Educating Others about Lung Disease

It happened again. Someone was told about my illness, wanted to ask a few questions and was rather surprised that I can talk about it all without becoming emotional. My goodness, after almost six years of living with a bad diagnosis, if I don’t have it settled in my mind and able to talk about it by now, I would be an emotional mess.

As a former educator, I love talking about all the things that I have learned:

• There are many different types of lung diseases that people have never heard of.
• Not all lung diseases are caused by smoking and in fact, very few are related to smoking.
• An ILD has the opposite issues from an Obstructive Lung Disease like asthma or emphysema.
• Interstitial Lung Diseases “harden” the lungs thus making them smaller. The main problem is the exchange of gasses at the end of the bronchi.
• Obstructive Lung Diseases feature mucus filled lungs that become loose and floppy. They then rest on the diaphragm near the stomach, which causes people to feel full and not eat. That is why people with emphysema, for example, are usually skinny.
• Yes, mold and fungus exposure can kill you.
• No, we don’t have to move to a warmer climate because I breathe easier in cooler moist climates.
• I know I don’t look disabled. Do you want me to demonstrate? I can run up these stairs to show you what happens….

It is all about educating others.

Even with the above, many people still are skeptical about the cause of my disease. I usually very casually mention OSHA’s involvement and that usually ends that line of questioning.

I have also discovered that I feel better after talking about it. I try not to carry on but try to just answer their questions. With a smile. By the end of the conversation, I usually try to remind them that life is unexpected and things happen. Live every day. Grab life by the tail and dance everyday.