COPD and smoking

 

Man with emphysema has a message for smokers

“Don’t! Chuck it away, give it up.”

Like many granddads, Bill* sometimes gets a little grumpy when his grandchildren climb all over him.

Bill, 73, loves his grandkids dearly, but they move so quickly and they make the sort of full on demands that little ones are prone to when they’re playing with someone they know and love.

“Poor little fellas. They jump all over the bed and these days it doesn’t take much for me to get down, to get upset.”

When you know a little more about Bill’s circumstances, you’ll probably forgive him a bit of grumpiness here and there anyway.

Bill, 73, has such bad COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease) that he can’t walk unaided. He’s hooked up to an oxygen machine 24 hours a day and Bill needs assistance to go to the toilet.

(COPD includes emphysema, which Bill has, as well as chronic bronchitis and chronic asthma).

Should he venture as far as his mailbox, it involves a wheelchair ride.

About 80 percent of COPD is caused by cigarette smoking and Bill regrets he ever started.

“I started smoking at about 14 years old and smoked till I was about 50. I smoked about two packets of 50 grams a week, rollies. When I was diagnosed my doctor said if I didn’t stop I would die.”

A man who comes across as very measured in what he says, Bill says that living with COPD is scary and frustrating.

“It’s scary running out of breath.”

He’s often short of breath despite the oxygen machine. His wife, Beverley, has to do all the household chores because there is so much this formerly very active man can’t do any longer.

“The worst thing is that Susan* has to do all the weeding. I can’t even do the firewood, which I used to. I’m deadwood, no help at all.”

How things change: Bill used to be a boxing coach and play rugby, but now can’t wash some dishes without overexerting himself.”

Nor does he sleep very well. The COPD interferes with that.

Bill only gets out of the house for doctors’ visits and to go to his local hospital five or six times a year. He uses a portable oxygen tank for these excursions.

“All I can do is read books and watch TV. Then the mail lady comes and if she stops to talk, ‘whoopee’, that’s the highlight of my day.”

It’s not a pleasant illness at all.”

*Not his real name.

*Not her real name.