Dear family and friends

I'm having trouble breathing for the first time in my life...so I'm philosophically sharing with you as I sit at this "beast'.

Though with family members I've climbed over a score of Colorado's Fourteener's, and sung the doxology on top,I'm now seeing more than every before that the lungs are absolutely as important as the heart.

What amazing miracles are these two enablers in our bodies. Carol and I do Yoga wth Yvonne in our Activities Room here on our Wesley-Palms Campus each Saturday morning. Her favorite words are 'Keep Breathing' Keep Breathing deeply" Feel the fresh air coming into your body through your nose down ;down into your diaphragm . Now let it out with all it is impurities ,out very slowly through your mouth." All this is happeing while your'e stretching ,one after another ,of your muscles at the same time.

I'm seeing and feeling that life is breath.

During my chaplaincy at the Grand Junction Veterans hospital I called on several men with so called "Black Lung".Two patients Cecil and Jerry I watched die. Everytime I saw Cecil who was subjected to "Agent Orange' in VietNam he would grasp my hand and gasp "Padre. Padre .pray for me,pray for me .I can't breathe." Nearly always I would adjust his oxygen tube to be doing something physical beside praying. I was holding his hand when he died ,and then I prayed audibly with the doctor and nurse nearby.

We had an unwritten rule that no veteran would die alone in our Hospital unless it happenned during sleep. On several occasions I was called by the doctors to the room when they applied the paddle electric shock to the heart.

It was painful to watch. Twice I remember the Doctor saying to me after failure: "He's all yours Chaplain" as he turned away after failure to revive the patient.

Well, Oxygen and Carbon dioxide have taken on new meaning for me as I'm learning to breathe in new ways. Inhaling through the left nostril and exhaling through the right is now calming and relaxing for me. I can now inhale through my curled tongue and exhale through my right or left nostril.

In this I feel a cooling and calming effect on my body. When I breathe

through my nostrils rapidly I feel dizzy but at the same time my body begins to feel warm.

Well. my ankles are no longer swelling and I am walking on the level rejoicing in each day.

Thanks for listening and scrolling.

Caleb Elroy

1o/l9/00