Post by Susan-OH on Jun 9, 2008 10:42:51 GMT -5
Nothing quite gets to you like a death sentence. When I heard the words, “You have COPD,” and I was given a pamphlet to explain what that was, I went into shock. I was complaining to my doctor because I had quit smoking and I wasn’t feeling any better. I had quit coughing, and hacking, but that was the only benefit I could see. I was still short of breath with any exertion; still got bronchitis and was sick on the couch for days with predictable regularity.
Googling COPD sent me down a path burgeoning with disquieting information that all eventually said the same thing. You smoked too much and now you are going to die. Oh, maybe you have a defective gene and you are going to die. Well, we are ALL going to die, but this particular warning was a shock to me.
“But,” I said, “20 minutes after you quit smoking your blood pressure returns to normal and twenty days later you can taste food again and twenty months later you have reduced your chances of heart attack and stroke by 50 percent, and twenty years later…” but with COPD, all bets are off. You are assured you won’t LIVE nearly twenty years after that diagnosis.
My GP had broken the news to me and suggested I see a specialist. He had prescribed a Combivent inhaler for me with instructions to use it as much as four times a day, as needed. It was so expensive that I hoarded it, and didn’t use it much. This was when I quit smoking about two years before I finally saw the specialist.
I qualified for Social Security Disability and then qualified for medical assistance from the state of Ohio with a $301 monthly spend-down, so I finally could be treated by a pulmonary specialist. At least that is the way it played out for me.
Diseases are discussed in quantities. In COPD breath is measured; how much air you exhale, how fast you do it, how much air your lungs retain after you exhale and most importantly, perhaps, how much oxygen is in your blood at any given moment. I had dismal numbers when I had my first PFT (pulmonary function test) before meeting with a pulmonary doc in February, 2008. My FEV% (forced expiration volume percentage of normal) was about 21 percent. That indicates really, really severe emphysema. There were other numerical indications of the severity of my disease, as well. And I couldn’t breathe when I did anything. I had to sit and breathe quietly to forestall panic many times a day.
My pulmonary doctor gave me different medication, ordered O2 at night to keep my oxygen levels normal while I sleep. He also suggested I talk to the pulmonary experts at Ohio State University about surgery to reduce the stress on my lungs. I was dismayed but I was willing to do anything, even have surgery, to push back that death sentence.
While waiting to be considered for lung volume reduction surgery, I began participating in pulmonary rehab at St. Rita’s Hospital in Lima, Ohio, also on the advice of my doctor. I am happy to be able to report today, in June, 2008, my FEV percentage has improved to 30 percent and I have been told I can wait and see about LVRS surgery. That improvement is in no small part due to the exercise and education I received by going to pulmonary rehab at St. Rita’s Hospital. It’s a great program. Technicians are always present to relieve our fears, and check our vital signs regularly, so we can push ourselves as hard as they want us to with no worries.
Walking on a treadmill, using an exercise bike and lifting weights, as well as stair-step exercises are what were prescribed for me. I went to the hospital two days a week to begin with and then three days. As well as building my strength to exercise more and more, I was given instruction on how to breathe to reduce SOB (shortness of breath) and how to live better with COPD. That information included important dietary tips, suggestions to get around depression, ways to live easier with reduced lung function, and how to avoid the bronchial infections that can cause COPD to worsen. I ended up graduating from the rehab program, and insurance quit paying for my exercise at the hospital, but I am going to continue to go there on my own dime for the foreseeable future, even though I purchased a treadmill at home. I work out on the treadmill 35 minutes each day I don’t go to the hospital gym, and 30 minutes with the other exercises I do at the gym three days a week. It has given me more stamina, and more confidence that I can do things, if I pace myself, and remember to breathe correctly.
I am going out on a limb here, and say that pulmonary therapy as it is practiced at St. Rita’s hospital is hugely underrated in the management of COPD. It is a wonderful program that has changed my life. It becomes easier and easier to do less and less when you can’t breathe, and the situation spirals downward. Setting foot in the pulmonary therapy department of St. Rita’s Hospital can be the step that turns that spiral of increasing breathlessness and inactivity around.
BTW - I know that COPD is NOT a death sentence. I was just being dramatic, for literary purposes and repeating the way it was first presented to me. People with this disease have been my most effective teachers and mentors and I hope i can be helpful to others in return. Stay well, S.
Googling COPD sent me down a path burgeoning with disquieting information that all eventually said the same thing. You smoked too much and now you are going to die. Oh, maybe you have a defective gene and you are going to die. Well, we are ALL going to die, but this particular warning was a shock to me.
“But,” I said, “20 minutes after you quit smoking your blood pressure returns to normal and twenty days later you can taste food again and twenty months later you have reduced your chances of heart attack and stroke by 50 percent, and twenty years later…” but with COPD, all bets are off. You are assured you won’t LIVE nearly twenty years after that diagnosis.
My GP had broken the news to me and suggested I see a specialist. He had prescribed a Combivent inhaler for me with instructions to use it as much as four times a day, as needed. It was so expensive that I hoarded it, and didn’t use it much. This was when I quit smoking about two years before I finally saw the specialist.
I qualified for Social Security Disability and then qualified for medical assistance from the state of Ohio with a $301 monthly spend-down, so I finally could be treated by a pulmonary specialist. At least that is the way it played out for me.
Diseases are discussed in quantities. In COPD breath is measured; how much air you exhale, how fast you do it, how much air your lungs retain after you exhale and most importantly, perhaps, how much oxygen is in your blood at any given moment. I had dismal numbers when I had my first PFT (pulmonary function test) before meeting with a pulmonary doc in February, 2008. My FEV% (forced expiration volume percentage of normal) was about 21 percent. That indicates really, really severe emphysema. There were other numerical indications of the severity of my disease, as well. And I couldn’t breathe when I did anything. I had to sit and breathe quietly to forestall panic many times a day.
My pulmonary doctor gave me different medication, ordered O2 at night to keep my oxygen levels normal while I sleep. He also suggested I talk to the pulmonary experts at Ohio State University about surgery to reduce the stress on my lungs. I was dismayed but I was willing to do anything, even have surgery, to push back that death sentence.
While waiting to be considered for lung volume reduction surgery, I began participating in pulmonary rehab at St. Rita’s Hospital in Lima, Ohio, also on the advice of my doctor. I am happy to be able to report today, in June, 2008, my FEV percentage has improved to 30 percent and I have been told I can wait and see about LVRS surgery. That improvement is in no small part due to the exercise and education I received by going to pulmonary rehab at St. Rita’s Hospital. It’s a great program. Technicians are always present to relieve our fears, and check our vital signs regularly, so we can push ourselves as hard as they want us to with no worries.
Walking on a treadmill, using an exercise bike and lifting weights, as well as stair-step exercises are what were prescribed for me. I went to the hospital two days a week to begin with and then three days. As well as building my strength to exercise more and more, I was given instruction on how to breathe to reduce SOB (shortness of breath) and how to live better with COPD. That information included important dietary tips, suggestions to get around depression, ways to live easier with reduced lung function, and how to avoid the bronchial infections that can cause COPD to worsen. I ended up graduating from the rehab program, and insurance quit paying for my exercise at the hospital, but I am going to continue to go there on my own dime for the foreseeable future, even though I purchased a treadmill at home. I work out on the treadmill 35 minutes each day I don’t go to the hospital gym, and 30 minutes with the other exercises I do at the gym three days a week. It has given me more stamina, and more confidence that I can do things, if I pace myself, and remember to breathe correctly.
I am going out on a limb here, and say that pulmonary therapy as it is practiced at St. Rita’s hospital is hugely underrated in the management of COPD. It is a wonderful program that has changed my life. It becomes easier and easier to do less and less when you can’t breathe, and the situation spirals downward. Setting foot in the pulmonary therapy department of St. Rita’s Hospital can be the step that turns that spiral of increasing breathlessness and inactivity around.
BTW - I know that COPD is NOT a death sentence. I was just being dramatic, for literary purposes and repeating the way it was first presented to me. People with this disease have been my most effective teachers and mentors and I hope i can be helpful to others in return. Stay well, S.
