Using an Endless Pool for Thoracic Surgery Recovery

Tina's biggest problem now is that she just doesn't feel right unless she swims every day.

Tina Prescott is an expatriate American now living in the Montreal area with husband Peter and their three children. Several years ago, she suffered a collapsed lung and a debilitating case of emphysema, consequences of thoracic surgery. Initial attempts at health maintenance consisted primarily of a daunting regimen of energy-sapping antibiotics. However, Tina felt that she was making no progress in dealing with her condition.

Then she discovered that swimming was more effective in relieving her symptoms, but of course that presented a new set of constraints. Her vulnerable immune system made the use of public pools, especially heavily chlorinated ones, prohibitive. The family purchased a home with an outdoor pool, but harsh Quebec winters and an unwieldy roll-up cover made a regular exercise schedule problematic.

In her frustration, she even considered moving to a warmer climate, at least temporarily, until she learned of the Endless Pool. The results have been dramatic. Once able to negotiate just half a dozen lengths in the outdoor pool, she now does 140, the result of a strict Endless Pool regimen (20 intense minutes balanced by 40 minutes at a slower pace). She recently underwent a breathing test that showed normal lung capacity for the first time since the onset of her infirmity.

No longer dependent on antibiotics, Tina's biggest problem now is that she just doesn't feel right unless she swims every day. Fortunately, her parents in Austin, Texas, have also owned an Endless Pool for three years, as has a close friend in Florida.

"I appreciate that a lot of people view the Endless Pool as a luxury item," says Tina, "and that's understandable. But for me it represents a new lease on life."

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