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| Severe Emphysema |
Question:
What severe emphysema is like?
Answer:
Here is what it is like to have severe emphysema: Imagine that three or
four times a day you stand up from a chair or you walk a little too fast or
sometimes you just turn over in bed and the consequence is that you suddenly
feel as though your nostrils and mouth are covered with duck tap--after having
run a long distance. And your hands are tied behind your back. And do not
think please, that you can rub the wall or a tree with your face and get the
duck tape off your mouth and nose. You can't because you are also lashed to a
chair that is bolted to the floor. In other words you cannot move. You cannot
move because your muscles and nerves are not getting enough oxygen. You have
reached acidosis from some small amount of exercise. It is not that you would
rather not move, not that moving is difficult/uncomfortable. I mean that you
are paralyzed.
Additionally, there is the constant and unpredictable fatigue.
Some medical books give people with emphysema
levels like mine ten years to live, some four years to live.
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