RETIRE? I didnt want to retire, but at the age of fifty-five I couldnt breathe anymore. I remember coming home from work one fine fall day and fighting for breath. My wife fed me chicken soup and rubbed my back I could not recline or lay down to sleep. I called in sick and went to the hospital the next day. The nurse had me sit in a booth and blow into a tube, connected to a machine which charted my lung capacity. I went through a chest xray and stress tests. I found out I had Emphysema and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary disease. I wasnt surprised. I smoked for forty years, worked in a dusty environment, inhaled diesel fumes sitting on earth movers for thirty-three years, and sat in smoky bar rooms in my spare time. I forgot to mention the marijuana I smoked in college, so please forgive me. My doctor issued me an Albuterol inhaler and I went back to work chewing nicotine gum. After two months of running my bulldozer, I knew I was finished. My heart was broken. I really loved my job. I wanted to work for at least another seven years and retire at the age of sixty-two. I remember signing the retirement paper work at my union hall and telling my wife: If I can live for just five more years, Ill be happy. Gradually I accepted my fate. My doctor put me on an Advair 250/100 inhaler and that was the fix I needed. It really helped my breathing. I started to enjoy every day. I didnt want to end my days like so many other construction men by sitting in a tavern in the morning and afternoon, smoking cigarettes and watching Jeoparday on tv. I was glad that I quit drinking in 2003, two years before I retired. Instead of being part of the tavern crowd, I joined a gym. I bought new clothes, new glasses, I had my teeth cleaned and fixed. I started taking my wife on vacations, I wrote a journal every day. I started seeing the world as a welcoming place rather than a horrible drudgery. I was free! My pension and disability checks were adequate. I went swimming, I went hiking, I started caring for my home because now I had the time. What started out as being a curse turned into a blessing. Fate actually had dealt me a pretty good hand. Today, Im sixty-five. Im in pretty good shape after having multiple surgeries since I first retired. I threw the inhaler away two years ago. Ive beaten cancer and escaped death a number of times. Im still here. I outlived my prediction of five years. Ive been retired now for ten years. Im very grateful.
Posted on: Tue, 06 Jan 2015 20:50:55 +0000
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