I hope to travel for a long time yet. There is still plenty to look forward to, even with COPD.
A few years ago I was diagnosed with osteoporosis and was doing exercises to better manage it.
At the time I remember feeling that my breathing and endurance was not as good as the other ladies in the class.
I had minor asthma over the years, a few years of smoking and lived in a mining town for many years. A few times I had bronchitis and chest infections and finally pneumonia. It was at that stage that the report said that I had some degree of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), which was later confirmed by a spirometry test.
When I was diagnosed with COPD I had to do a lot of research to find out what it was as I was not familiar with that term.
At the time I didn’t take it all that seriously, except to think that I now had to look out for something else after being diagnosed with a second disease.
Since being diagnosed, I have learnt there are many things I can do to live well with my condition. I have a small Peak Flow Meter at home which works with my iPad, so I am able to keep track of the quality of my breathing. I try to let neither COPD nor osteoporosis define me.
Thanks to pulmonary rehabilitation, I do a lot more exercise than I have probably done before. I go to the gym four times a week and do a lot of weights – even one of my favourites, the deadlift.
I also use a lot of the other machines and recently started on the step machine and have been able to improve from 66 steps to 110.
When I go on my 50 minute walk, which I do when I don’t go to the gym, I do a few minutes of jogging or until my breath is not that great anymore. I have an exercise physiologist to write my program, but I still do a lot of the exercises which the two beautiful ladies who taught us at pulmonary rehabilitation – Stella and Jo. I am now stage 3 of COPD, but I still do most of the things I did a couple of years ago.
I wish I was told earlier about the benefits of pulmonary rehabilitation as I found the program very helpful – maybe doctors don’t know how useful it actually is. Anybody with COPD should have the opportunity to participate in such a program.
I hope more research is being done so that one day there might be a medication that is able to reverse or stop the progress of COPD.
My husband is a great help at home and a fantastic chef in the kitchen. He helps out with all sorts of household chores and does a lot of organising for our overseas trips. Other than travelling, I also enjoy crosswords, following politics, exercising, reading, admiring the colourful gardens when I go walking and listening to the songs of the birds.
I hope to travel for a long time yet. There is still plenty to look forward to, even with COPD.
After studying commerce, I worked for many years as an Office Manager both nationally and internationally and still do some selling on the internet to keep my mind busy and active. My husband and I have been blessed with two beautiful and successful children and four very lovely grandchildren.