| Summary: | The progress of chronic disorders such as heart failure and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease affects various aspects of life. They have an deep impact on patients´experience of health and wellbeing and their functional qualities and quality of life. Several studies have in an extensive way described heart failure and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in its own domain but few qualitative studies consider coexistence of the disorders from a caring science perspective. The aim was to describe the meaning of living with heart failure and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease from a lifeworld perspective. With a phenomenological and reflecting lifeworld approach it´s possible to describe eight patients daily experiences of living with severe and chronic disorders from their own narratives. A general structure describing the phenomenon emerges from the analysis as an acceptance of an unpredictable and changed situation in life. When bodily strengths are balanced and adjusted due to the condition of the disorders harmony will appear in life. The phenomenon´s general structure is illustrated through five constituents; the failing body, make sacrifice, living the life that exist, placing one´s life in the hands of others and to lose one´s identity.
|
|---|
