Columns

After a lung transplant, a patient should not partake in some tasks or continue with certain behaviors. For example, I used to love to do yardwork, such as gardening and keeping my lawn in shape. But my transplant doctor recommended against it. I can’t do other activities as well, but…

Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is a cruel disease. Characterized by progressive scarring in the lungs that prevents oxygenation, IPF slowly steals a patient’s ability to breathe. There is no cure for IPF, and the only approved medications to slow the development of lung fibrosis are Ofev (nintedanib) and Esbriet…

Have you ever had to persuade yourself to do something? I often negotiate with myself to complete tasks I don’t want to do by rewarding myself with something enjoyable afterward. That worked when I was in school and cramming for exams: If I just get through this last chapter, I…

As an English major with an interest in psychology, I am constantly analyzing the effect that words can have on people. Words are magical units of meaning that we can combine in infinite ways to convey ideas and thoughts. Some combinations can be healing, while others can have the…

Most of the conversations in the Pulmonary Fibrosis News Forums are about the physical and medical aspects of living with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF). But occasionally we steer off-topic and talk about who we are as people first and patients second. We talk about our families, travel plans,…

A roadblock to your future could be any number of things. Perhaps it is a new skill necessary to advance your career or the finances needed for a big purchase. Those are normal hurdles that many have to overcome to achieve their goals. A life-threatening lung disease is an abnormal…

As I sit down to write this column, I am having a difficult day. Following a recent column about vulnerability, I heard from many readers who said my words encouraged them to express their own vulnerabilities. As a result of that feedback, I want to share that today I…

Last week, we celebrated the one-year anniversary of my mom, Holly, getting on the lung transplant list. If you’ve been a reader of mine for a while, you know that getting on the list was not a smooth process for us. She was pretty…

At my last doctor’s appointment, my physician asked me how I felt. I replied, “Some days, I feel invincible.” She gave me the biggest smile and told me how happy she was that I was doing so well. While I get colds and sometimes contract a virus, when I…

An emerging healthcare priority in the past decade has been patient-centered care. It is an idea that many facilities are still trying to define. Patient-centered care is simple to me: person first, patient second. I’m grateful to my healthcare team for getting this right. Before my diagnosis with…