When should I go to the hospital? (newly diagnosed with COPD)

Might sound like a silly question, but let me offer some context...

I'm newly diagnosed with COPD and don't yet have much information with regard to the specifics of my condition. I'm waiting until my scheduled follow-ups with the pulmonary specialists for testing, biopsy, etc.

It took a few years for me to get to this point and its the result of a series of reoccurring visits to the hospital due to dyspnea. These ER visits were all caused by various upper respiratory infections which have come with congestion, wheezing, crackling when I breathe, etc. and most recently a nasty bout of pnuenomia.

Each time I've gone to the emergency room, its been due to SOB (shortness of breath) that has progressed to the point where I feel as though I'm drowning and I'm experiencing all the panic and desperation that goes along with it (I read somewhere on here that its like being "starved for air" -a very accurate description).

Each time I've gone to the ER (of which I've lost count of at this point), its been the same sequence of events.... I'm escalated as priority and immediately given O2 until I'm stable enough to talk to the doctor and explain what brought me in.

I'm then given treatments with a nebulizer, given IV steroids and usually antibiotics all in an effort to clear out my lungs. I also have x-rays taken and CT scans and each in case they confirm fluid in my lungs, as well as a small nodule that I've had for a couple years now (still waiting to get a biopsy on it).

Each of these hospital visits have required me to stay over for various numbers of days for observation before I've been discharged.

During each of these hospital visits, the doctors have always suggested "COPD" as a diagnosis in the absence of anything more conclusive.

This has been the pattern for me for over a year and in the past month, since I came down with pnuenomia -have gotten more frequent and more severe.

I'm now waiting for my next appointment with a pulmonary specialist which is in a couple weeks and hoping that I will be able to get some more specific information about my condition and develop a strategy for treating it.

In the meantime, I feel stuck in limbo. I'm living day-to-day, not sure what specifically is wrong with me (do I have emphysema? is it bronchitis? is the nodule on my lung early stage of cancer? Is it actually not that serious? is it actually more serious?, etc.)

That said, day-to-day I'm dealing with SOB and in some cases to the point where I begin to panic. My inhaler only helps so much and I get concerned that if I use it too much, it will lose efficacy. I'm also wrestling with a whole host of other issues -trying to maintain an appetite, while also being conscious of eating healthy, dealing with the pain of my ribs and bruising from coughing so much, trying to master the pursed breathing technique, trying to sleep (breathing when I lie down is an issue), etc. I could go on and on.

Each day I get to a point where I'm seriously have to consider whether or not I should go back to the hospital. Something may catch me off guard and trigger my SOB to the point of near panic. Pursed breathing has been helpful in bringing me back to a point of being stable, but I'm feeling really challenged right now because of the uncertainty I'm feeling. I'm scared to go out or plan any type of plans, etc.

Between now and when I meet with my specialist, what realistically should I do if I feel like I've gotten to a point where nothing seems to work and I can't breathe? The thought of whether or not I should go to the hospital constantly on my mind and is in of itself causing me anxiety :(

One moment I may feel fine and in another moment, i can hardly walk from my living room to my kitchen without SOB and feeling faint.

Is it possible that I'm suffering from something more specific that I haven't been diagnosed with yet?

And with all these questions, I keep coming back to the question...Should go back to the hospital?