November 20, 2014 marks the Great American Smokeout–a day when many Americans make the decision to quit smoking. Do you need some inspiration? Listen to a real New Yorker explain why cigarettes were the “worst blunder” of her life.
Jeanette Seltzer, 75, loves New York City: The theater, the eclectic city dwellers, and the vibrant upper west side neighborhood she calls home. But nothing manages to take her breath away quite like chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or COPD.
For the past 26 years, Jeannette has been managing the symptoms of this chronic lung disease, which produces airway-clogging mucus that leads to wheezing, shortness of breath and chest tightness. Cigarette smoking is the leading cause of COPD – a habit Jeannette has regretted since she first developed a chronic cough more than 25 years ago.
“I had three kids and was a nervous wreck. I thought the cigarettes were what sustained me. As it turns out, it was the worst blunder of my life,” she says.
Over time, COPD makes even simple activities like walking or holding a conversation challenging. “If I walk even a half block I start breathing very hard,” Jeannette says. “It’s progressed to the point where I need oxygen with me at all times. I have to sleep with an oxygen mask.”
Managing COPD is part treatment, part attitude
With the help of Dr. Jonathan Raskin, Director of Pulmonary Rehabilitation at Mount Sinai Beth Israel, Jeannette is out enjoying the sights of New York and not from the view of her apartment window. “It’s not easy, but I’ve found ways to manage it,” she says. “I always say the key to living your life with COPD is your attitude and your doctor.”
Dr. Raskin prescribed pulmonary rehabilitation as a major component of Jeannette’s treatment regimen. “Rehabilitation teaches people with COPD how to use exercise and other therapies to manage and understand the nature of chronic lung disease,” Dr. Raskin says.
Twice a week, Jeanette participates in exercise therapy at Mount Sinai Beth Israel. Her therapy consists of walking on a treadmill for 10-minute intervals while her oxygen levels, blood pressure and heart rate are monitored. She also learned to play the flute as a part of the Music for AIR (Advances in Respiration) program designed by Dr. Raskin through the Louis Armstrong Center for Music and Medicine. Both the exercise and wind instruments help her regulate her breathing and build lung capacity. In addition, medication and oxygen support also help her live independently.
Keeping up the pace with rehabilitation
Pulmonary rehabilitation is not the only way patients with advanced COPD can manage their condition. “Behavioral changes like quitting smoking, changes to your living environment, medication and inhalation therapy all can be effective,” Dr. Raskin says. “We teach people to manage the illness – don’t let the illness manage you.”
It’s advice Jeannette reminds herself of every day. “I’ve made a life for myself living in Manhattan with COPD,” she says. “If I do too much, I take a break. I may go out for two days and stay in the next. Aside from my own will, the only reason I’m able to do these things is because I have wonderful therapists and a wonderful doctor.”