Hi Dicky D, I am sorry to hear of your plight. I think you could do a lot of people on here a lot of good if you could explain your condition a little more, for instance: had you given up the fags prior to contracting emphysema, what were the initial symptoms, does it improve once you have given up or just get worse? Someones personal experience often carries much more weight than some tv ad and is more likely to sink in with the potential 'giver upper'. I know this is a rather personal request and would fully understand if you chose not to reply to it but I just think you could save a few lives here.
Best regards.... Chris
Hi Chris I don't mind giving a bit more information if it will help someone to learn from my mistakes.
First I was still smoking when I was diagnosed.
The first symptoms were a shortness of breath when when exerting myself, I was a builder. Then there was the smokers cough which was getting worse. I then started to get a fairly serious shortage of breath when working in dusty conditions, not good for a builder. I started to struggle carrying heavy weights especially on stairs or ladders.
I went to my GP who sent me for x-rays. When the results came back the GP asked me to call in the surgery where she told me I had emphysema, I packed up smoking that day [9/11] and I haven't smoked since.
The emphysema has got worse since then. I had to retire the following April and haven't worked since. Previous to packing up work I cannot remember the last time I was sick.
I have been bluelighted to the hospital twice and on the second occasion my wife was told to expect the worse, this was cause by an excess of CO2 in my blood caused by the lungs not working properly. The CO2 effectively shut down my internal organs.
I also suffer from cellulitis which is an infection in my legs that can make the legs swell to twice there normal size and is a side affect of poor circulation.
As I said previously this disease affects every aspect of your life. You think of something that you do and this will affect or prevent you doing it. Your life very nearly comes to a standstill .
Air quality which the average person doesn't notice can confine you to a chair because of the breathlessness.
Shaving can result in having to sit down for 5minutes to get your breath back.
Filling kettle and making tea can have the same affect.
You can not plan to do anything as you don't know how you will be on the day.
Boat building has to be done in short spells because the of fumes from paint glue solder etc
If you need anything lifted or carried you need help.
A lot of walking is out , you need a wheelchair and someone to push it.
If you need to pop in a shop you have to park right outside because it will be too far to walk otherwise.
You will learn to hate able bodied people who park in disabled parking bays, or use disabled toilets.
You are not allowed on a plane again because of the low oxygen and low pressure in the cabin.
For me that means I will never see my mum or sister and her family again as they live in New Zealand.
I have to be on oxygen every night which makes going away a bit of a problem.
Talking of nights, sometimes it can be a struggle to get upstairs at night, might have to stop a couple of times to get my breath back.
I hope I haven't waffle on to much but it is very difficult to really tell it like it is.
I hope you can now see why I spend so much time on here, it is the nearest I get to meeting and speaking to other people. Sad or what ?
The one thing I forgot, the medication, I collect 2 months at a time and it comes in two carrier bags, so ask the wife to empty out a kitchen unit because you will need it. [See photo]