COPD's Impact on Retirement Plans

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I retired 5 years before being diagnosed with COPD. A lot has changed since. Mostly is how much time I can spend outside. I live across the street from a lake. I had planned on doing a lot of fishing and teaching my grandkids the art and fun of fishing. Now fishing is down to a few times a year depending on the weather. I can't go to all of my grandson's sporting events. Soccer games, baseball and football games. Once again because of being outside too much. Here in South Central Texas, it is too hot 1/2 of the year for me to be outside. The other half of the year is either rainy, too chilly, too much springtime pollen, mold in the air, or to windy for me to be outside. This puts a big stop sign on what I can do with my grandsons. I still see them quite a bit, but it is restricted to mostly indoor activities. Also now with COPD; medications, doctor visits, testing several times a year, getting sick several times a years also does not help the pocket book. So COPD has definitely not helped my retirement much. It is what it is. I make the most of it as I can. What else can one do? Feel sorry for oneself? Not me. I do what I can when I can and get on with life. Some days are really good and some are really bad. Just the way it is. How one deals with it is what is important. That's all I got. Take care all and God Bless!

I class myself lucky in some respects. I had saved extra within my works pension plan to be able to retire early. Unknowingly to me, there was a clause within the plan that " if you have been in the scheme for 30 years + and have a listed medical problem, you could take medical retirement without any forfeit" etc.
That rule was very important for me as I was able to retire at 50 years of age.
No argument as to what I did. 26 years later, although living with Oxygen tubes up my nostrils, and various amounts of discomfort, I am still recieving my pension.
Enjoy life. Bob S

I retired 20 years ago at age 59 after being a school principal. Always active; always on my feet. We bought a second home in Las Vegas and had 13 years of good eating, good shows and a little gambling. Then, one night I woke up and could not catch my breath. After several days in the hospital I was cleared to fly home to MD. I was diagnosed with COPD at first, then ASCOS. It was under control with oxygen only at night for six years and we were able to continue to spend six months in Vegas until this past February when the flu caused a flare up which led to a Tokatsubo heart attack and double pneumonia. Since then I have been hospitalized five times and in the ER three times. I am unable to walk more than a few steps even with a walker. I get around in a wheelchair or mobility scooter with oxygen 24/7. My doctors think that I now have bronchiolitis obliterans and I am being treated for it. I don't know if I'll ever see Las Vegas again if this treatment does not work. So now my retirement is basically reading, TV, a zoom book club and zoom family visits, palliative care and OT/PT with regular home visits by nurses and a doctor or NP. Not the way I'd planned to spend retirement but I am grateful to still be here to see my five adult grandchildren make their way in the world.

I had to go on oxygen 24/7 so I could no longer do my job out in the heat. Was a couple yrs off from retiring with the school system.