Sharing the Health - September 2010
I found a great site on the Internet to get tips on how to live with COPD at the Breathe Easy Arizona Coalition’s www.breatheeasyaz.org. They even have “How To” videos! Dana Afshari, FL
I found a company that sells oxygen holders for your two-wheeled walker and/or wheelchair. It is called Comfort Solutions – their number is 1-315-472-8077 and can be found on the internet at www.to2te.com The holders can store “E”, “D”, “M6/B” and “M9/C” cylinders as well as portable liquid oxygen units.
Karen Sherrier, FL
What do you say when you see people staring at your oxygen? Need a comeback when they make a comment about it? Oxygen users have used the following lines recently:
“I am Buzz Lightyear’s mother!”
“It’s one of the first iPods – when it was thought that sound was better delivered up the nostrils.”
“I got this on eBay. It was hideously expensive, but apparently there are very few retro cell phones around.”
“I’m a balloon.”
“It has a wireless connection to my PC. Email is trans- mitted directly to my brain via the nostrils. I reply by thinking and send with a little snort.”
Our favorite remains the child who amazingly told a lady using pulse dose, “I can hear your nose running!”
I use a concentrator at home with 50 feet of tubing. We recently brought home a kitten from the Humane Society. She is a real joy at home except when she is biting holes through my tubing. The bitters in a product called YUK did nothing to deter her and stayed on my hands forever! Finally, we found corrugated split black plastic tubing at Ace Hardware. It is used to cover electrical wires. Now the kitten may jump at the tubing as it moves through the house but she does not bite it! Carole Beran, Elkhorn, NE
The Amerian Lung Association’s “My Fighting for Air Community” is a simple, immediate way for friends, family, colleagues and neighbors to assist loved ones in need at http://lungusa.lotsahelpinghands.com. It is an easy- to-use private group calendar, specifically designed for organizing helpers, where everyone can pitch in with meals delivery, rides and other tasks necessary for life to run smoothly during a crisis. Additionly, helpful resources are provided on symptoms, causes and treatment options for various lung diseases, as well as contact information to local American Lung Associations and the Lung HelpLine (1-800-548-8252).
Lori Palermo of Love Your Lungs, Breathe For Life, would like you to sign an online petition to help raise awareness of COPD through our very own stamp from the U.S. Post Office. Please visit www.thepetitionsite. com/takeaction/761/710/249/ to show your support!
Medicare had covered tobacco counseling only for those diagnosed with a tobacco-related disease or show- ing signs of such a disease. Medicare beneficiaries will now have expanded coverage of tobacco cessation counseling. Under the new coverage, any smoker covered by Medicare will be able to receive tobacco cessation coun- seling from a qualified physician or other practitioner.
Lyn Cole of Littleton, CO, and a network of other TransTracheal Oxygen (TTO2 ) users, would like to offer their help to 
people who have recently received their catheters for this form of oxygen therapy. If you have questions, simply send them to [email protected] and she will forward your inquiries or com- ments to the group, which includes health professionals. Since Nick Jones, right, of The Villages, FL, got his TTO2 catheter, he now calls himself a “Necker”!
people who have recently received their catheters for this form of oxygen therapy. If you have questions, simply send them to
Paul Thompson began making his own cannulas years ago when he thought the ones his aunt was wearing were too uncomfortable for her. Oxygen users have enjoyed the soft hoses and other innovative products Paul and his wife Chris have produced, which are available at www.softhose.com.
Paul and Chris are now experimenting with different colored cannulas and tubing. Are you going to an affair and want to match your formal black dress or tuxedo? You may want a black cannula or a red one for the Christmas holidays. Someone recently requested flesh colored supplies. For more information, email [email protected] or call the Thompsons in California at 1-858-748-5677.
With cooler weather approaching, smokers need to be careful of exposure to wood smoke, either from home heating, cooking or from the outside environment. A recent study in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine found exposure to wood smoke puts smokers at a higher risk to develop COPD that includes DNA changes.
As the cold weather approaches, don’t forget about Nancy Pearsall’s Breath Warm- ers! They are made of soft, comfortable polar fleece with adjustable Velcro closures to protect you against the cold air.
BreathWarmers™ are available for $15.95 plus $2.95 for shipping. For further information call 1-810- 653-8006, visit www.breathwarmers.com, or write BreathWarmers™, P.O. Box 121, Davison, MI 48423.
Say What?
The doctors told him he must have eaten a p “went down the wrong way,” and the moist a warm conditions in the lung were just right for it to sprout and grow. He underwent surgery to remove the pea, and is now home.Ron Sveden, 75, of Brewster, MA, was astonished to discover that what he thought was a tumor growing in his lung was actually a plant that had sprouted from an inhaled pea. It was about half an inch long.