Between COPDer's

As a child I was never what you'd call in great health. I was underweight, had asthma and allergies (which no one really knew how to treat back then) and was just generally sick a lot more than the average kid. My parents were both heavy drinkers and smokers, two habits I was all too happy to get into when I reached my teens. I was smoking more than two packs a day, often lighting one from another, until, at 36, I was inspired by my brother, who had quit, to follow his example. And did, cold turkey, before the gum and patches and other aids had made their appearance.

Even quitting at that relatively young age (this was in 1974) it wasn't soon enough. Added to what I think some day will turn out to be genetic markers for COPD I was already having symptoms of sob, which I routinely rationalized and denied (didn't everyone in their late 30s get out of breath climbing stairs, or playing sports?) Six years later, in 1980, I had some chest tightness and went to a doctor. He (he was about 80) took an x-ray and told me that other than "a little emphysema" I was fine, not to worry.

I was shocked. What did he mean, "a little emphysema"? And not to worry about it. I didn't get much sleep that night, and the next morning started calling around for a second opinion. The next doc was a pulmonologist (the first guy hadn't been) and correctly told me I had COPD, explained what it was, told me it was incurable but manageable, and prescribed an Alupent inhaler, an early version of albuterol. Said to check back with him. I kept this doctor for the next 22 years. Meanwhile my breathing got seriously worse, and to this day I don't know why. But after trying Atrovent, Vanceril, theophylline, and finally the dreaded prednisone, by the end of the year I was in the hospital, with the usual IVs antibiotics and steroids. Maybe it was pneumonia--I don't really remember. Thing was, I was really bummed out. At 43, even after doing the right thing by quitting smoking, it seemed like my life was just about over.

But here's the amazing thing: for the next 15 years, except for the occasional head cold, I was never sick. And though I had an exacerbation, treated at home with antis and pred, in 1995, after that, until 2002, I was mostly OK, and lived an active life, traveling, working and enjoying a variety of activities. COPD didn't keep my wife and I from traveling, to most of the US and all the Canadian provinces, in the late 90's.

But then I got sick in that same year (2002), and went to the hospital, and again, twice, in 2003, and again in 2004 and 2006, all hospital stays, as well as numerous exacerbations in between. As recently as the summer of 2001, I was hiking in the Canadian Rockies with just a pocketful of inhalers. SOB (shortness of breath)? Sure, but manageable. And now this--O2 around the clock, pred (prednisone) most of the time, I even had Levaquin break my Achilles tendon in '03, and couldn't really walk for weeks.

By that time I was in my mid-60s--how to explain this radical decline? I came to the conclusion that I was thoughtlessly exposing myself to germs and that as I got sicker my immunity to the diseases that the germs carried got whittled down--a vicious circle. Example: my wife and I volunteered in the public school system, putting on programs during the school year, many of them in the wintertime.

I'll put it in the words of a nurse I had: "You were around hundreds of small children. In a public school. In the winter.... Hello!!!" This is just the worst of many examples. After getting junked up for months in the early part of 2006, ending in yet another trip to the hospital, I decided to simply avoid many situations involving any real numbers of people. That meant giving up the gym and working out at home; going to movies and other events at non peak times. Same with shopping. But here's another important thing: no doctor gave me any of these tips. I got them from other COPDers on online forums. Sharing experiences with others who have been through the same things I have has helped me deal with the disease immensely.

Today? It's been 15 months since I've been in the hospital or had an exacerbation, and almost a year since I've had any prednisone. I feel better than at any time since '03 or so, and just turned 70. I live an active life, taking my LOX portable whenever I go out. I publish a newsletter in my neighborhood and am learning to play the piano. The forums have showed me by the examples of many of their members that life is not over because of COPD, even if you're getting older. Keeping active with a daily exercise program will go a long way to creating a positive attitude; and the attitude, in turn, keeps me part of the larger world around me. I try not to dwell on the fact that I have COPD, but I don't forget it either, and the adjustments one needs to make with it, and that I've had to make through trial and error for the last 27 years.

You CAN do this too. But; you've got to want it. I hope you will.

John O.