My mom, 71, has only been diagnosed with COPD for about 6 years.... over the 6 years she has gone down hill fast.
She does still smoke..... I give her crap ALLLLL THE TIME (she lives with us).... so she legit has 1-2 cigarettes a day and #1 feels 1-2 cigarettes a day ISNT HARMING HARM... and #2 what does it matter at this point.....
Anyway... there was a time when her exacerbation's would be a few times a year.... Back in late 2017 she was in and out of the hospital 3 times... she just wasnt getting better..... after that her "normal" wasnt as good as it had been....
Now, since Feb 5th, she has been in the hospital 3 times.... its been about 3 weeks now since shes been out... but when her prednisone ended, she needed to get more right the next day... thats been about a week now....
Her breahting has been a ROLLERCOASTER the last week.... one minute she is breathing OK... then its terrible... one night she couldn't even use her BIPAP machine because she couldn't breath well....
She has so many tools/medications to help keep her out of the hospital.... but shes constantly wondering if she should go in.. then suddenly she is breathing ok again... WHAT GIVES??????
Im terrified every single day... is today her last? How is it going to end? My husband is not a good support system... in his eyes "everyone dies... deal with it".........