When Life Gives You Lemons
We do a bit of Research into handicapped travel issues and provide some solutions. Mobility, Hearing, Sight, Mental issues included. so far our episodes have included some information on Ataxia, Cerebral Palsy, Deafness, Dancing Sickness, Gulf War Syndrome, Long Covid and Wheelchairs. We are both Disability Advocates and realize there are too many diseases and conditions to cover and try to discuss the most common problems disabled people face and spread some awareness of disabled issues non-disabled people are unaware of.
CORRECTION
On a Previous episode I described how to enter our End Of Season contest. Step 1 click on the support our show link. Step 1 we require a one time payment (This has changed during our season) of $3. Step 3 (get you back to a one time payment) click on the $3 Subscription button. The following business day cancel the subscription (if you do it same day your bank may start thinking FRAUD. Step 4 Your done. Thanks for entering and "may the odds be forever in your favor",
When Life Gives You Lemons
Breathing Lessons: The Girl Who Died Ten Times
What happens when chronic illness strikes someone who's never engaged in the behaviors typically associated with it? Meet Cece Henderson, a healthcare worker, school bus driver, and mother of six who was diagnosed with COPD in 2017 despite never having smoked. Her powerful story challenges common misconceptions about this respiratory condition while offering hope to anyone navigating chronic illness.
Cece's journey began with childhood asthma caused by secondhand smoke, which eventually progressed to full-blown COPD after a respiratory failure episode. The emergency treatment led her to Barnes Hospital where she underwent complex procedures including tracheostomy placement. Hospital staff nicknamed her "the girl who died ten times" – a testament to both the severity of her condition and her remarkable resilience. Through it all, Cece maintained the determination to live fully and pursue her passions.
Managing COPD alongside diabetes and congestive heart failure requires a complex medication regimen and lifestyle adaptations. Cece shares how weight loss improved her breathing capacity and how she navigates environmental triggers like heat that exacerbate her symptoms. Most importantly, she emphasizes the critical role supportive healthcare providers play in chronic illness management, recalling how one nurse practitioner's perfect balance of accountability and encouragement motivated her to take control of her health.
Cece's powerful message resonates throughout our conversation: "I don't want to stop my life because of a diagnosis." Her story serves as both education and inspiration, demonstrating that with proper medical management, lifestyle adaptations, and a positive mindset, people with COPD can continue finding joy and purpose. Whether you're managing a chronic condition yourself or supporting someone who is, this episode offers valuable insights into navigating the complex journey of living well despite respiratory limitations.
Welcome to our podcast. When Life Gives you Lemons, I'm Kevin and I'm Palmy.
Palmi:We consider ourselves disability advocates and intend to spotlight some disability issues and things we find interesting that we frequently encounter when we're out and about. Also some history on disability that we find interesting.
Kevin:Welcome back everybody to our podcast when Life Gives you Lemons. Today we have a very special guest health care worker, cece. So Cece has a mild case of COPD and we're going to continue discussing COPD on this episode. In the previous episode, pauly and I went over the definition stages and treatments for it, so we're going to get Cece's perspective on what it's like to live with that. Say hi, cece.
Cece:Hello everyone.
Kevin:Okay, take a minute and tell everybody I know who you are and such, but tell everybody else who doesn't know you who you are and how they can get a hold of you if you want them to visit your Facebook page, or whatever.
Cece:My name is Cece Henderson. On Facebook I go by Sunshine Henderson and I was diagnosed with COPD in 2017. I am a mother of six, don't really have too many hobbies, but, aside working for Mr Kevin, I'm also a bus driver and I love that job. I love that more than anything. Working with people is my passion and I just take everything a day at a time. With COPD, you must and you must obey what you're supposed to do.
Kevin:Okay, now you're presently having some sinus issues, probably from just routine pollen, but I saw you before you inhaled. Is that specifically COPD medicine or is it like detergent Primatene that you buy generically at a drugstore?
Cece:My inhaler. It's prescribed by my doctor. When I was eight years old, I was diagnosed with asthma and I developed asthma through secondhand smoke. I've never smoked in my life, not anything. But as I got older and got a little worse, and when I moved to a new city, which would be here in 2017, I went into respiratory failure and after I came out, they diagnosed me with COPD.
Cece:During that year of 2017, I wore a trach well, t-tube first. I wore that for maybe three months. It kept cutting off my airway. I had visited the emergency room at least seven to ten times. Southeast Hospital, known as Mercy Hospital, now kind of called me or gave me the name. The girl that died ten times called me or gave me the name the girl that died 10 times. So when I went into respiratory failure in my home, I was sent to Southeast Hospital because they did not have everything they needed. They put me to sleep and sent me to Barnes Hospital. There is where I received the T-tube that kept getting clogged and cutting off my airway.
Cece:So the next best thing was to get a Jackson. Jackson is a form of a trach. This will be my second time wearing a trach, because I am a twin and my sister and I were born. At six and a half months After I was born I received a trach that I had to wear for two years. So after that the Jackson was much better. I could clean it myself. It made less trips to the hospital, but my routine got a little more aggressive after. So Dr Patterson at Barnes Hospital he saved my life.
Kevin:Okay, one thing I wanted to bring up. I also have asthma and people with asthma and COPD tend to really be conscious of their ability to breathe. Be conscious of their ability to breathe. It's really kind of scary when it comes out down to like you're not breathing correctly. It's like when we have the coronavirus break out. You know you go through the things they talked about during COVID and you know I checked every. I'm old, I have asthma, I have diabetes.
Kevin:I have everything they said except heart conditions I had, so for me it was like a no-brainer. Yes, I want the shot.
Cece:Is that how you also looked at it? Just a little bit, because I really didn't understand the diagnosis. I knew it was chronic, but I always thought, oh, only smokers get that. Yeah, they don't.
Kevin:That's what I used to think too. My dad smoked almost all his life. He has very bad COPD. I just thought they kind of renamed something like If eczema is being C-U-P-D, that's not the case. No, it's a whole different animal, if you will. And no, I've never smoked anything either. I don't like it. I mean, as I said, as somebody who has breathing problems, you don't want to make those breathing problems any worse, so I just do.
Cece:No, at one point it got so bad I could barely travel the stairs, and I mean like three or four stairs, or I couldn't make it from my bedroom to my bathroom. That was literally just a few feet away, and I mean I went through that for weeks because I didn't understand what was going on. But now I'm on some new meds, which is better, but I still have a hard time doing. This year it's the worst. So with the allergies, I'm also diabetic. I got diagnosed as being a diabetic two years ago, along with all of that. I don't want to say I'm screwed, but I've got to do much better. So I drink plenty of water, I try to get up early, but I've got to do much better. So I drink plenty of water, I try to get up early and I take my time with whatever task I need to complete, and that helps.
Kevin:Okay, it's good that you also maintain a positive outlook on your life. As with anybody who has any kind of disability, it's like you know you have to adjust your lifestyle, but just not. I mean you can't do things you like. For example, you mentioned driving the bus. You really enjoy that. You can still do that. You have another job as a caretaker here. You do that well. So there's, you know, maybe there's a limitation on how well you play basketball or something like that if that's important to you, but you've made your life accommodations and it seems like you've settled and did that well, Thank you.
Cece:Yes, an example when I was in high school I did choir because I loved to sing, but, most importantly, I wanted to do wrestling also, and asthma kept me from not being able to do that. I really wanted to do that and I don't know why. It always intrigued me because I used to watch wrestling with my father and I'm like, even though I know it wasn't particularly real, it was always just a beautiful pastime of my father. That's a good analogy.
Kevin:See what people need to understand is you have a life, you can enjoy your life. It's not. You know, having a disability condition doesn't always take away from that. In your case, copd or asthma may actually directly affect things like your ability to wrestle or run cross country or, in some ways, other sports like basketball. Yeah, you may need to like shuffle it out more than other players do, but I think you could still make a run at it if that was your desire.
Cece:I am working towards some goals because there are other things I want to do. I don't want to stop my life because of a diagnosis. So right now I was at 267, and now that I'm losing weight, I'm at 230. I noticed that I'm breathing better and my highest weight was almost 300 pounds, so I knew there was some of that and, even though it's still just a smidge harder, it's getting easier Losing weight, being careful with what I eat and I like to eat now, but I do have to make better choices.
Cece:Yes working towards that. But I feel good about it because my kids are young, ages 12 to 17 and I want to see what they're going to do. I want to see what the future holds for them, and I can't do that if I'm not taking care of myself right?
Kevin:okay, sounds like you have a life right or in order.
Cece:Okay, what sort of medication are you on? All right, I take a water pill. It starts with an F, I'm sorry, I don't know all the names. It's okay, okay.
Cece:And then I take two medicines for my heart, and I take one, one a day and the other one I take twice a day and that's just to remove the the fluid on my heart, because they had also diagnosed me with congestive heart failure and when I did my ultrasound with my doctor a month ago, my heart was pumping at 20%. So since I've been on the medicine, I was told it's supposed to be pumping at 70% or better, and it has gotten better. I won't know the percentage to next week, but I'm definitely feeling better than that last appointment. I think it was due to that medicine. And then I also take an allergy pill every day, even though my allergies are still awful, you know. But I also take because I take like seven pills Jardiance. I take Jardiance and I also take a Trilicity injection. The Trilicity injection is once a week and Jardiance is once a day. I would like to say I could thank those two Medications for the weight loss.
Kevin:I think I take Some sort of Generic version of Jardiance and I lost a little bit of weight for diabetes. Okay, before, when they saw you using Urine Healer, what medicine was that?
Cece:Oh, albuterol, and just regular albuterol. Now I do have a machine at home I can use also, which has an albuterol plus steroid pack that I can use.
Kevin:Yeah, is that a nebulizer?
Cece:Yes.
Kevin:Yeah, my dad uses one of those as well.
Cece:I have two nebulizers One I leave at home, one I take on the go.
Kevin:Well, he doesn't go very often. You know, I live out, so he just has one at home.
Cece:No, I don't take any oxygen.
Kevin:Yeah, the weather plays a great was a big factor in his dealing with COPD. When the guy rode cold last year it was like, oh, I can't breathe, I can't breathe. It's as he said about the door, not because of his activity, it was just the cold air going to his lung, I guess. Did that affect you?
Cece:also Sort of the opposite. It's the heat that bothers me. That way, the cooler actually helps me breathe better. So one day I had ran out of my inhaler it was winter snow on the ground. I went and sat in my car with the windows cracked. Until I came down it was like 2 am and I thought that that was the best thing I could do. I started freaking out. Then I was like no, I've got to remember. But yes, colder helps me. I probably have my AC on all year round. The heat destroys me.
Kevin:Well, we're from Florida, so he's like not really the shocking cold stuff that he was breathing in. Not to mention, you know, he's your stereotypical old person who keeps his house probably a little too warm for other people, but hey, you know well, it's comfortable for me. I don't get too warm do anybody else, any of your kids uh, whatever have COPD as well? No, none of my children have COPD as well.
Cece:Uh, no, none of my children have COPD. Uh, two of them were diagnosed with uh asthma and they almost like quote unquote, grew out of it. So they don't have to use a pump, not a machine or anything like that, and they all participate in sports.
Kevin:Yeah, I kind of did that as well. I don't think it's really growing out of it. It's more like you gradually get used to the environment you're in I agree with that Well, pollen-wise, and after a while it was like, okay, it's rolling. The only problem was I exercised but that was just me, but I've heard that term growing out of it as well. So I don't think you ever grow out of it.
Kevin:I doubt which triggers are in, but either modify your behavior or possibly even move to a different environment. When I joined the Army I figured out, okay, I got used to the Florida stuff. But when they get here, like we are Missouri, all the way across the United States, that middle part, it's just I don't know if they have different trees or something else, but I can you know spring comes around. I don't know if they have different plants, different things, whatever, what have you, but it just sets my asthma off. Every spring I have like terrible hay fever, my nose runs, yeah, the whole deal. And when that doesn't get your attention you're long, so long to get on the action too, to get on a reaction to. So anyway, what I did is I found kind of like a home remedy. It's not really a quick remedy. It's like get used to it. Local honey bees collect pollen from the area and go with local honey. You get a small dose of that pollen or whatever it is in this environment in that honey.
Cece:Well, I need to try that.
Kevin:Thank you If you try, see if that helps you out.
Cece:Thank you, I will. I will.
Kevin:So, for other people who are listening who also have a problem with either asthma or COPD. You mentioned that warm air helps you out. Is it just the air or the weather?
Cece:Both Air or cold weather.
Kevin:That's what I hate about Missouri it's too darn hot in the summer and it's too darn cold.
Cece:It is.
Kevin:It's like you get the worst of everything. Oh, and we had tornadoes during the earthquakes. Right Now your bus driving is that for local schools.
Cece:Yes, and I drive junior high, elementary and middle.
Kevin:Okay. What else do you want to say about COPD?
Cece:I pray that, with the changes that I'm making and taking my medication that soon, I don't know if COPD is something that's curable, but it is, but it's expensive.
Kevin:Well, we talked about that in our last episode as well.
Cece:I just want that. But uh, really, those who have been diagnosed with COPD, I would say to stay the course, be encouraged. You're not alone. There's plenty of information. Let your doctor become your friend. If you're not comfortable with that person, find someone else. There's nothing wrong with getting answers.
Kevin:That's good advice for anybody with any disability. Sometimes you just want answers for your own peace of mind. Sometimes you want answers about your condition and how you can deal with the problems that arise from it.
Cece:After my diagnosis in 2017, dr Patterson referred me to a nurse practitioner. Her name was McDowell. She's retired now, wonderful lady, but she got me together. Um, I believe she's maybe Puerto Rican, uh, older lady. Um, however, she talked to me like I was her own and I would come in there. She said, girl, you're still drinking them sodas. When I tell you about that, you're going to be, you know, and she would just stay on me. But she did it in love and kindness, and that's when I started like getting serious about my diagnosis. She said look at you. You come in here. You can't breathe. Let's get this routine together. We can lose that weight. She always scolded me and encouraged me at the same time.
Kevin:That's good, the sort of person you always remember. You always remember the advice they give you.
Cece:I need people like that. I do. She was a godsend to wake me up, say, look, you just went through this, but you're still here and there's still work to do.
Kevin:Exactly Okay, cz. Thank you very much. That's all my questions. Thank you for having me.
Cece:Questions for me, I don't. I just really want to say thank you, thank you for the consideration, the opportunity, and I've enjoyed this time.
Kevin:What I'd like to do now is address some housekeeping. We're going to have the same sort of giveaway we did at the end of the season last year. The rules are you must go to our website, wwwmylifegivesyoulovingsnet and actually subscribe and support our show. What you can do is it will then choose the amount and it will show as a continuing every month subscription. Once that happens, it can be canceled any time. I suggest to get the next day. That way you only pay $5. The rules may be a little bit different. We're going to try to end our season on the 5th of November, so what you can do is enter anytime by using fan mail. If it's not free to you, use email and say this would be fan mail. Subscribe Again bare minimum. Whatever the lowest amount is. I believe it was $5 last time we looked. If it tries to tell you it's going to be a monthly recurring debt, just cancel it the next day and you're fine. Thank you, see you next time. Until next episode, take those lemons and make your own lemon date.
