Tag Archives: Josh Farley

COPD – the beginning. Pain – the end

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

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Lungs Are Us – The State Does Not Protect The Homeowner

Josh Farley’s, “Kitsap County fined for safety complaints made by former employee”

Struck a nerve and evoked one of my most unpleasant memories with a company based right here in Kitsap County.  Protect your lungs – because if you don’t, who will?

“During inspections last fall, L&I staff said the county didn’t ensure an employee working with corrosive chemicals was wearing eye protection and that employees were not informed of the hazards of working with those chemicals….”

http://www.kitsapsun.com/news/2011/jan/30/county-fined-for-safety-complaints-made-by/

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Interesting.  Some years ago a Kitsap County company was hired by our insurance company to do some work on the lower floor of our house.  I had COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease) and was protective of my lungs.

The final job the workers had to do was waterproof the downstairs concrete floor in what I called “The Yellow Room” and the rooms off it.  It was fully enclosed without ventilation but double wood doors from the yellow room opened directly into the library and on the other side of the library a glass slider opened to the outside gardens.

Side doors off the library opened into the greenhouse along the south side of the house, another door led to an apartment made up for my parents when they visited and a door on the opposite side of the library opened into the double car garage.

The garden and hobby room doors opened from the other side of the garage and weren’t affected.

An open stairway led upstairs along the greenhouse adjoining wall into the main house from the library.

I had warned the workers to wear masks, turn on all the floor fans I had supplied and to keep ALL the doors and windows downstairs open for their safety and my own – that none of the fumes would come upstairs where I could breathe them adding to my already damaged lungs.

A company from Seattle had previously sealed the stairway from the upstairs and wore spacesuits and enclosed helmets when they had removed the damaged and old asbestos linoleum.

The KC Company didn’t bother and when I went downstairs to see how they were doing, I noted the fans were off, the sliding door to the outside was closed and they had no masks on.

The smart mouthed young man poured the liquid toxins directly on the concrete in the yellow room and the fumes filled the air.  I ran to open the doors and windows and turn the fans on.

He laughed when I yelled at him and the others to put on masks and asked why he deliberately ignored what I’d told him to do and I choked, my eyes watered up and I grabbed the stair railing and pulled myself upstairs and out of the fumes.

Trouble is the fumes followed and continued to burn my eyes and throat.  The only place I had to go for clean air was out on the deck.

The workers eventually finished and left.  They had backed down the driveway and parked their van in front of the garage and I was outside on the front deck above the garage when they finished and left.  The young man apparently in charge laughed again and joked with his co-workers as they piled into their vehicle and pulled out and up the driveway.

I called their company and spoke to the owner who assured me that safety warning about wearing masks was posted at their place of business and that he did everything the state required him to do in terms of warning his workers to protect themselves.

Nothing, he said, mentioned protecting the homeowner and there was nothing he could do about protecting his workers any more than posting the state required warning.

It was posted in plain sight for them to read.

My point is that workers can and do ignore warnings.

Unless things have drastically changed – there is no protection for the homeowner from irresponsible Rambo type foolish workers.

More later… Sharon O’Hara

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