'I couldn’t play:' After COPD stopped the music, Leland man gets in tune with his health

When it comes to playing wind instruments, Jim Varno will admit his skills are limited.

“David Sanborn on saxophone I am not,” Varno said with a chuckle. “But I can play every note on that saxophone, and I can play in tune.”

For 45 years, Varno – who does play guitar — has made his living helping others make music. His business, Varno Musical Instrument Repair, works with professional musicians and the band programs in New Hanover, Brunswick, and Pender counties.

While Varno can hear only a few notes and tell what work an instrument may need, he wasn’t as good at listening to his body.

“COVID — and prior to COVID — I was not living a healthy lifestyle,” he explained. “I was drinking too much, I was eating too much, I was getting no exercise, and although I had quit smoking 12 years ago, I smoked for 40 years.”

After falling ill early in the COVID-19 Pandemic, Varno struggled with some residual effects, battled respiratory illness, and eventually found himself struggling to breathe after just walking to the mailbox. He also had trouble pushing wind through the horns he was repairing.

“I couldn’t play,” he said. “I have to play these things in order to test them.”

Varno, 63 years old at the time, still didn’t seek the care he needed.

“I simply couldn’t afford to address problems I was having with my breathing,” he explained. “So, when I turned 65, I said, ‘OK, it’s time to have a good look at me.”

That’s when he finally made an appointment with his primary care physician. After a physical and cardiac tests revealed nothing, Varno was referred to Dr. Carter Childs, a pulmonologist with Novant Health.

“When he did his first breathing test, he was breathing at 45 percent of where you should be,” Childs explained.

Varno was diagnosed with stage three Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD). Childs prescribed a course of treatment that included medication and pulmonary rehabilitation — a combination of exercise, nutrition counseling and education about COPD.

Following the plan was not easy, but Varno changed his eating habits, curtailed his drinking, and began exercising regularly. Over time, he saw changes and began to feel better. In addition to losing 30 pounds, he was able to walk a mile without getting winded.

Varno recently had another test to measure his lung function, and it revealed he was now in stage one COPD — a significant improvement from his first test. Childs said seeing such dramatic improvement is rare and credits medication and rehabilitation. While it’s rare for someone to see the progress Varno did, Childs said it’s not uncommon for patients who engage in rehab to feel better.

“They said it actually makes them feel better than the inhalers do,” Childs said.

Varno graduated from his rehabilitation program on June 21, but he’s taking the lessons he learned there and incorporating them into his daily life.

“I have been given a second chance,” Varno said.

This article originally appeared on Wilmington StarNews: Jim Varno says medication, therapy helped him live with COPD