COPD and DAD

My dad is in the hospital tonight with complications due to COPD - Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease.  Taken from the National Library of Medicine...

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is one of the most common lung diseases. It makes it difficult to breathe. There are two main forms of COPD:

• Chronic bronchitis, which involves a long-term cough with mucus
• Emphysema, which involves destruction of the lungs over time

Most people with COPD have a combination of both conditions.

It's not surprising that he suffers from this. He's been a smoker forever.  So when my sister called to tell me the news, I kinda smiled and giggled. I mean, what did you expect?!  You treat your body like that and you get what you get.

Now I feel like S#!& for having that reaction.  (Sorry for the language, but there's no better way to say express how I feel right now.)

I just got off the phone with him - checking on him.  He lives in Indiana - all my family does - while I'm down here in Georgia.  Anyway, he didn't sound good.  And come to find out, he had quit smoking back in May when he found out he had this lung condition.  However, something he couldn't quit was his job.  He's a welder for Bethlehem Steel located on the tip of Lake Michigan. 

It's probably this job that continued to aggravate his lungs and has now put him in the hospital where he's having trouble sleeping because he can't lay down due to severe chest pains.

I'm scared. 

I'm frightened this might be it.

He's not a Christian.

And despite our troubled past, I do love him.  Things are complicated between us, but he's my dad.

I'm not sure what to do with all this right now.  I just needed to type that.

Prayers, please?  I'll keep you updated.




The last time I saw my father. Christmas 2010.  He's with my nephew Lucas.