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BREATHE
After six decades of ease with this essential bodily function, I hit a few roadblocks
Shortly after moving from Missoula, Montana (3,200 feet) to Albuquerque , New Mexico (5,300 feet), I began to experience shortness of breath. When hiking briskly in the nearby mountains, I experienced some chest pain and lightheadedness — and in my late fifties, I was concerned. Was it my heart? A visit to a doctor and some blood-work revealed that I was severely anemic, something I wouldn’t have suspected at my age. (Having had a hysterectomy at 43, I’d had no active source of bleeding, for decades.) Tests showed that I was also low in vitamin B12, even though I took supplements regularly — but when I increased my supplements of iron and Vitamin B12, my symptoms quickly resolved, and I was grateful.
Fast forward to a new year, which brought the onset of Covid. I mostly laid low, freelance writing and taking my dogs for walks in Petroglyphs National Monument, which is close to my home. Then, in October, 2019, I caught a terrible respiratory infection following air travel — possibly Covid — and it led to bronchial pneumonia. When, after treatment with antibiotics, steroids, and the regular use of an inhaler, my symptoms persisted, I was told that I probably had the early stages of COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease — which includes diseases like…
