Plastic bag

Have you ever tried breathing into a plastic bag? If you have, you might agree that it’s not exactly comfortable. The air is trapped, you struggle and then… Panic kicks in, you hyperventilate. Finally you get the bag off and you can once more breathe freely. Now, you may ask why on Earth this guy opens his first blog by writing about plastic bags and hopefully the answer will come! Guess I best give a brief introduction of myself.

 I’m a 24 old man from Norway; I have a lovely apartment and a loving family nearby. I don’t work as I don’t need to (lucky bugger some might think), I have my own reasons for this. I’ve studied and consider myself a rather bright guy, just keep me away from math! Those numbers hate me, or is it me who hate those numbers? My passion is gaming, movies, music, good friends and good discussions. I also enjoy a good quiz! Suddenly this sounds like a contact add, soon I’ll write about long walks on the beach and how great I am at listening… No, you can relax. We won’t go there in this entry.

 So, as you see I sound pretty normal, and guess I am. My mind, heart and soul are very much present. I was born with a muscular disease known as Duchennes Muscular Dystrophy. It slowly reduces my muscles making me gradually weaker. I could walk once, but now I depend on a wheelchair. I can of course talk and live a relatively active life, but still, my body is starting to feel more and more like a prison, holding me back. There, good we got that out of the way.

 Now, to the plastic bag reference. 4 weeks or so ago I had to replace my “breathing aid machines”. You see, the past 5 years breathing on my own has started to get heavy on my weakened muscles, but thank… Science for science, right? I’ve had an amazing little machine the past 4 years, called the Legendair, awesome name too. It simply helped me breathe in, nothing more. I breathe out just fine, but it’s nice taking a good, deep breath. Sadly the days of Legendair came to an end as it was no longer in production. We had to find a new model, fast, according to the doctors. I tend to listen to the doctors.

 Legendair was out, and in came a modern little thing called Elisee. The sad thing is that Elisee needed to be adjusted, so to the hospital I was sent. They put the new machine on and guess how it felt like? Like breathing in a plastic bag. It was as if someone had replaced my lounges, I struggled heavily and they kept adjusting. Sometimes it got better, other times it got worse. I couldn’t sleep as the panic got to me. This madness carried on for about two weeks and I thought it would be the end of me.

 Now, weeks later I can happily say I made it, the machines feel normal now and I can carry on with my life. This was one of the hardest things I’ve been through, even if I’ve been through a lot. Surgeries and the works, but those are tales for other times. I’ll try to keep this blog going, so stay tuned and if you ever breathe into a plastic bag, think of me.