Taking things for granted...

So many things we never stop to think about until they are in jeopardy.  We are all guilty...we're human.  It isn't intentional...it's just life.

Recently I encountered just this.

One day...my breathing just suddenly was wrecked.  Suddenly I was fighting for every breath...shallow, hurried, laborious breathing overcame my body and what's worse is I didn't know why.

Suddenly my rescue inhaler wasn't working 2, 4 or 6 puffs at a time...no relief.

Suddenly every move I made sent my lungs gasping for oxygen and my chest felt heavy and my throat felt as tho it was closing.  I wish I could say it was something I did, but I believe divine intervention is the only thing that kept me from having a complete panic attack on multiple occasions as I fought to do something as simple as breathe.

For days I fought to breathe.  I nearly emptied a new inhaler in less than a week, was using the nebulizer every 4 hours, blowing up on Prednisone and slurping down Mucinex all in an effort to try and return my breathing to something more normal and less laborious.

Finally, on the 10th day relief shows it face and I realize the moment I rise from my bed and begin to move that today is different...today I am not out of the woods, but I am breathing better than I have in over a week.

I have never really thought about my breathing until it was in jeopardy.  I never considered how my life would change if this ONE process wasn't performing optimally.  I never gave a thought to be thankful just to be able to breathe.

Today, I am grateful that I am breathing better, and it makes me think of all the work our bodies do seemingly on autopilot that we never consider.

I am more thankful than ever for every breath moving forward.

Lesson learned.