Feelings
It always helps to vent! If you or your caregiver would like to write about how you really feel about any aspect of chronic lung disease, we will credit you with a year’s membership. Please send to: The Pulmonary Paper, PO Box 877, Ormond Beach, FL 32175.
I was told that I had at about two years to live with my severe emphysema. I am into my seventh year, struggling, but I refuse to give in. There are many things that I can no longer accomplish, but I like to focus on what I can do and be very grateful for being able to think right! LG, North Vancouver, Canada
When I first went on oxygen, I found out I needed a lung transplant. I am still waiting but have a new out- look on life, thanks to the pulmonary rehabilitation staff at McLaren Medical Center. I go three times a week to walk a mile on the treadmill and use the machines. I ride my Honda scooter all around town and just strap my oxygen around my waist and away I go! I thank God for my family and friends who keep me going!
Linda MacLaren, Otisville, MI
I am a COPD patient. I never smoked. Every time I meet a new nurse or doctor, most assume I smoke or did smoke. What a downer! No one deserves to get COPD – smoker or non-smoker. I am thankful for a supportive family and doctors and nurses who help me. Jesus and my church support me through the hard days.
CA, Bedford, IN
I can manage being one-on-one with people but with more than one, I feel like I am competing for oxygen, trying to talk. It really bothers me not to be able to converse, discuss or talk on the phone. I feel like a moron, which greatly increases my emotional stress and isolates me. The whole oxygen scene makes me feel undervalued. I’m glad and grateful to be alive though!