Sometimes life gets in the way

     I missed my Monday and my Tuesday posts because I have been dealing with medical stuff- not in a bad way, but just in getting the things I need to keep me healthier.

     Sunday, November 12 Sam and I trucked up to Longmont in my Civic to see and purchase an Oxygen Concentrator from Craigslist. We met a new friend and got to see her Emu. That is one very eerie looking bird. Seeing it close up and in person is like looking through a window into a long ago world or a trip to Jurassic Park on a budget.

     Since the Concentrator had been stored for a while, I thought it prudent to have it looked over by a specialist, and I found contact info for Rocky Mountain Oxygen Repair. He cleaned it, replaced the flow control valve and rebuilt the compressor for me, and I picked it up Tuesday the 28th.

     Friday the 17th, I did a sleep study, and the results were

1. I have severe sleep apnea and need a CPAP and
2. I don't sleep well when someone is waking me up to adjust the CPAP mask.

     Wednesday the 22nd of November, my sister drove me to Lutheran hospital for Phlebotomy. In laymans terms, it means on my pulmonologist's instructions, they drew off two pints of my blood so I could make more. I think they left a third pint under the skin, too. My sister drove me because I wasn't sure I would be able to drive two pints low. I use my blood, when I am driving, as many do.

helluva bruise

     Saturday November 25th, my Father gave me a couple of devices he used to exercise his breathing after his punctured lung last year

Incentive Spirometer

Blowy thing

     Saturday, December 2, I was gifted with a CPAP machine, but I needed a full mask rather than a nasal one, because I sleep with my mouth gaping. After going to site after site looking for something that was not awful in price... I asked the gentleman who repaired and cleaned up my Oxygen concentrator if he knew anyone.... and he had CPAP masks, and would sell me one at a good price! So I picked up a CPAP mask, a humidifier bottle for my concentrator (so I wouldn't have dry air blowing up my nose) and now I am set. He even threw in tubing and a bleed-in thingy that will hook my concentrator to my CPAP, to enrich the air I am breathing in.

     Per Doctors instructions, I am to turn the CPAP up to 11

     Side note- Apollo has picked up the exact tone and duration of the beep the concentrator makes when it starts. Ickabob has started imitating the hisses it makes as it runs.