and was up to 3 packs a day when i quit cold turkey. it was the hardest thing i have ever done. i quit in '73 and have never felt better. smoking contributed to my stroke, i'm sure. to tame the tactile impulse i carried chewing gum in my breast pocket where i had carried my smokes. that helped but food started to taste good again and i soon gained 60 pounds. so i had a new obsession to overcome. watch out for that.
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Ray:
Good to hear from you again - I kept one of your midis, and when I play it in Pianoteq you sound better than ever. Should I e-mail an mp3 to you?
Wouldn't mind some more - your playing is nice to listen to.
Glenn
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Prayers goin' up, bro.
Take it easy, take yer time.
--Mac
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I am sorry to hear that. I know how terrible it is not to be able to breath. I had surgery and one of my lungs has not come back to its normal copacity. Something that has helped me alot is walking. When I first started walking I could not hardly make it to the end of my street. I just kept adding a little bit more every week. It has helped my lung alot. I hope this helps!
My TunesPsalm 57:7 My heart, O God, is steadfast, my heart is steadfast; I will sing and make music.
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Hi Ray. I didn't know about your health issue. I've been away from here for so long I lost track. I quit smoking in '74, on the stage, no less. I'd been sick for 2 weeks and couldn't even stand to go to the club to play much less smoke. When I was over it and went back to work I bought a pack of cigs. They had jumped from 35¢ a pack to 65¢ a pack that very day. I bought Pall Mall king without filters. Yeh I was a tough guy. For some strange reason that night they turned all the lights on in the place. I looked down and my pants were covered with ashes. They were all over my feet. My guitar neck was burnt from putting butts in the neck strings. My fingers were yellow. Suddenly I pictured those fat cats in Virginia laughing at me and pulling money out of my pocket. I went ballistic. I handed the pack over to the bass player and told him to keep 'em. I've never smoked since nor had a desire to. I already enjoyed food and was gaining weight before I stopped smoking.  So I had to learn how to eat in moderation. If you can visualize those fat cats sitting on your chest and holding you down and laughing at you while pulling the money out of your pocket, then chances are you will be affected the same way I was. Vengence is sweet. I like to visualise them all sitting there, crying and broke. 
Russ Anyday above ground is a good day Computer is Hp Pavillion Vision 6 Ghz quad core AMD processor 8 Gig memory 1 TB hard drive 6 GB hard drive Windows 7 Premium Loose nut behind the keyboard 
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You will get better now. Not smoking will help as time goes by. When I retired 17 years ago I could not go a flight of stairs without stopping to rest. Now I can go 6 flights without stopping. It was not smoking for me. I quit in my 20's it was the dirt, dust, and welding fumes of construction. After years of retirement my lungs cleared just by being out of that environment.
I use a cart too Ray and feel like you do when people look at me. Especially when the day before I mixed 20-80 Lb bags of concrete in a wheelbarrow to pour a sidewalk. I use a cart because of my knee and only when I am out where I have to walk all day. Get a doctor you like.
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When I first got out of the hospital after all that surgery awhile back, the wife took me on an excursion to a WalMart.
For the first time in my life I decided it would be better to try one of those little scooters.
Well, everything I wanted to put in the cart turned out to be way up on the higher shelves in the WalMart grocery section.
Couldn't even see the labels from way down there.
Was too proud to ask other folks to help me, I guess, or maybe too timid, so I started doing the Jack-in-the-Box thing, getting in and out of the cart to see the top shelves and select things.
Turns out that darn cart ended up giving more excercise than if I had just stayed on my feet.
Besides that, you put handlebars in front of me and this old biker gotta try to grab the tank with the knees, put the center of G on the pegs and I gotta LEAN to turn. heh
--Mac
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Quote:
For the first time in my life I decided it would be better to try one of those little scooters.
I identify with that. Been there and done that and hopefully not again.
Don S.
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Good to see you Ray......been missing your presence here. Sorry to hear about the health issues, been there as well. After a liver transplant, went from wheelchair, to walker, to walking stick, to nuttin in about 6 mo or less. Docs kept telling me to slow down, but I just couldn't do that......when you've looked at death real close, you want to live life as much as you can, even if it kills ya..........
Keep hanging in there buddy, and whatever you do don't give up or quit trying.
Rob
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Just do it a little bit at a time, my friend, don't push it, you may have to start with an every-other-day regimen, but keep at it.
A little at a time.
Like practicing the piano, it is the repetition that gets it.
--Mac
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Great to see you Ray !!
You can do it brother, I have faith in you.
Trax
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ray, you don't have to run a marathon, just a few yards to start then build from there. use your walker if it helps you feel more secure. plan your route between places to sit down to rest. they have inexpensive (under $100) walkers with locking hand brakes and a seat so you can sit down to rest. you should be able to get one through medicare with your doctor/physical therapist's prescription. keep us posted and all the best to you. here's one: http://www.nextag.com/Drive-Cleaver-Lite-Walker-534986680/prices-html
Last edited by Don Gaynor; 09/04/09 06:35 PM.
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Go for it, Ray! Get movin' man! We take no prisoners here on the forum and we need your input. 
Follow That Dream Sam Karaoke King -------------------- Turning that corner again - I have to keep following that dream, no matter what
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Wow.............. did I make things sound that bad? Don, I don't have a walker................ yet.............. Moreover, I'm not on Medicare yet-----------I'm 62. But there are times I would gladly give $$$$$$$ for a tank of oxygen!!!
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Quote:
...will be difficult, cause I'm already short of breath, and ARTHURitis is getting so bad........ and I have fluid in my feet.... they are swollen a bit and I sometimes wear compression hose on my feet and legs to help compress out the fluid. Sheesh! I'm falling apart here.
i had compression hose for bad edema in my calves and feet but it proved to be an adverse side effect from lipitor and zocor, meds for cholesterol and high bp.
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Dear Ray:
I may not be a Christer like yourself -- 40 years as a physician has drove it outa me -- but I would instead pray for you to the Gods of science, and evolutionary adaptation (aka wisdom of the body, healing potential).
I myself smoked 1-2 packs for almost 40 years, and quit a few years ago, with the assistance of Nicotine gum, and Wellbutrin (an antidepressant repackaged as Zocar for smokers). And, lest I forget, exercise.
It worked -- I never thought I could quit. But don't be in any big hurry for restoration of your wind... it takes years, and, as several others have suggested, serious regular activity, as tolerated. But it works. I am taking long hikes and bike rides, and running a few (slow) 5k runs.
I am still profiting from your Mix/Master tutorials. Hope you can find energy to keep working on these -- they are helping a lot of us.
Be well,
Brad.
Last edited by Brallan; 09/04/09 11:00 PM.
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Hi Ray
The Doc is right,as you know I also have COPD,but it is'nt so bad,yet.
I quit smoking years ago and it is correct,the exercise does help,and although you won't feel any benefit
at the start,it will get easier to breathe.I know It works for me.
My Doc used to say I had done more than medicine could do, just by stopping smoking.
Three steps forward one back and you WILL get there.Each time you feel breathless,stop and rest
until you recover,then carry on.
And yes,you are supposed to feel breathless,the idea is to make the heart and lungs work.
Sorry for preaching at you,do these things and you can feel better,promise.
Alan
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