Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Simplifying complicated medical terms

Let’s start with me. As I think I’ve mentioned, I was diagnosed with COPD in 1990. The doctor took pity on me when he saw the dumbfounded look on my face and explained: the acronym meant Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease. When my look didn’t change he went on to nail it down. I had a combination of chronic bronchitis and emphysema. That at least gave me something to look up in the dictionary. Remember this was B.G – Before Google.

I discovered that chronic bronchitis is an inflammation of the mucous membrane of the bronchial tubes in the lungs. Emphysema is an abnormal increase in the size of the air sacs in the lungs, resulting in labored breathing and susceptibility to infection.

I also discovered that the great majority of COPD cases (80% to 90%) are the result of a prolonged habit of smoking. And I finally had a simplified definition of my disease that I could understand.

With a father who died of lung cancer at age 53, and a personal smoking habit that lasted nearly thirty years, peaking at three or more packs a day, I was a victim of Duh!

(To be continued in tomorrow’s blog – with the really good part!)

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