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Canadian Thanksgiving Reminds Me to Be Grateful
I am officially home from Hawaii and despite the jet lag, restless legs and stiffness that has come from a 13+ hour plane ride, I am extremely grateful for the vacation I just had. Seems like a perfect time for reflection on being thankful and gratitude, as this weekend is our Canadian Thanksgiving. Sometimes it can be difficult to find things to be grateful for when living with such a debilitating, progressive and chronic lung condition, such as idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF). However, I am a firm believer in everyone having something to be thankful for.
As a result, I challenge you to think of something(s) you’re grateful for and share them with the forums. Here are some of the things I am most thankful for, which get me through life with this cruel illness:
a) this forums “family”/community — you are all so generous in your sharing of experiences, stories and vulnerabilities in order to benefit and help others, which takes a lot of courage. I am grateful for this platform offering all of us such support!
b) my friends and family — I wouldn’t have gotten to Hawaii safely without them, including my friend who accompanied me for half the trip and supported my physical needs while on vacation. Life can change in an instant, and I never want to take them for granted.
c) portable oxygen — what a great invention!
d) my dog — while not officially a service animal, I don’t know what I’d do without the emotional support my dog provides for me.
Happy Thanksgiving to all of our Canadian members, may this weekend bring you rest, rejuvenation and a reminder that there are things to be thankful for, even when it may not feel like it.
Charlene!
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7 Replies
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And a happy thanksgiving to you young lady ,
so good to hear that your holiday was what you wanted and needed it to be .
thankfullness where do you start and where does it end ? For me it starts with God , with out him I would not have the attitude I do .
of course family and friends , if you knew my family you would realize why we need to be studied !
Im still that happy man yo met awhile ago on this forum , I still my best to power through these stages of ipf .
But I do have to say I’m thankful every day I wake up , your friendship !
I still have one question how do we let everybody know when things are getting bad for all in our community ?
Charlene glad to have you home , your friend Chuck
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Hi Chuck,
So nice to hear from you, thanks so much for writing! My Thanksgiving was lovely, it was so nice to share stories of my trip with friends and family while I was at home for the long weekend. You’re so kind to send good wishes for the Canadian Thanksgiving!
I also hang on tightly to gratitude and my reasons to wake up in the morning… friends & family. Glad we were connected through these forums.
In terms of letting folks know when things get bad for each of us, that is a good question. Not one we want to think about but unfortunately, one that is important. Can you think of a way to do this? Does anyone have a good idea for this? It may be through personal emailing instead of on the forums but I’m not sure who would be responsible for this among the chaos of physical decline. I’m open to hearing thoughts/suggestions?
Charlene.
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@charlene-marshall
Hi Charlene,
Belated welcome home. I am so happy to hear how much you enjoyed your trip, a once in a lifetime adventure. May there be many more! Hi to your dog – they are great at intuition when needed. – Steve
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Hi @steve-dragoo,
Thank you so much my friend! It truly was an incredible trip, filled with so many serendipitous moments that led to amazing things. I swam with so much marine life that my heart was so happy: whales, dolphins, sea turtles and incredible tropical fish! No sharks 😉
It really was my once in a lifetime trip! Once I get my computer, camera and phone sorted out with all the photos organized, I will send you more or post them here. Hard to be home in the rainy, cold fall weather now. How are things with you? Think of you often!
Sincerely,
Charlene. -
@charlene-marshall
So very happy your heart is happy. Being the Spiritual person I am, I know someday we can say our hearts are happy every day and it didn’t run up my credit card(s)!
It is now safe to watch “47 Meters Down”…
I look forward to your pics. Did you sue a GoPro or other watertight camera?
Steve
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Hi my friend @steve-dragoo,
So nice to hear from you! Do the Philippines celebrate Halloween? I am just enjoying a Halloween movie while replying to some forum posts. I don’t really like Halloween that much but enjoy the festive movies. I can’t wait to start watching holiday/Christmas movies 🙂
My heart is happy from Hawaii, for sure. I am missing it though and the dreary cold weather here now is a bit bothersome to my lungs. I find I am a lot more tired and short of breath. How are you doing?
Good news: I am officially going to Texas next week for the PFF Summit and look forward to sharing my learnings with everyone through some future forum posts and columns. Oh! I’ll send you some pictures via email right now…. sorry I’d forgotten to do that.
Cheers,
Charlene.-
@charlene-marshall
Hi Charlene,
Yes, they have halloween on Nov 1 though and this is a very poor country. In 2016, and 2017 no one knocked on our gate and we live in the city. Giving food here is more of a necessity than a luxury for almost all Filipinos. We don’t celebrate that day however as it is a pagan holiday and this world is already dark enough.
Doing ok is a matter of perspective. We have had 3 serious earthquakes all in the same area about 220K south of us – (6.3, 6.5. and 6.8) in the past 2 weeks with hundreds of aftershocks, some of them over 4 up to 4.8. But the good news is post-Wei 9.5 weeks and doing good. We went for a long walk this morning and stopped at 2 local bakeries (I have to replace those lost calories somehow!) then later went shopping all in a very humid 37c weather as we enter the rainy season. I still have not used any O2 since returning here 5 months ago already and I credit Wei, laser, serrapeptase, nattokinase, lemon water, (Kona – oh wait don’t have that one) uh B complex and reuniting with my wife. Mostly reuniting with my wife and Wei, however.
I am glad your heart is happy as that seems like half the battle some days and it is exciting to go meet and greet like-minded professionals in a warmer climate for you. – Maybe you lose your return plane ticket down there. Where in TX?
You should share your Hawaii experience with them because the way I see it if we are only going to be physically able for a while longer money is no longer so important…
Stay well – Steve
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