Hi,
My name is Peg and I am part of the BBLW Team, telling my story about my introduction to Pulmonary Rehab.
I was first diagnosed with COPD in March of 2001. Never had heard of it before! I knew I got winded sometimes, and that I was a "shallow breather" like my Dad had been, but serious illness? No way! At times, the thought would wake me out of a sound sleep with "fear chills" thinking I was dying, and at other times I was just me. The doctor said "Quit Smoking". What doctor doesn't? But did it mean anything? No...just another scare tactic. But I went on the inhalers and they helped some and of course, I went right on smoking my pack a day.
Then, in June of 2002 I had a simple colonoscopy and my spleen was ruptured -- I nearly died. Who ever thought my spleen would have been attached to my colon? - duh! It's just not supposed to happen that way! So after losing about 3 liters of blood into my abdomen (I only had about 5, anyway) and being cut from sternum to belly button, I'm recovering without any physical therapy or rehab - no strength recovery help that way at all. I hurt no matter what I tried to do, so I became sedentary and began my ritual of reading a novel a day, smoking and drinking coffee all day. My once strong muscles completely atrophied and I lost a lot of weight and had absolutely no appetite.
In 2006 I had my first exacerbation of COPD. Into the Emergency Room - first and I hope last ambulance trip, by the way! By this time, I had developed such a horrible relationship with my Pulmonary Specialist that I could not even listen to him. I believed he was just an alarmist! I had to ASK HIM about Pulmonary Rehab (I had been reading about it). He felt he had told me about it, I felt I had never heard of it before, but I wanted to try it now. I knew I had to do something!!So, I made an appointment to go in and talk to Jane, who is the Respiratory Therapist in charge of our program here.
I walked in and looked at all those people on the various machines, even the ones wearing oxygen, and nearly charged back out the door! Believe me, I was petrified! No way was I ever going to be able to do this exercise machine stuff!! I just couldn't see how I could ever do any of it. (And I wasn't even on oxygen yet!!)
Pulmonary Rehab is the best thing I have ever done for myself! The education, training, and the friendships and bonding have helped me so much in the last couple of years. I truly believe I would not be here today without it. My "group" is as important to me as my family. They are my support family. They are what keep me motivated to keep on, and some days I need the lift of their caring more than I need the exercise, because there, we all know what we are dealing with. No recriminations, only caring support. I also know that my participation has helped to encourage others along the way. We are The A Team, trying to do the very best we can with what we have to work with, and Pulmonary Rehab is the means to do it with.
Before this turns into a book, I'll just say that if you have the ability and opportunity to get into a Pulmonary Rehab Group in your area, by all means, at least give it a try. I am positive you will not be disappointed at what you will learn. And it certainly helps now that Medicare helps with the expense of it. The beginning level is called Phase 2 (and we all wonder what exactly Phase 1 was...) and the rest of us are in Phase 3 (which we all have to pay for out of pocket), and that is for a lifetime!
Oh, and a P.S. After my father passed away, his Death Certificate stated that he had COPD! We, his 3 daughters, never knew anything about it. Shallow Breather, huh, Dad? Duh!!!
My name is Peg and I am part of the BBLW Team, telling my story about my introduction to Pulmonary Rehab.
I was first diagnosed with COPD in March of 2001. Never had heard of it before! I knew I got winded sometimes, and that I was a "shallow breather" like my Dad had been, but serious illness? No way! At times, the thought would wake me out of a sound sleep with "fear chills" thinking I was dying, and at other times I was just me. The doctor said "Quit Smoking". What doctor doesn't? But did it mean anything? No...just another scare tactic. But I went on the inhalers and they helped some and of course, I went right on smoking my pack a day.
Then, in June of 2002 I had a simple colonoscopy and my spleen was ruptured -- I nearly died. Who ever thought my spleen would have been attached to my colon? - duh! It's just not supposed to happen that way! So after losing about 3 liters of blood into my abdomen (I only had about 5, anyway) and being cut from sternum to belly button, I'm recovering without any physical therapy or rehab - no strength recovery help that way at all. I hurt no matter what I tried to do, so I became sedentary and began my ritual of reading a novel a day, smoking and drinking coffee all day. My once strong muscles completely atrophied and I lost a lot of weight and had absolutely no appetite.
In 2006 I had my first exacerbation of COPD. Into the Emergency Room - first and I hope last ambulance trip, by the way! By this time, I had developed such a horrible relationship with my Pulmonary Specialist that I could not even listen to him. I believed he was just an alarmist! I had to ASK HIM about Pulmonary Rehab (I had been reading about it). He felt he had told me about it, I felt I had never heard of it before, but I wanted to try it now. I knew I had to do something!!So, I made an appointment to go in and talk to Jane, who is the Respiratory Therapist in charge of our program here.
I walked in and looked at all those people on the various machines, even the ones wearing oxygen, and nearly charged back out the door! Believe me, I was petrified! No way was I ever going to be able to do this exercise machine stuff!! I just couldn't see how I could ever do any of it. (And I wasn't even on oxygen yet!!)
Pulmonary Rehab is the best thing I have ever done for myself! The education, training, and the friendships and bonding have helped me so much in the last couple of years. I truly believe I would not be here today without it. My "group" is as important to me as my family. They are my support family. They are what keep me motivated to keep on, and some days I need the lift of their caring more than I need the exercise, because there, we all know what we are dealing with. No recriminations, only caring support. I also know that my participation has helped to encourage others along the way. We are The A Team, trying to do the very best we can with what we have to work with, and Pulmonary Rehab is the means to do it with.
Before this turns into a book, I'll just say that if you have the ability and opportunity to get into a Pulmonary Rehab Group in your area, by all means, at least give it a try. I am positive you will not be disappointed at what you will learn. And it certainly helps now that Medicare helps with the expense of it. The beginning level is called Phase 2 (and we all wonder what exactly Phase 1 was...) and the rest of us are in Phase 3 (which we all have to pay for out of pocket), and that is for a lifetime!
Oh, and a P.S. After my father passed away, his Death Certificate stated that he had COPD! We, his 3 daughters, never knew anything about it. Shallow Breather, huh, Dad? Duh!!!
