Reply #14: Best of luck to you on [View All]

[Roselma]

quitting smoking. My dearly departed mother-in-law suffered from emphysema. I believe her pulmonologist took a too-conservative approach with medication and supplemental oxygen therapy. We later found out that she would have been an ideal candidate for lung volume reduction surgery based upon the location(s) of lobes that were damaged. My boss's dad had a different doctor who offered the lung reduction surgery. What a difference in the quality of life! He was so much more mobile and healthy than my mother-in-law, plus he lived to age 91, so it isn't as if the surgery was a failure. It was the difference between her staying home and having help with everything and him traveling, doing yardwork, and having vigor. She was unable to shake off pneumonia, and he just had the ability to cough out infection. If your doctor doesn't discuss the issue of lung volume reduction with you, bring it up. Your problem may not be in the same lobes as my mother-in-law and boss's dad, but it might be.