What is COPD?
COPD stands for Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease and can present itself as two different diseases – Chronic Bronchitis or Emphysema.
I am quite fortunate… I only have a ‘mild’ case of Emphysema (at least I assume its just a ‘mild’ case).
My condition presents itself as a ‘shortness of breath’. Depending on the day, and I assume the weather, and what activity I am involved with, I will ‘run out of breath’ and have to sit for a minute or two to ‘regain my breath’.
The kinds of activity that causes my breathlessness can vary widely. From smearing peanutbutter on a piece of bread to walking the length of the house. It all depends on the day’s conditions. By this, I mean yesterday, walking back and forth a few times for the length of the house was no big deal but today, I can run out of breath just sitting in my wheelchair and smearing peanutbutter on a slice of bread.
It all seems very random in nature!?!
Regaining my breath, in most circumstances, usually takes one to two minutes of purposefully inhaling deeply through my nose and exhaling through partially parted lips. If I’m ‘deeply’ out of breath, from say mild exercise or attempting to walk a far-for-me distance, it can take several minutes to regain my breath.
The big drawback for me is that I’ve always been a ‘mouth-breather’ and when I run out of breath when my Physical Therapist is around, she doesn’t hesitate to ask ‘Are you breathing through your nose (knowing full well that I am not!!)‘? Sadly for me, next week will be my Physical Therapist’s last visit because MEDICARE will only pay for so many weeks of therapy.
I’ll miss her (my Physical Therapist) – she is good medicine for me and if it wasn’t for her work, I would not be able to get out of my wheelchair and walk! And that is no exaggeration!
So… how did all this begin?
Back around April or May of last year (2024) I was already working on quitting my cigarette smoking habit/addiction (I was down to 2 or 3 cigarettes per day) when I was sitting on my outdoor steps and suddenly ran out of breath and could not regain it.
I asked my son to drive me to the hospital because I just couldn’t breathe.
The hospital admitted me, diagnosed me and had me wear some sort of oxygen breathing mask while I laid in bed. I was in the hospital for a few days (maybe one week) and eventually discharged to a Post Acute center where I stayed for about 3 months and received daily (except weekends) Physical Therapy and Occupational Therapy.
On the day that I was diagnosed with COPD, I immediately quit smoking. Funnily enough, and thankfully, I had no withdrawal symptoms. A few months later when I returned home, however, the association of home and smoking raised it’s ugly head and that is when I started having withdrawal symptoms – go figure! I got past the symptoms in about a week so I guess I faired better than a great many people who suffer the withdrawal symptoms for weeks or even months. Not bad going for someone who had smoked for 51 years.
The CNAs (Certified Nursing Assistants) who managed all of the Post Acute residents, warned the patients to not lay in bed all weekend because your muscles would quickly atrophy in just a day or two. I saw this happen with one female patient who decided to practice ‘learned helplessness’ and was constantly pestering the CNAs to help her into or out of bed – multiple times per day! Her muscles quickly atrophied to the point that she was forced to require CNA assistance whenever she wanted to move about the wing of the Post Acute center. For all I know, she may well still be a patient there.
What is my current situation?
Well, I thought I’d never get out of that Post Acute facility, but as I indicated above, I finally returned back home in July of last year (2024).
I still require(?) a nasal cannula being fed with oxygen at a rate of 1 liter per hour and still sort-of require the use of a wheelchair to move around the house.
I say that I ‘require(?)’ the cannula because I’ve experimented with reducing my oxygen bleed to 0.5 liters per hour as well as not having any additional oxygen at all (i.e. no cannula).
‘They’ say that your oxygen level needs to be at least 90 on a pulse oximeter. My ‘personal – feel safe’ limit is 92. That gives me a few %SpO2 of ‘elbow room’. If I don’t have the additional oxygen via the cannula, I am at a 90% or 92% SpO2 reading, so any activity at all will cause an SpO2 reading at or below the ‘official’ safe level of 90%. So the question I have to ask myself is, ‘is today’s Sp02 reading high enough to be without the cannula and if so, how much elbow room do I have to negotiate some moderate activity?’
I typically opt to just go ahead and wear the cannula but I think that is about to change – I think I’ll go back to experimenting on myself and see if I can get my body used to not having additional oxygen. I’ve done it before and its like living in an alternate universe – no oxygen tube dragging behind me and getting tangled up in the wheels of the wheelchair.
Since the last time I tried ‘no cannula’, I’ve gotten stronger and, thanks to my Physical Therapist, learned how to walk without the aid of a 4-wheel rollator or cane.
I owe her (the Physical Therapist) so much for getting me to the point where I can walk without assistance – I think only those living life in a wheelchair can appreciate what the freedom truly means!
Thank you Jessica 🙏🏻
In summary, COPD is something that you definitely do not want. If you are a smoker, please let my life’s trials and tribulations be a message of caution in the wind for you…