COPD: Life Skills Tutorial

Step 1: Your Life With COPD

As we set out to explore your personal experience with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), we will look at:

• The challenges that the illness presents to you and your family.

• Common related problems to watch out for.

• Ideas for what you, your family and your doctor can do to help you to live the life you want to live.

Let's start by comparing you and your family before and after the illness. Write down the things that are important to you that have changed since you became ill. Some of these changes may be things you now have difficulty doing or abilities you have lost; others may be ways that COPD has changed the way you look at your life, some even for the better (for example, a new appreciation for the time you spend with your children).

Write down:

• What things were most important to me before COPD?

• How have these things changed since my COPD?

• Things important to my family's life before my COPD include...

• How have these things changed since my COPD?

Step 2: Experiencing Loss