When I was first diagnosed with COPD about 3 - 4 years ago I was relieved that I now knew what was wrong with me. I'd had no energy, terrible chest pains when I tried to walk, breathless, aching all over, and would sleep all day given half a chance. To add to it all my dad had just been told he had lung cancer - he died a few months later.

Needless to say, one of the first things I did was google COPD. I devoured all the information I could. Five years to live, deterioration in lung capacity, all the usual. There seemed to be very little positives and what future there may be looked pretty bleak.

The one that hit home the most was the five years. I was 55 and was going to be dead by the time I was sixty. All those years of planning and saving for a comfortable retirement gone. My next reaction was "I don't think so!". I found the BLF site and the forum and got some proper information.

I haven't a clue what my FEV, pulse or sats are, nor what age my lungs are, I just know how I feel day to day. If I'm tired I rest, if I feel good I do things. I'm really fortunate that I don't need oxygen yet, and can still work three days a week. I get my flu jab in the winter, have the odd flare up, and take all the pills and puffers to hopefully stay at the stage I am for a long time yet.

That's the main reason I wrote 'Oh Woe is Me'. To let all the newly diagnosed know that life can still be enjoyable, even with COPD, and I'm sure you'll find a way of dealing with it that suits you.

(Oh, and by the way, there are plenty of people on here who can testify that 5 years is a severe underestimation.)