Daily Walking -- Part 2

[BonzaiDuck]

So we continue this saga -- a sort of journal for progressive walking experiences -- under the burden of my COPD, legacy of some 55 pack-years of cigarette abuse.

I haven't missed a day since last Sunday. I'm beginning to suspect that the CDC recommendations for seniors, that they walk for exercise at least 150 minutes per week or a mile per day, is a bit -- shall we say? -- "Namby Pamby".

Today, I thought to skip a day and the mile. I visited friends in Oceanside, with plans to drive to the waterfront and have fish and chips or fried shrimp with beer at one of the eateries there. We had done this after my mother's death -- end of 2023. I remember it. I remember where we parked my friend's vehicle, which was where we parked today. Back in 2023, I struggled to walk the distance from the car to the restaurant, or otherwise keep up with my hosts. Today -- call it "easy-peasy".

Checked my cellphone when we returned to my friend's house, and the walking at the waterfront totaled 0.90 miles. So I really didn't skip anything.

My friend showed me his cellphone, and this morning before I arrived in my visit, he had walked some four miles. Of course, Jeff doesn't have COPD. Jeff never smoked a pack per day for 55 years. Jeff is healthy and about 7 years younger than I.

But -- and so it is -- that I've decided to try and double my daily walking distance. I have people giving me great cautions: "Oh! Don't over-tax yourself! Start out by adding a quarter mile!"

And -- this is nonsense. I've done it before. I need to take a 20-minute break before resuming the second mile -- that's all.

I've been off my Trelegy inhaler for a week now. Jeff and his wife remarked today that I had not expectorated or otherwise coughed up sputum since I first arrived at the house, and only upon a point long into our conversation at 3:30 PM in the afternoon. In other words, as second-hand experience, they noticed that my lungs were much clearer. Of course. Long conversation usually ends with a need to cough up a little sputum, or otherwise clear my throat.

I have got better! I want to see how it goes tomorrow morning when the temperature here in So-Cal may only be 60F. So I add another hour to my walking time on Sunday.

 

[pete6032]

So we continue this saga -- a sort of journal for progressive walking experiences -- under the burden of my COPD, legacy of some 55 pack-years of cigarette abuse.

I haven't missed a day since last Sunday. I'm beginning to suspect that the CDC recommendations for seniors, that they walk for exercise at least 150 minutes per week or a mile per day, is a bit -- shall we say? -- "Namby Pamby".

Today, I thought to skip a day and the mile. I visited friends in Oceanside, with plans to drive to the waterfront and have fish and chips or fried shrimp with beer at one of the eateries there. We had done this after my mother's death -- end of 2023. I remember it. I remember where we parked my friend's vehicle, which was where we parked today. Back in 2023, I struggled to walk the distance from the car to the restaurant, or otherwise keep up with my hosts. Today -- call it "easy-peasy".

Checked my cellphone when we returned to my friend's house, and the walking at the waterfront totaled 0.90 miles. So I really didn't skip anything.

My friend showed me his cellphone, and this morning before I arrived in my visit, he had walked some four miles. Of course, Jeff doesn't have COPD. Jeff never smoked a pack per day for 55 years. Jeff is healthy and about 7 years younger than I.

But -- and so it is -- that I've decided to try and double my daily walking distance. I have people giving me great cautions: "Oh! Don't over-tax yourself! Start out by adding a quarter mile!"

And -- this is nonsense. I've done it before. I need to take a 20-minute break before resuming the second mile -- that's all.

I've been off my Trelegy inhaler for a week now. Jeff and his wife remarked today that I had not expectorated or otherwise coughed up sputum since I first arrived at the house, and only upon a point long into our conversation at 3:30 PM in the afternoon. In other words, as second-hand experience, they noticed that my lungs were much clearer. Of course. Long conversation usually ends with a need to cough up a little sputum, or otherwise clear my throat.

I have got better! I want to see how it goes tomorrow morning when the temperature here in So-Cal may only be 60F. So I add another hour to my walking time on Sunday.

Do you have any grandkids?

 

[BonzaiDuck]

Do you have any grandkids?

No. I don't. I only have my brother -- with his wife -- about 5 years younger than I, and my cousin (now in Florida) who is about 64. First, out of curiosity, I ask you to expand the thoughts behind your question. Second, just reading your question raises slightly my ongoing sense of anxiety over the question "what shall become of me?"

While my health seems to be improving -- kidneys, blood pressure, lung function -- the future seems uncertain now that I've experienced the years 2014 through 2023 watching my dear Moms slowly decline, from the time I had to take over her finances, to her becoming totally bedbound by early 2021, and then her decline through her death in October 2023. Right now, I am as old as Moms was in 2003. Half my genes are different from hers, so expecting her pattern of decline is itself a matter of uncertainty.

I'm going to get an appointment with the County Office on Aging here. I've been assured that they have social-work counselors who can assist seniors in managing their affairs in preparing for the time when they need the care of others. That is, they may better advise me about some time when I must liquidate my real-estate and arrange for some sort of assisted care or long-term care.

I once met a guy at the grocery store who told me he was Ukrainian -- after I was astounded at his age of 92. He seemed perfectly healthy, lucid, able to drive himself to and from the grocery. But reaching his age is 14 years in the future for me. I could be dead in five years, with no worries at that time about long-term care or anything else.

 

[pete6032]

No. I don't. I only have my brother -- with his wife -- about 5 years younger than I, and my cousin (now in Florida) who is about 64. First, out of curiosity, I ask you to expand the thoughts behind your question. Second, just reading your question raises slightly my ongoing sense of anxiety over the question "what shall become of me?"

I have thought a lot about, as you age, being healthy becomes more about making sure you can be around for as long as possible for your family, and being around for your own personal longevity becomes secondary. As a parent I see grandparents that are affected by poor health that will not get to see their grand kids grow up and for me that is heartbreaking.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

I have thought a lot about, as you age, being healthy becomes more about making sure you can be around for as long as possible for your family, and being around for your own personal longevity becomes secondary. As a parent I see grandparents that are affected by poor health that will not get to see their grand kids grow up and for me that is heartbreaking.

For me, there are no "young people" -- for which I blame myself, but these were all choices I made for being obsessively focused on career success regardless of the limitations that merely existed along with it. I wasn't going to just accept those limitations and focus on other things, so I threw away the opportunities for those other things.

Having people around you or close by, keeps your mind from wandering into this morass of anxiety about the future. I don't have that sort of people or family nearby any more. You would probably agree: it's a good idea to talk to a social-work pro at the local county office, and perhaps my trust attorney -- sooner than later, anyway.

Part of my problem, but more generally an aspect for many, is how the "extended" family has declined. We grow up and we scatter to other places. We don't believe that we're "abandoning" our aging relatives because they live in a house that is paid for, get their retirement and SS and have good health insurance. But at minimum, they may grow lonely. And that's not very good, either.

I could feel sorry that I think I missed children and grandchildren because "nobody to take care of me", but these are all consequences of how I lived my life. I see others who have grandchildren and I realize what I've missed in the more selfless aspects of the matter. I wasn't thinking of that when I was burning my candle at both ends during my 30s and 40s.

I have more confidence on days when I've completed my walking regimen. Feeling healthier, being healthier and so on.

 

[pete6032]

For me, there are no "young people" -- for which I blame myself, but these were all choices I made for being obsessively focused on career success regardless of the limitations that merely existed along with it. I wasn't going to just accept those limitations and focus on other things, so I threw away the opportunities for those other things.

Having people around you or close by, keeps your mind from wandering into this morass of anxiety about the future. I don't have that sort of people or family nearby any more. You would probably agree: it's a good idea to talk to a social-work pro at the local county office, and perhaps my trust attorney -- sooner than later, anyway.

Do you like animals? Would you consider volunteering at an animal shelter to walk and play with dogs?

 

[BonzaiDuck]

Do you like animals? Would you consider volunteering at an animal shelter to walk and play with dogs?

I think that's "in the cards." I've been trying to wrap my brain around actually having a pet here at home, but I worry about growing neglectful, managing the dog poop and other aspects.

But I might arrange to do what you describe. My college chum in Albuquerque was volunteering as you say, and picked a German Shepherd pup -- 1+ years -- to adopt. He's got a fenced-in backyard. I don't know how people up here in the hill manage, with their town-home condominiums and limited grounds. But it works for my friend in ABQ.

 

[pete6032]

I think that's "in the cards." I've been trying to wrap my brain around actually having a pet here at home, but I worry about growing neglectful, managing the dog poop and other aspects.

But I might arrange to do what you describe. My college chum in Albuquerque was volunteering as you say, and picked a German Shepherd pup -- 1+ years -- to adopt. He's got a fenced-in backyard. I don't know how people up here in the hill manage, with their town-home condominiums and limited grounds. But it works for my friend in ABQ.

I think volunteering at a shelter would be a wonderful idea. I have always wanted to myself but these past few years have been very busy for me. I will get there in the future though.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

I should've walked this morning. I made excuses. First, I told myself, I have a luncheon with a friend at 11:30AM. [I could probably have got out on the trail at 8 AM to 10 AM]. So I'm now sort of "locked in" to no walking, because it will be too hot this afternoon.

And here's an observation. I"m going to this lunch, severely upset over the latest news about the Jimmy Kimmel suspension and Trump's behavior at the Royal Banquet. For the endorphins, it would've been better if I'd walked today.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

I'll update this thread. I took a five-day hiatus from walking last week because of a busy social life and other household duties you could call "exercise."

Today -- Sunday -- I resumed. Lower temperatures this morning; it remains overcast, and it's 1:22PM. I earned two Google Fit "Heart points". Had very few and very brief rest stops or pauses. It SEEMS like my breathing improves -- little by little. I've got to try again for two miles, because it isn't a problem of fatigue: it's boredom and patience.

I'm convinced that if I don't keep walking, aging will get me to a point of not being able to take care of myself. Every year I have to ask myself -- "are you better or worse since last year?" So far, I seem to be "getting better" -- whatever that is.

UPDATE COUPLE HOURS LATER . .

So now I find out that the wrist-wrap BP monitor gives readings that are too high by about 5. I've been overly worried about my BP for months. Today's reading is around 134 / 82. I think I'll order the traditional monitor for wrapping your biceps. Also! Blood Oxygen monitor now shows 96-- occasional increases to 97 -- right off the bat. I usually have to breathe deep to keep it at 96.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

This thread shows that it has had about 12,000 hits, with responses exclusively from pete6032. It's not a special thread! It was my attempt to "journalize" my walking regimen.

I'd taken a break of about 4 days due to being "extra busy" -- whatever that means. Or, more precisely, I went out on the hillside here -- a steep grade -- for about 0.6 miles round trip on Saturday, 10/11/25.

The hill known locally as "A Bitch" wasn't a major difficulty, but it's always a workout. Today, I went back to the park next to my regular grocery and did my full mile on flat ground.

I keep noticing that I'm getting better. Usually, if I expectorate a small wad of sputum after maybe 1/6 of a mile, the rest is easy. I'm averaging about 3 to 4 heart credits on Google Fit just about every time I walk now. But "getting better" is still short of a leisurely, pleasant walk. I now pause to catch my breath and get back to normal breathing before I resume, but these pauses are not costing me much time.

Goddam that first pack of Winstons when I was 17 years old. Goddam all of it.

 

[pete6032]

This thread shows that it has had about 12,000 hits, with responses exclusively from pete6032. It's not a special thread! It was my attempt to "journalize" my walking regimen.

The internet can be quite a lonely place, can't it? I don't look at this forum on a regular basis. Feel like it should be moved with others into Off Topic discussion.

Do you walk by yourself mostly or with neighbors?

 

[BonzaiDuck]

The internet can be quite a lonely place, can't it? I don't look at this forum on a regular basis. Feel like it should be moved with others into Off Topic discussion.

Do you walk by yourself mostly or with neighbors?

Alone. I have a cousin -- more aptly "cousin-in-law" -- to whom I offer lodging in return for her equal utility-bill subsidy. Only she has gone on a walk with me -- several months ago.

This seems like a strange neighborhood. The townhomes seemed designed for people who want to come home, lock their gates and be alone. For the more than two decades I've been here -- taking care of my now-departed Moms who was liked and loved by everyone -- I've never observed neighbors asking neighbors to visit for tea and crumpets. If they talk to each other, they stand in the parking lot or the middle of the street.

I only occasionally encounter them walking for exercise. Some of the younger ones walk their dog on the street. But it's a steep hillside here; healthy people my age call it a bitch to climb. I prefer to drive 2 miles to a local park where the ground is level.

Right now I'm experiencing "vehicular crisis". Contemplating the purchase of a newer car, I'm stranded here waiting for the old one in the repair shop. The cousin is making grocery runs for me. I have a higher anxiety level at the moment. I need to walk daily especially because of that.

So -- all that said -- I have to walk on the hill for now. And we're back to having warmer days -- it'll be nearly 80F in two hours.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

WEDNESDAY AFTER MY PREVIOUS POST HERE

While I'm stranded at home without my car (in the shop and awaiting to buy a new one), I'm walking my steep hill -- about 0.6 miles total circuit. This is not equivalent to 1 mile on flat ground. It's more strenuous. I still take the same pauses -- some with sit-downs -- but I catch my breath much faster than I once did. I think I'm getting better -- that is -- the lung function is improving despite the COPD.

So here's the secret. I have been informed -- and I KNOW -- that I should do "resistance" exercise, like pushups and sit-ups. For some reason, I have been lax. But I can easily do ten pushups as I did this evening. I'll do some sit-ups before I turn in for the evening.

I think if I make a habit of all these things -- the walking, pushups, situps -- maybe squats -- my brain and body will last longer.

 

[Greenman]

I do whisky and cigars. My body won't last longer but I'll enjoy it a lot more.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

I do whisky and cigars. My body won't last longer but I'll enjoy it a lot more.

Back in January after having quit smoking for four years, I had just come back from Nevada and I dropped by a smoke shop. I was curious. I was tempted. I went into the store. And I asked the first question, as though I were Rip Van Winkle, awakened after decades, trying to catch up.

"How much for a pack of unfiltered Camel cigarettes?"

"Fifteen dollars", said the man at the counter.

"OK . . . I guess so . . . Here's a fiver and a Hamilton . . "

I brought the pack home. I opened the pack. I pulled out one of those lovely, aromatic Camels. I put it in my mouth and lit it up.

I inhaled once and realized, after coughing rather violently, that I couldn't inhale. Further, taking puffs into my mouth and blowing them out, they didn't taste good. They didn't taste like Camels I remembered. They were freaking terrible!

So I threw away about $14 and change worth of cigarettes, noting that it was an experimental result. The experiment didn't actually fail -- I found out about trying to smoke a camel after three and a half years. That's all in my past, now.

You can do whiskey. I'm more of a wine and beer sort of guy. Maybe I'll take a shot of 151-proof rum this evening, just to see how it goes.

I think I have something like Southern Comfort. We'll see. I won't be disappointed. Or I suppose I won't. But the cigarettes? If it's a word, it describes my reaction. "Yuck!"

But I walked my hill this evening. I'm getting better. It's getting easier just a little bit at a time.

I'm going to make an effort to increase and vary my exercise. Tonight I may do some "senior" squats and some pushups. Maybe a couple sit-ups.

But first, a cold can of SHASTA [sucralose] Grapefruit Soda. Yee-yeaowww.

 

[Greenman]

I quit about twenty years back. Sometimes I catch a whiff of someone smoking and the need to smoke hits like a bolt of lightning. Cigars don't have that effect on me. My cigar habit is around one every couple of years. I enjoy them far to much and am terrified of developing another extremely bad habit.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

I quit about twenty years back. Sometimes I catch a whiff of someone smoking and the need to smoke hits like a bolt of lightning. Cigars don't have that effect on me. My cigar habit is around one every couple of years. I enjoy them far to much and am terrified of developing another extremely bad habit.

Like I tell my brother, you're a very smart man. If I'd quit 10 years earlier, the COPD would not have progressed this far. As it stands, I can spend a week at 5,000 feet elevation and get by without an oxygen concentrator, but at 2,000 feet I have more of a comfort level. I can walk 2 miles a day if I take a 15 minute rest after the first mile. I'm getting better slowly.

Bro quit smoking just at the Millennium, and like a fool, I didn't try hard enough. Like you, I catch a whiff sometimes and briefly think about bumming one if the smoker is nearby, but it's a declining temptation and I don't succumb.

 

[Greenman]

Like I tell my brother, you're a very smart man. If I'd quit 10 years earlier, the COPD would not have progressed this far. As it stands, I can spend a week at 5,000 feet elevation and get by without an oxygen concentrator, but at 2,000 feet I have more of a comfort level. I can walk 2 miles a day if I take a 15 minute rest after the first mile. I'm getting better slowly.

Bro quit smoking just at the Millennium, and like a fool, I didn't try hard enough. Like you, I catch a whiff sometimes and briefly think about bumming one if the smoker is nearby, but it's a declining temptation and I don't succumb.

The insidious part of smoking is how easy it is to convince yourself that you can have just one cigarette every now and then. Such a horrible lie, in just a seek those things will own me outright.

 

[WilliamM2]

I quit about twenty years back. Sometimes I catch a whiff of someone smoking and the need to smoke hits like a bolt of lightning. Cigars don't have that effect on me. My cigar habit is around one every couple of years. I enjoy them far to much and am terrified of developing another extremely bad habit.

Can't believe you still have cravings from the smell after 20 years. I quit 15+ years ago. I never did like the smell, even when I smoked, always had an exhaust fan. For the past 14 years or so the smell makes me feel ill. I quit cold turkey, and never had cravings after about a month, maybe two. The first two weeks were rough though, I will admit.

Wish I done it sooner, but I was convinced by everyone I know that it was hard, almost impossible to quit, so I never tried.

 

[lxskllr]

I still use tobacco, but haven't smoked in almost 20 years. I still like the smell of cigarettes, and am sometimes tempted to get smoking tobacco, but I'm always disappointed after I do, and with what it costs now, it isn't worth trying /yet again/ as a whim. I just don't like smoking anymore.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

Can't believe you still have cravings from the smell after 20 years. I quit 15+ years ago. I never did like the smell, even when I smoked, always had an exhaust fan. For the past 14 years or so the smell makes me feel ill. I quit cold turkey, and never had cravings after about a month, maybe two. The first two weeks were rough though, I will admit.

Wish I done it sooner, but I was convinced by everyone I know that it was hard, almost impossible to quit, so I never tried.

Whenever I tried to quit, I was literally climbing the walls with my fingernails before I gave in to it. Often, I had to make a 2AM return to an all-night convenience store to buy a pack. I was like someone intensely aware of his past vertigo imbalances being asked to scale El Capitan in Yosemite. It just seemed impossible.

As to the smell. It is the stale smell of smoke deposited hours before on clothing or hanging in the air which was not very pleasant. But those first few puffs of the Camel, Pall Mall, English Oval or Chesterfield unfiltered, they were something to be savored for the brief experience with it.

Unfiltered cigarettes were a very occasional indulgence. My friend the ginger Irish plasma physicist with funded research using the Ulysses space probe had been smoking something milder than Carltons before he quit about 4 years prior to a Stage 4 lung cancer diagnosis, and he passed into the Black Hole of the next life in early November, 2022. He was smoking unfiltereds in 1966 as a college senior. I was a Winston man and freshman at that time.

Makes me think again of my pulmonologist telling me I might have about 5 years left, but "you may surprise us". Jack and I had respectively the same number pack-years of continuous habit. If I say 55, you will likely make the sign of the cross and bless me, like the crowd at a send-off event for the Titanic.

 

[lxskllr]

I think filter cigarettes were a bit of a boondoggle. Unfiltered/filtered/reg-ultralight, you have roughly the same life expectancy regardless of your choice.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

I think filter cigarettes were a bit of a boondoggle. Unfiltered/filtered/reg-ultralight, you have roughly the same life expectancy regardless of your choice.

It disturbs me that I should feel so lucky to be able to walk daily and otherwise be visibly alive and otherwise healthy.

Even so, the fate of some Stage 4 patients might be better than that of slowly losing one's mind.

Ha! Speaking of that, my Moms' display of dementia symptoms did not stop her from asking me on many occasions "Please? Quit smoking!" Such a sweetheart she was.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

Just offering another "Star Trek Log entry" here. I'm not going to get out on the hill this morning until it's over 80F -- so debating whether I should wait until dark. I can do squats, pushups and situps. I feel pretty good, really. The workout on the hill is so strenuous, I think I can skip a day here or there.

I should suck on my Stiolto inhaler now and get that done with. Already took my morning pills.

I keep thinking how my old Moms felt in 2003, when she was my current age, or thereafter. She must've been anxious, occasionally frightened or worried if she dwelt on her aging as I do. It was good that I was just here under the same roof to distract her. Well, I can't return to 22 years prior and make it all better. I did the best I could after she had her first hip fracture and I'd taken over everything for her. She was happy when she passed away.