I've just made a cup of coffee in the kitchen and carried the kettle back to the stove. Now I start making calculations...
Should I walk across to the wall and switch off the light and then walk back to the table, pick up the cup of coffee and carry it down to the lounge room?
Or should I walk to the table, pick up the coffee and then walk back to the light switch before turning around and heading off to the lounge?
Six steps to the light switch.
Five steps to the table.
Six steps to the kitchen door.
Seventeen steps altogether.
OR
Five steps to the table.
Five steps to the light switch.
Six steps to the kitchen door.
Sixteen steps altogether.
But wait...
What if I first turn off the light and then, instead of walking to the far side of the table to pick up the coffee cup, I walk to the near side of the table and reach across to pick up the cup from there? I could save a couple of steps.
But wait...
It's a fairly wide table and it will be quite a stretch. I might have to raise one leg off the floor to act as a counter-balance during the stretch. I might save two steps of walking but use more energy in the reach across the table.
And what if I can't quite reach? Then I've wasted all that energy stretching and now I've got to waste another three steps walking around to the far side of the table to pick up the coffee cup.
These are the sorts of calculations that have to be done when you've got emphysema.
Get it right and you can get through the day without too much trouble.
Get it wrong and you'll spend three minutes gasping for breathe before you can take that first sip of coffee.
And there will be another three minutes in recovery mode before you can even think about getting out of the chair to do something else.
Such is life...
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