Posted: 6/30/2014 3:54:13 AM EDT
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Mom called yesterday to say her dr. is putting her on O2 and pulmonary rehab. She (mom) has had breathing issues for several years, uses an inhaler and started Spiriva (sp) a while back but her breathing is getting worse. Walking to the front door leaves her winded.
My mom is 72, has disc issues in her back, breathing problems and recently developed some type of bone spur in her ankle. Needless to say all of these issues are taking a toll on her mentally. What is pulmonary rehab? She said it's like cardiac rehab but for your lungs. How exactly does one exercise their lungs? |
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Good for her kicking the habit.  Quoted:
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Smoker? Was in the past, hasn't for over twenty years or so. Good for her kicking the habit. Definitely! Probably wouldn't be having this thread had she not quit. No answers Op, so sending prayers for your mom. |
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My mother went through that. She smoked for decades & gave them up the last three years of her life. She was very petite, not particularly active & liked her beer a lot. It all caught up to her in Sept '11. All of the measures the doctors apply these days ease the issue but eventually, without functioning lungs the end will come. I can offer this suggestion. When my mom was in her last days & on morphine drip, we would play the audio from family members wishing her well & offering prayers. A vid of my grandson laughing & giggling (age 1.5) was comforting to her. We let family call into the hospital room via my wife's cell & hold to her ear. We could see the monitors show she was more relaxed when the audio, vids & phone calls were played. The veteran hospice nurse commented that she would recommend that comfort measure to others as it was presenting positive results. Those calling in were reluctant initially but I assured them they were indeed lending comfort to her in her last days and hours. |
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I'm not sure what cardiac rehab your mom will be doing, but my daughter has a volume capacitor thing for her lungs, it's basically just a plastic tube with a piece that gets pushed forward when you blow into it, and the more air volume you blow into it, the further it goes, telling you how well your lungs are working. When her asthma was acting up really badly and she had to use it every day to let us know if her lungs were opening up or not, she had to just take deep breaths a couple times a day too.
Prayers being said for your mom. |
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My dad smoked for years too. Quit for good finally about 10 years ago. Now 75, overweight, out of shape. The flu sent him to the hospital late last year with a rapid heartbeat. Blood thinners and other medications, after 3 months, heart seemed fine but could not catch up with his breathing. Finally went for follow-ups and got some more testing. Diagnosed with COPD and they found lung cancer. Looks like they caught it early but the doctor nixed surgery as an option for him because of the copd. So he is looking at radiation with limited chemo.
I'm chemo my fingers crossed that I'll get to argue with the old man for a few more years. |