Look into the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA). Your employer cannot fire you while on FMLA leave. Leave can be continuous or intermittent. Paid or unpaid, depending on your benefits and your employer's policy. Your pulmonary will need to send a note to your employer stating the reason that you need the leave.

Sounds like you've got a nasty exacerbation going on. I would say that you probably have at least a week before you're going to feel capable of doing much, and een if you do go back to work (which I wouldn't recommend), you'll probably find that you can't last a whole day. Back when I was young and strong, before I knew I had COPD, I had pneumonia and it took a good week to get over that, and when I did go back to work, I was done for the day by 2:00 for another week and would barely make it home before I crashed.

Once you do kick this thing, you need to have a good discussion with your pulmonologist about Pulmonary Rehab or, if that won't work, beginning a daily exercise program. As crazy as it sounds, exercise is the best thing we can do for ourselves after we quit smoking. If PR won't work, you can join a gym and work out with the rest of the world. If you need help in figuring out how to do it, come back here and ask the question. There are lots of resources for you.

Exercise will help you make the lung function you do have much more efficient and effective and things that are hard now will get a lot easier. Being in really good physical shape will also help you when you do get sick. Research has demonstrated that people with COPD who exercise daily don't get sick as often as those who don't and when they do get sick, they get better faster. So being in good shape and exercising daily is a good thing.

when i was sick almost 3 years ago i was in the hospital for almost 2 weeks, i actually almost died, having copd & getting sick takes a lot to get over I was still layed up once I got home for about a week before I got my strength back, it's just gonna take u some time & I hope ur job is still there for u i'll b praying for u xoxo

I am so sorry for your situation , I am praying your doctor can help convince your employer that your condition is such that you just need time to recover some.

Maybe your doctor could put you on disability for a couple of weeks or a month so you can recuperate. I am in California we have state disability that we can draw.