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The unforgiving nature of IPF
As a patient who has been living with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) for over 7 years now, I’ve had many conversations with people about my disease. One thing people often ask me is “What’s the hardest part of living with IPF?”
My answer is always the same: it’s the unforgiving nature of this disease. No matter what you’re doing, your diseased lungs need to continue functioning, there is no way to give them a rest. I say to people, it’s not like when you break a bone and can elevate, ice, and rest that limb; your lungs are always working!
Recently I had major knee surgery and was reminded of the unforgiving nature of this disease, causing pure exhaustion every day of my recovery. Not only am I navigating a cast on my left leg that went from my groin to my ankle and crutches to get around with the cast on, but I also have to keep a small 02 tank (D size) on my back and pay attention to the tubing to avoid tripping. Normally I wheel around my 02 concentrator when I need it but I didn’t have a hand while using crutches.
Many times throughout my recovery I simply wanted a break from IPF so I could focus on my knee, but that’s just the nature of this cruel disease; it’s unforgiving and there are no breaks.
What are some of the ways you’ve struggled with the nature of this disease?
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