COPD and Other Stuff

Our recent tragic killings and deaths make me doubly grateful for the incredible people and treatment I received from our hometown hospital and staff at Harrison Medical Center.

Those of us who have been patients there over a length of time know Harrison’s greatest assets are in their staff.  Their nurses and aides, many named Elizabeth and one each named Joseph and Daniel.  Joseph is notable for nursing skills and his uncanny ability to find anything….even a bridge….as in my missing two-tooth bridge.  He found it in a little container with “?” on the lid.

Nurse Elizabeth on 3N is only one example of innovative, creative thinking.    

Look at the contraption she put together to take the pressure off the bottom of my left calf to lessen the pain of the open weepy lesions and help it heal faster. The devise worked so well that when I was shifted down a floor they wheeled me downstairs right on the bed.

Nurse Sylvia on 3N brought me the Kitsap Sun newspaper every morning she worked.  I always knew she was on shift when I awoke and spotted the Sun on my bedside tray.  When I was moved to the private room on two – her spirit lifting thoughtful placing of the Kitsap Sun on the bedside table continued and never failed to make me grin in thanks.

A complication was the UW positive testing for MRSA.  You do not want it – hospital visitors do not want you to have MRSA either.  Gowning up and wearing rubber gloves to visit a friend in the hospital might well cut down on regular hospital visits.  http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0004520/, http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/mrsa/DS00735  

Dr. Halligan, Doctor’s Clinic in Silverdale, treated my leg daily in the hospital…he never failed to continue his daily treatment and re-wrapping of my lower left leg. 

(I am hoping to go home tomorrow from rehab at Martha & Mary’s Rehab Center in Poulsbo.  I have not been home in 8 weeks).

More later.

Thanks for reading…. Sharon O’Hara

I am writing this from a hospital bed on the cancer floor at Harrison Medical Center in hope someone will take note what edema can and may do to those who ignore it.

Also, I’m writing in heartfelt thanks to Dr. Halligan, Internist/Surgeon at Silverdale Doctor’s Clinic who saved my life and leg recently by taking over failed treatment for my Lymphedema/Cellulitis/Edema filled legs and painstakingly, day after day treated and changed leg wraps.

Dr. Halligan patiently explained my left leg needed debriding to remove the dead skin, much as burn victims and he couldn’t tell what was under the surface dead skin or how deep the dead tissue went. This four-month pain riddled sleep deprived patient gratefully lay in a bed at Harrison Bremerton 23 hours a day, 7 days a week. Four weeks total this Thursday.

Tomorrow, Wednesday, I am moving to a rehab place for rehabilitation and further healing.

I battled without success since early September the Cellulitis/Edema in my left leg until my right leg reddened with infection and edema and began the water blisters that experience taught would lead to lymph fluid running down my lower legs, scalding the skin it touched and spreading the poison…

Chris Goss, MD, my lung doc at the University of Washington Medical Center straightened out the Restless Leg Syndrome medication problem so I could sleep if the pain eased.

Edema patients  – PLEASE – check out the following photos of the latest rise and fall of my edema filled legs and ask yourself if ignoring edema is worth it.

Dr. Halligan – thank you!

More next time on Harrison Medical Center’s Angels in disguise.

….thanks for reading.  Sharon O’Hara

Thanks for reading…Sharon O’Hara

Lymphedema patients have a new surgery option for arm and leg swelling – would it be available to seniors?

How much is the cost of it compared to the standard treatment that doesn’t work all that well?

Who is a good candidate for the surgery?

“LITTLE ROCK – The University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) is the first in Arkansas and one of a handful of medical centers in the country offering a new surgical alternative to treat lymphedema, the chronic arm swelling frequently associated with breast cancer treatment.

The unique microvascular procedure at UAMS is performed by Mauricio Moreno, M.D., who learned the new surgery during his advanced training in microvascular reconstructive surgery prior to joining UAMS in 2009.

The surgery is the only permanent, effective treatment for lymphedema, which is caused by damaged lymph nodes that can no longer cycle excess fluid out of the arms and legs. In the United States the condition usually is a side effect of mastectomy or radiation therapy that compromises the lymphatic system. The result is swelling, numbness, discomfort and a high risk of infection.

Valerie Davis, of Smackover, the first lymphedema patient to have the surgery at UAMS, said the swelling from her mastectomy four years ago was disabling because it restricted the use of her left arm.

“The swelling was outrageous, even when I wore the compression sleeve,” Davis said. “It was really aggravating; I couldn’t lift things like I wanted to.”

Patients with lymphedema commonly see about a 20-40 percent reduction in swelling using massage and compression therapy, the traditional treatment for lymphedema. Such therapy involves extensive massaging to push the fluid from the extremities back to the torso. It is a temporary solution that has to be performed regularly because lymphedema does not improve over time – it only gets worse.

Davis said she tried the traditional treatments, which helped some but were a big inconvenience. When she heard about the new procedure, Davis said, she couldn’t pass up the chance it would bring relief.

“Dr. Moreno told me it had a 70 percent chance of working, so I took the 70 percent,” she said, adding that she’s happy she took those odds.

Davis saw an 81-percent reduction in her arm swelling within a month from the procedure.

“It was worth it,” she said. “I’m doing so much better now, and Dr. Moreno said the swelling would likely continue to go down.”

Lymphedema surgery involves connecting tiny lymphatic vessels to tiny blood vessels (less than 1 millimeter), giving the excess fluid a new pathway out of the arms or legs. The surgery was developed in Japan in 2003, and Moreno learned it from a surgeon who brought it to the United States from Japan.

Because the surgery is so new in the United States, its cost is not covered by insurance, Moreno said….”

http://www.uamshealth.com/News/NewSurgeryatUAMSProvidesDramaticReductioninArmSwellingforLymphedemaPatients?id=5350&showBack=true&PageIndex=0&cid=4

Thanks for reading… Sharon O’Hara

Cellulitis/Lymphedema is nasty.  Did I mention it is painful?  Moreover, it takes ‘forever’ to heal – or so it seems.  This time, the weeping sores have spread all the way around my lower left leg.

Seeing the blood on the old pads covering the wounds was new.  The blood was new but I was told by a medical person when I called the office that it meant the skin was healing and not to worry.  Well.  Okay.

I am not worried either that yesterday in the shower hunks of skin sloughed off my leg.  The stinging and burning was harsher than usual but I could not see what my husband was talking about until I saw the photos he took of my leg before he rewrapped it.

The medical person who told me my leg was healing might be wrong.  According to her, I should have healed last week.

Nothing, this time, resembles what has happened with prior cellulitis/lymphedema ‘attacks’.

What have other patients done to help heal cellulitis/lymphedema?  I don’t know what to do next.  What we’ve been doing isn’t working.

Beginning to feel like a monkey swinging off the end of a branch high up on a snag tree in the middle of a windstorm – I know storms abate and wounds heal!

Thanks for reading… Sharon O’Hara

Sarcoidosis Support Group meeting Saturday, 10 December 2011.

Time: 1:00 pm – 3:00pm
Where: Good Sam Hospital – 401 15th Ave SE, Puyallup, WA 98372
Mt Saint Helen’s room.

For more information contact:
Lynn Short, Executive Director
Sarcoidosis Networking Association
5302 South Sheridan Avenue
Tacoma, Washington 98408 USA

http://www.sarcoidosisnetwork.org/

If anyone needs a ride, let me know.
Thanks for reading… Sharon O’Hara

What does COPD have to do with Harrison Medical Center’s 2011 Festival of Trees?  EVERYTHING.  Grateful patients, medical health providers and those who just plain like benefit auctions as an excuse to bid on wonderful and unusual items for a good cause donate and bid with full knowledge that their dollars will go for a good cause.

This year “Proceeds from the 2011 Festival of Trees will go to upgrades needed for rooms and equipment in the ICU (Intensive Care Unit) at Harrison Medical Center.”

http://www.kitsapsun.com/news/2011/oct/23/festival-of-trees-to-bough-out-after-25-years/

The following photos show a couple items donated by a person who has never donated items to the Festival of Trees before and shows real people behind each item.

One, the dollhouse, was bought as a dollhouse kit and put together by grandchildren and great-grandchildren as a family affair for Harrison Medical Center’s final 25^th and final Festival of Trees.  Harrison Hospital is our community and family hospital.

One of the granddaughter’s is studying to become an RN in June, raising a family with her husband, also in the medical field.  The other granddaughter works for a local online wedding company, is part of a military family, her husband is a career submariner.

The rosemaled sled was originally in Vesterheim Heritage Museum’s 2008 benefit auction and sold then for $5,100.  Harrison has paired it with a very special Christmas tree.

Thanks for reading… Sharon O’Hara

What does Bremerton’s Mayor, Patty Lent, have to do Aga Khan University and the National Alliance for Tobacco Control seminar?

Both honored World COPD Day on Wednesday, 16 November 2011.

Mayor Lent had Adam Brockus present the 2011 World COPD Day Proclamation at the Bremerton City Council meeting, Wednesday, 16 November 2011.

Thank you Mayor Lent, Adam Brockus and the city council members!  Karma Foley of Seabeck will get the actual certificate because she lost both parents to COPD and Asbestosis and I’ll treasure my copy of it.

See photos below another World COPD Day story from the other side of the world, Karachi, Pakistan.

““…(COPD) disease poses a major health hazard and unfortunately remains largely under-diagnosed and under-treated in Pakistan, said experts gathered at a collaborative seminar organised by the Aga Khan University and the National Alliance for Tobacco Control. The seminar was held at the Aga Khan University to commemorate World COPD Day.

COPD affects more than 340 million people and is one of the leading causes of death worldwide,” said Prof Nadeem Rizvi, president of the Pakistan Chest Society and the Head Department of Chest Diseases, JPMC, Karachi.

Elaborating on the risk factors, Professor Javaid Khan, Head, Section of Pulmonolgy, the AKU said that smoking was a major risk factor for the disease.

“Significant societal and quality of life benefits could be achieved if greater steps are taken to prevent the condition, such as greater access to smoking cessation programmes, earlier diagnosis and appropriate management strategies to control the condition and slow down the spread of the disease,” explained Prof Khan.

He called for the implementation of clean air laws in the country similar to the Sindh Assembly resolution passed earlier this year banning the use of Shisha in restaurants.

The use of biomass fuel like wood and coal in cooking is another important cause for this disease, especially for women living in rural areas.

Unfortunately, most patients visit their doctors very late when severe damage to the lungs has already been done. Smokers should seek help from smoking cessation experts, who could not only share with them some practical tips on how to quit smoking, but also how best to utilize new medicine designed to help with quitting.

http://www.thenews.com.pk/TodaysPrintDetail.aspx?ID=78106&Cat=4

Thanks for reading…. Sharon O’Hara

Happy World COPD Day today – 16 November 2011!   (Local recognition activity follows….and Bremerton’s Mayor Patty Lent leads the way)  Sorry, I’m running a little late.

In addition – a new lung connection in the newly completed 20-year study found that COPD patients are five times more likely to develop lung cancer than normal lung folks are.  The warning is to offer Spirometry to detect COPD in the early stages to cut cancer and COPD deaths.  The investigative paper gave the shout-out in the prestigious European Respiratory Journal.

“It comes as an exclusive investigation by GP found a lack of PCT investment in the gold standard treatment for COPD is undermining patients’ quality of life and increasing practice workload.

Around one in 100 patients with the chronic disease developed cancer, compared with one in 500 without lung impairment.

Testing the lung function of former and active smokers would identify COPD earlier, thereby improving early detection of lung cancer and improving survival chances, it found.

Lead author Yasuo Sekine, of Tokyo Women’s Medical University, said: ‘The findings from our analysis suggest that early detection of COPD in addition to lung cancer screening for these patients could be an effective detection technique for lung cancer. However, further research is still needed to determine the selection criteria for COPD and lung cancer screening.’

Monica Fletcher, chairperson of the European Lung Foundation, said millions had COPD but it was often undetected.

‘People frequently ignore the symptoms of lung disease and leave it too late before going to the doctor,‘ she said. ‘This research highlights the need for routine lung function tests, known as spirometry, to help improve quality of life and identify other conditions that could be present.’

Professor Klaus Rabe, president of the European Respiratory Society, said ‘On World COPD Day, we would also urge European governments to improve early detection of respiratory diseases, such as COPD.’

Meanwhile, patients’ respiratory associations across Europe said governments must work harder to reduce the £28 billion annual cost of COPD.

Proposals from the European Federation of Allergy and Airways Diseases Patients’ Associations to reduce this burden include listing COPD as a warning on tobacco products, improving access to spirometry and funding research on how to avoid exacerbations.

http://www.gponline.com/News/article/1104308/detect-copd-cut-cancer-deaths-experts-urge/

The Better Breather’s Respiratory Support Group meets today at Harrison Silverdale -in the Rose room from 1:00pm – 3:00 pm.  Pam O’Flynn will introduce Harrison’s new Respiratory Clinical Practice Educator, Martin Robin.  I know the meeting will be informative and lively no matter the topic and hope to see you there!

http://www.harrisonmedical.org/home/calendar/4903

“We welcome any community member with asthma, emphysema, chronic bronchitis, sarcoidosis, asbestosis, pulmonary hypertension, pulmonary fibrosis and the many more lung diseases affecting our population, pediatric or adult.”

Harrison Silverdale – 1800 NW Myhre Road – Silverdale, WA 98383

Today – at 5:30 pm – Bremerton’s Mayor Patty Lent makes COPD, Kitsap County and Washington State history.  She is the first mayor in Washington State to present Governor Christine Gregoire’s Proclamation declaring November 2011 State COPD Month, to my knowledge.  Her generosity in recognizing the 3^rd leading cause of death in the US is precious by recognizing today, 16 November 2011 as World COPD Day!

District 3, Manette’s hard working effective and beneficial city council member, Adam Brockus will present the Proclamation to Karma Foley of Seabeck who lost both parents to COPD.  Karma’s mom had the inherited type of COPD and with her oxygen tank, went out of her way to help me with several COPD/EFFORTS public meetings we put together a few years ago.

This COPD  historic event happens at 5:30 pm in the Norm Dicks Government Building city council chambers.  I will be taking pictures for y’all and trying not to let my eyes leak. Thank you!

I will ride a recumbent trike from Evergreen Park to the NDGB or walk it instead…very cold and wet out there.

Thanks for reading… Sharon O’Hara

Thank you for taking the time to write, Suquamish – and you are young at only 52 to have COPD.  I’m sure there are other young ones with COPD who live to be retired and ancient without adding more diseases.  They keep moving as best they can, get good medical care, an exercise program and good nutrition too can overcome almost anything.

What does your doc say about the x-rays?

The pain is in my lower legs – not lungs and I’m one of those COPDers who gathered all these other medical conditions after COPD.

Venous Stasis Dermatitis – Lymphedema – Cellulitis – when I’m not careful enough about sodium and wearing support stockings.  This time though, thanks to Mellissa’s teaching and my husband’s help they didn’t swell, crack open and leak for about a year and a half.  The condition is chronic but I learned more good lessons to keep this from happening again through checking labels more carefully on everything I eat or drink.  Moreover, this too will pass – so will the pain.

The neat thing Suquamish – you gave me another idea.  You are young.  There have to be other people out there who would gladly give living with COPD and heart worthy tips to other COPDers.  Working full time, you probably aren’t able to attend the monthly afternoon Harrison Medical Center/Better Breathers educational classes at Harrison Silverdale.  However ….

Would you be interested in an evening support group of like-minded people who not only have lung or heart disease they are living life to the fullest in spite of it and want to share what has worked for them?

We should have such a support group in Silverdale. No gloom & doom – no cost – just patients sharing what works for us.

What do you think?  Would Tuesday evenings from 7 – 8 pm work for you?  Occasionally we could have speakers willing to donate their time to help educate us too.

Suquamish – Thanks for reading my posts and hope they haven’t been gloomy and doomy for you or anyone – I didn’t meant them to be.  This pain will pass when my lower legs get ‘normal’ again and I take proper care of them – including the support stockings and no more high sodium diet sodas.

I’m open to any suggestions for a meeting place that will allow COPDers (lung and heart folks) to meet on a monthly basis in the evening for an hour…

BTW:  I may be moaning and groaning about pain from my legs but it doesn’t change my plans to make a recumbent trike trip next summer from here to the other Washington for COPD.

Thanks… Sharon

One Response to “COPD – the beginning. Pain – the end”

1. Suquamish Says:
   November 2nd, 2011 at 4:11 am

I am sorry Sharon, I guess I am following in your footsteps. The VA gave me a chest x-ray and it had a white spot on my lung. They told me to see my health provider (Group Death) I mean Group Health. They put a clip on my nipple to rule out the phantom shadow on the lung. Too bad the clip and the white spot both showed up in different areas. Group Health never diagnosed it at COPD. But a couple weeks ago when I went in Urgent care and underwent a breathing treatment the noted COPD in my health chart. I had another chest xray because of the pain you stated in your post. I guess it is just the muscles that got strained. I guess there weren’t any fractures or they would have been noted. I hope you take care of yourself Sharon, I enjoy reading your post on Kitsapsun.com. I would like to learn more about COPD from someone affected by it. I wonder how much longer I will be able to work. I am just a young guy at 52.
Read more: http://pugetsoundblogs.com/copd-and-other-stuff/2011/11/01/copd-the-beginning-pain-the-end/#ixzz1cbDldPN6

COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease) is not painful.  We simply cannot breathe easily.  Some of us are on supplement oxygen – others chug along noisily, some less noisy.

“Question: Is having pain in the lung typical of COPD?

Answer: Chronic lung pain is not commonly associated with COPD. However, pain can come from the wall of the chest and not directly from the lungs – this in fact can be seen in COPD. Pain in the chest can come from coughing very hard and straining the muscles of the chest. Pain in the chest can be due to a rib fracture from coughing hard. Pain in the back of the chest can come from osteoporosis, or thinning of the bones. Check with your healthcare provider to find out the cause of your pain. If you have new chest pain, or have pain that frightens you, call 911 to go to the emergency room at the nearest hospital.”

 http://www.nationaljewish.org/healthinfo/conditions/copd-chronic-obstructive-pulmonary-disease/faq/

The problem for some of us is that COPD leads to other stuff – some of it painful – none of it desirable.  That is where I am – I have gathered a bunch of other stuff since my 1997 stay in Harrison Medical Center.

Do to inattention at putting on my stockings when I needed to – timing is crucial – the Cellulitis/Lymphedema is back and trying to heal.  It should have healed by now.  A brief stay in Harrison gave a great jump-start of healing my left leg but the healing has been set back and that means the pain is unrelenting.

A problem seems to be that the long homemade brush had an end tied cord that caught in the bristles of the soft baby brush and ripped the half healed sores open when I was in the shower to gently cleanse the wounds before my husband wrapped them again.

I did not know why it was so painful until I lifted the brush to rinse it and saw the cord end stuck in the soft bristles. I have recut the length of the cord so it cannot happen again.

Pain overtakes a life – it has taken over mine…and no blame except to me.   It has been over a year since my legs got bad and lymph fluid wept and the ‘blame’ is my own doorstep.  I let other stuff get in the way of getting my stockings on. I dropped the ball – as it’s turned out – on my own left foot.

I have never liked taking pain pills for any reason but for a lung patient – it is harmful.  Trouble is, right now – I do not care.  What good is saving your lungs when pain keeps you awake and in agony?  Crying in pain chokes off my airway and I still my mind to focus on deep breathing.  I take a pain pill to sleep and I take a pain pill to endure being awake waiting for my leg to heal.

Should I be afraid of becoming a drug addict?  At this point, I’m more afraid of not wanting to wake up to another day of the same pain.

Funny how drug abuse by drug addicts shut down pain relief for people who medically need it.  Doctors become afraid to prescribe pain pills for fear their patients will become addicted….and patients become afraid to take it.

Read the latest policy by the state – to track:

““Having a patient’s prescription history gives prescribers a more complete view of patient care when they prescribe or dispense controlled substances,” Washington State Secretary of Health Mary Selecky said in a press release. “This new service is another tool for patient care and safety.””

Read more: http://pugetsoundblogs.com/kitsap-crime/2011/10/14/state-to-begin-monitoring-prescriptions-for-pain-medication-in-2012/#ixzz1cT5a9dJ1

Josh Farley’s “State to begin monitoring prescriptions for pain medication in 2012” article is timely.

The only people tracked here are medical patients and their doctors.  The druggies and drug dealers remain in a dark, untracked place of anonymity.

If doctors are leery of writing scripts for pain medications for their patients – what will happen to those patients forced to endure unrelenting pain?

Yes, Josh – I think this is an invasion of people’s privacy.

Thanks for reading…. Sharon O’Hara