| Joan Costello: When our two children Mike and Kelly started school full time I went to work. At first I played at it, doing things I liked to do. Writing a column for a local newspaper, dabbling in politics, working on the campaign staff of several city and state candidates, and finally I got serious and found employment with the Illinois Attorney General�s office in Revenue Litigation. I stayed there for 22 years and took advantage of an early retirement program to care for my mother who had undergone colon cancer surgery. Her Doctor had given her less than a year to live and I wanted to make sure that whatever time she had left was as stress free as possible. While attending to my mother, my husband Ed was diagnosed with severe end stage emphysema. My mother outlived her doctor�s prediction and the next two years were a blur of ICU�s, oncologists, Ed�s LVRS surgery, pulmonary rehab programs and Doctor�s appointments for both Mom and Ed. They are both gone now, and looking back at the last few years I don�t know how we ever got through it, except by putting one foot in front of the other and doggedly pushing forward. I welcome this opportunity to participate in the COPD Family of Programs in the hopes that something we can do will in some way will help those who helped us. |