Hello!
I
am the primary caregiver and daughter to my mom who has COPD and suffers with
chronic Bronchitis/exacerbation. So far, we have been in the hospital once with
the first exacerbation in April and she made a full come back to her breathing
levels prior to exacerbation. The steroids helped.
We are not onto the 2nd
exacerbation after a successful Alaskan Cruise (my mom is 88 and very
strong) and are onto on
oxygen full time the last 4 days as suggested by our pulmonologists assistant
whom we saw. We have not gone to the hospital and are hoping not to.
The question is: does everyone
out there with COPD exacerbations live and die by the pulse ox number. My moms have
not come up past 88 on her own without using oxygen and we are on 4th day of Prednisone.I
find I am in constant obsession over that number and if/are the steroids
working. It is taking longer for her to recover
this time although she didn't get hit as hard at onset.
I
am new to this and it is so hard. I live with her. Any help is welcome and
appreciated.
Stefanie