Update: 3 Months Later

Dennis had his lung specialist appointment today after being on his inhalers for 3 months. I originally blogged about the specialist saying we have to get rid of the cockatiels because Dennis's cause of his COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease) is organic. Yes and we felt that there is more to this because Dennis has had symptoms all of his life since birth so we took our own measures as well as Dennis being on the inhalers.

Over the past 3 months the following adjustments have been made:

• Cockatiels moved to an adjacent room and in a 5 foot screen tent with an air purifier.  The doors of this room are closed 99% of the time.
• House Hepa filter system is on 24 hours instead of shutting it off when the windows are open.
• Washing down and cleaning of the living area. We don't have either carpets or a furnace (no ducting) so this was an easy job. Plus no curtains.
• Removal of wheat from our diets. If wheat is in a sauce, no biggie, but macro wheat has been removed. As a sidenote, Dennis has noticed a difference of pain in his joints especially during barometric pressure changes. AKA: no pain.
• CoQ10 supplementation was continued.
• Dairy in the form of cheese was added (Dennis only).
• Addition of a Hepa air purifier in Dennis's office.

What Dennis experiences in times of lung demand is that his lungs fill, but do not empty. Very hard to get in another breath when the lungs are full. The amount of air Dennis should be able to exchange per large breath (for a person his size) is 3 litres. 3 months ago Dennis's lung exchange was 1.3 litres. Today his lung exchange was 2.0 litres. Needless to say, this is a great improvement and both the specialist and we are very happy with the results. Dennis will be on another 3-month round of the same inhalers and a checkup/testing at the end of that round. We don't know at this point if Dennis can be inhaler free but what we are doing is working so keep on keeping on.

Further amendments will be:

• Addition of home-juiced pineapple (with peel) for the greatest concentration of bromelain. Bromelain is a powerful digestive enzyme and anti-inflammatory.
• Addition of fresh juiced wheatgrass. Yes it smells like a lawn and tastes like peppery sweet grass (plug and chug baby!), but the benefits are enormous as it is both a detoxifier and a superfood.
• Addition of Evening Primrose oil for healing.
• Continuation of a wheat-free diet high in whole foods.

Both Dennis and I are hopeful that eventually he can be inhaler-free. As I said earlier, what we are doing is working so keep on, keeping on.
Sherri Donohue