The New Face of COPD: Eileen

Chances are, you or someone you know has COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease), an umbrella term for emphysema and chronic bronchitis). COPD is a common disease, probably much more common than you think. In fact, over 12 million U.S. adults are estimated to have COPD. But even more alarming is evidence that close to 24 million people have impaired lung function, indicating a vast under diagnosis of COPD.

Interesting facts, yes, but when it comes right down to it, when you're the one who has COPD, it's not the millions who matter most. It's just you, and the people closest to you, who must live day-by-day, night-by-night, breath-by-breath with the challenge of COPD.

In honor of COPD Awareness Month, over the next two weeks, I'm going to introduce you to four people living with COPD. Come along with me and meet them, and when you do, I think you'll be surprised that your idea of what COPD is - what you believe it looks like and what you think it has to be - isn't necessarily so.

Join me now, and meet Eileen, Tim, Dee, and Ken, and hear for yourself how we talk about living - not dying - with COPD. Learn how COPD is no longer a death sentence; and why it doesn't have to be about isolation and illness, but being part of community and living well. This is what living with COPD should be all about. Meet the new face of COPD.

Name: Eileen
Age: 58

Location: Greenfield, Massachusetts

Occupation: Licensed Practical Nurse, then Registered Nurse for 32 years. I have worked in various venues, from hospital nursing to home care nursing to long-term care facility nursing. I am certified in Geriatrics.

When were you diagnosed?
I was diagnosed in the winter of 1998 after the sudden onset of respiratory failure. I wound up in the hospital on a ventilator. It was there that I was first seen by a pulmonologist who came into my room and told me, "You do not have asthma. You have COPD and it is very severe. This will never happen again if you quit smoking." I don't remember anything else he said that day.

What was your reaction to the diagnosis?
First, it was anger because I had always been told I had asthma and I had never been tested by spirometry (lung function test). Because of my background in nursing, I didn't want to be a "lunger" like so many I had taken care of.

Then, it was fear because I had seen some pretty awful deaths due to lung diseases.
After that, it was denial. I had returned home and back to work, I was feeling good (I'm sure partly because of the steroids I had been given) and I didn't have time for being sick! I also didn't want to quit smoking and figured that if I admitted I had such bad lung disease, I would have to quit. I was too busy working to allow an illness to overtake my life. I did quit smoking for a few weeks but went back to it.

What was the reaction of your family and friends?
They were very concerned and afraid that I would die. I didn't tell too many friends, afraid that they would judge me. My daughter was very scared - she was 16 at the time. She begged me to quit smoking.