“My quality of life is so much better now. I can do my own grocery shopping and laundry, and I can take walks.”
Pulmonary rehabilitation has helped one patient make a full recovery from a lung transplant.
When Dawn Burke, 60, a U.S. Department of Commerce field representative, developed a persistent cough in late 2016 she ignored it, figuring it would go away on its own. Soon the Keyport resident developed pneumonia—not once, but twice. A lung biopsy revealed Dawn had idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, scarring of the lungs with no known cause.
After her second bout of pneumonia, Dawn had trouble breathing. She struggled to drive and walk and was forced to stop working. Her condition steadily deteriorated, and she was placed on a lung transplant waiting list in September 2017. While waiting for the transplant, she worked out at the Joel Opatut Cardiopulmonary Rehabilitation Center at Monmouth Medical Center (MMC). Designed to help people recovering from heart and lung disease reach their peak fitness, it’s the first program in Monmouth County certified for both cardiac and pulmonary rehabilitation by the American Association of Cardiovascular and Pulmonary Rehabilitation.
In June 2019, Dawn received a new right lung at MMC’s sister hospital, Newark Beth Israel Medical Center. Afterward, she began rehabilitation. “With pulmonary diseases, people get short of breath,” says Chandler Patton, MD, Medical Director of Pulmonary Rehabilitation and Critical Care Medicine. “Because they’re short of breath, they do less and become less mobile. As they become less mobile, they become deconditioned. The goal of pulmonary rehab is to break that cycle and improve patients’ conditioning, which allows them to become more mobile.”
Closely monitored workouts
Today, Dawn visits the Center twice weekly and performs at-home exercises recommended to her by an MMC therapist. She does one-hour workouts involving several fitness machines, including a treadmill, a NuStep (a recumbent cross trainer) and an arm ergometer—a machine that exercises the upper body. “If I can fit it in, I ride a stationary bike as well,” she says. The Center’s state-of-the-art fitness equipment is used under the supervision of nurses and respiratory therapists.
At each visit, a Center staff member takes Dawn’s blood pressure and measures her blood oxygen level before she begins exercising. She is also monitored during her workouts. “Patients wear a pulse oximeter, an electronic device that measures blood oxygen levels,” says Dr. Patton. “In addition, we ask patients how much they feel they’re exerting themselves on a scale of one to 10, with 10 being the hardest.” Dawn feels that the Center’s staff members care about her well-being.
“Everyone goes above and beyond to care for me,” says Dawn. “If I’m not there on a certain day, they will text me or call me to find out if I’m okay.” Thanks to rehabilitation, Dawn is growing stronger. “My quality of life is so much better now,” she says. “I can do my own grocery shopping and laundry, and I can take walks.” Recently, her oxygen company picked up its equipment because she no longer needs it. “I was so happy to see it go out of the house!” she says.
For more information, or to schedule an appointment, call: 732.923.7454.