Springtime brings the good and the bad…

Living On Oxygen for Life

Spring is coming!!! Ok… Here in Texas, it feels like Summer will be here soon. It’s already touched 80 degrees. So, that has encouraged me to string my 50ft cannula out the back door to watch K construct my newest raised garden for planting vegetables. He asked me how big I wanted it to be and I told him at least 8 feet long. He replied, how about 6 feet long and 2 feet wide? And then we began the negotiations for the height. I accomplished 16 inches in height which means we both were happy in the end. He was afraid if he made it bigger, it would tire me too much. He said he’d build another one if I wanted later. We just want to see how I do with this add-on garden. Don’t forget… I still have my 4ft elevated bed from last year that I’m using again.

This is a great way that K and I keep myself moving and motivated. There’s nothing like watching something grow into a plant you can eat!! Remember my 3 lemons? I made some awesome lemonade?

I made lemonade from the lemons I grew!

Lately, I’ve discovered myself in a battle with a nocturnal cat. The stinker likes digging in my gardens and darn near killed my basil. Well, I’ll show it who’s boss! I went to Walmart a bought a whole bolt of toile netting and then off to Home Depot with K to but some PVC tubing. I feel a MacGyver Moment coming on. I created a dome netting to cover each garden!

My 2016 garden adventure!

In the upper left corner of the above picture shows a bunch of orange blossoms on my dwarf orange tree K bought me about a month ago. Even my lemon tree is budding flowers again. Yay!

Ok now the not-so-great news. With the warming weather, it brings along pollen and other breathing irritants such as what seems like more air pollution. With warm weather, my body starts to retain water causing swelling and difficulty breathing which means I have to move a little slower. Well, ok, a lot slower. Right now, I’m starting my practice of getting my body ready for our Texas summer heat. I go outside on warm days for short periods of time and then go back inside to rest. I only go out in short bursts and gradually increase my tire outside allowing my body time to adjust.

My first Homemade fresh fruit Popsicles that I made. Raspberry (sieved to make seedless), mango, lemon.

For a while I’ve wanted Popsicle molds. I finally found some cute one and tried my hand at making my very first fresh fruit Popsicles. Getting the seeds out of the raspberries with my sieve was super slow going. That was a lot of work. I hope they taste good. I made them a few days ago. I’m going to try them tonight. K and I are trying to eat fresher food. We no longer eat canned vegetables. Food tastes so much better fresh.

I have exciting news coming up in my next post. I thought I’d catch you up with what’s going on in my life. I hope you are doing and breathing well.

I’m still taking questions for my Q & A video that I’m going to make and post on my blog. If you have a question about me, oxygen, Bipap/Cpap, living with oxygen, Klondike (my rubber chicken) and his adventures, or even Rocco, you should email me your questions at goredrider@gmail.com I’ll try to answer your question in my video.

Q & A video?

Living On Oxygen for Life

Most of you know that I’ve done YouTube videos about my Bipap or the “Meet Christine”, right? If you’d like for me to make another one, I’ll do a Q&A video if you send me your questions. They can be about me or about oxygen or just silly stuff. Keep them clean questions. Just message me or email your questions at goredrider@gmail.com when I get enough for a video, I’ll make one. Sound like fun?

I finally figured out what I wanted to do with the 3 large lemons my dwarf Meyer lemon tree produced. What’s better than freshly squeezed lemonade? It was so delicious! If only my tree grew more than 3 lemons!

I made lemonade from the lemons I grew!

Here’s the updated picture of my January’s Need a Hug afghan. Get yourself on the list of recipients if you feel in need of a hug because you’re having a tough time breathing.

January Need a Hug afghan Update

GO Broncos!!! Need I say more? hehe!

Yes, I’m supporting Peyton Manning for the Super Bowl.

I’ll be attempting more gardening this year. K is building me a raised garden bed that will be about 16″ high. The size of it will hopefully end up being 2’x 6′ and 16″ tall on the ground. I’ll be growing potatoes, Bibb lettuce, cilantro, and spinach this time. Also, the chives and basil are what I grow every year. I hope like crazy that I’m successful and that it doesn’t make me too tired. K is going to build this extra garden next to the tall raised bed. That way my oxygen tubing will reach just fine. He’s so thoughtful. He had to move all my half whiskey barrels to make room. Aww… he’s so sweet. He loves me but this is his way of trying to get me motivated and outside so that I don’t become sedentary which would make my lungs weaker. I don’t need them any weaker. Trust me on that. erg! I’ll take pictures of the garden progress and blog about it! It will be fun!

So send in your questions and I’ll try to answer them. Think of it as a way to get to know me and remember, no question is a dumb question. If I can answer it, I will. Just keep in mind that I’m not a doctor. My answers are based on my experience during my life. Have a great week!!!

A parent’s love… part 1

Living On Oxygen for Life

I’ve often wondered what my parents went through while raising me and dealing with my health problems. I had a challenging, but happy, childhood… but how difficult was it for them? So, I asked one of my parents what it was like. I grew up during the first 8 years of my life with my biological father. After my parents divorced, my step-father came into my life within the same year. Life was so different. I became a very stubborn and bullheaded child. haha! My step-father, who I look to as a father-figure even though he is no longer married to my mother, stepped in and took charge of my health. For that, I will always be grateful.

So, I asked him a series of questions in an interview style in hopes to help other parents out there who have a child with disabilities.

Q. At the first moment you met me and noticed something was different about me, what did you think?

A. Having some idea medically about your condition, I thought of the many reasons that I had decided not to have children of my own because of my own problems and how little the quality of your life must be!!!I was told you would not live beyond 12 or 13 years of age and at the time, I actually thought of that as a blessing!

Q. What made you want to step in and take control of my health problems by taking me to doctor appointments?

A. I began to see you in a different light as I realized you were a special person who had a lot of spirit and I just fell in love with you…Certainly, your problems seemed insurmountable, but you weren’t afraid to fight for your life, I realized just how wonderful you really were and if you could face death with so much against you, then how could I not stand with you too!! I knew just enough about medicine to see a path to help overcome some of your major problems and besides you were a willing guinea pig and fearless!!!

Q. How did you cope with the challenges of the doctors and what they want to do for me?

A. If the term, “ nothing to lose “ means anything, then in your case, we were at that point. We knew you had pulmonary hypertension which was slowly killing you, so your heart doctor and I spoke of probabilities of you never coming off the table were extremely high, but the alternative was unacceptable! Granted I died a few times while you were in surgery, but you pulled us both through it. I had never faced terror like that even in Viet Nam.

Q. At times when I was very sick from a surgery gone wrong and as a parent, how did you deal with the emotions that you felt?

A. Actually, all your surgeries were very successful which is why you are still here, with the exception of one. I call it the “ bridge too far “ which was for all intents and purposes was almost cosmetic in nature. We had discussed how you always disliked that your scapula stuck out because of your severe scoliosis and I researched it and found a surgeon in Oklahoma who could do a “ rib resection “ that would bring your scapula down in a more normal position. This involved actually cutting out a few inches of rib from your side and all should be well. Unfortunately, the lab didn’t do a total pulmonary functions test and when you came out of surgery, you had to go on a ventilator and couldn’t breathe on your own. I blamed myself for the outcome for many years because the surgery wasn’t absolutely necessary, and I almost ended your life. I remember coming home to be with you at the hospital the mid weekend while I had been at summer camp ( National Guard ) and was dying inside because I had to fly back Sunday nite, and you were getting worse.

How long will I survive when I’m dependent on oxygen?

Living On Oxygen for Life

This is a common question that I see when people find my blog. It’s an honest question that we all want to know the answer to. Unfortunately, unless you are psychic (which I’m not), we just won’t know what that answer will be. With that being said, how long you will live really depends on a few things. Living longer means wearing your oxygen as prescribed, taking your medicine as prescribed, staying active but rest when your body says you need a break, and be smart about taking care of yourself. Don’t expose yourself to people who are sick, eat right, and never give up the fight to live a quality life you deserve. Make this a goal.

I’ve used oxygen for the past 27 years. It’s started out at night time use only when I slept. Now it’s 24/7. It is worth it to fight hard for living longer. By fighting hard, what I mean is to keep a positive attitude. Somedays it will be harder than others. Sometimes you may just want to crawl into your bed and just throw the covers over your head. Crawling in bed or having a bad day or having a lazy day is ok as long as you remember that this is temporary and that you are not going to cave in… or just give up. Because, once you give up, your health declines.

Having a someone close to you who you can turn to when those down days occur and you need a pep talk is a fabulous thing to have. For me, I have my older sister and my husband.

Make everyday one step forward by being aware of how much you love life.

New Q&A Section to my Blog

I’m working hard to improve and add to my blog to better help those people looking for answers about oxygen, oxygen equipment, daily life on oxygen and much more. Just click on the Q&A link above to see what questions I’ve received the most. If you have other questions, post those in the comments section. I will do my best to answer them based on my experience with Oxygen. Don’t forget to FOLLOW MY BLOG. Enter your email in the box located at the top of the column to your right!

Questions about Living on Oxygen

Living on Oxygen isn’t always easy. There are so many questions about it. If you have questions, please post your questions as a comment. I’ve been using oxygen since I was 17 years old and I’m currently 43 years old. If you post a question, click on the “Follow the Post or Comment” so that you will know when I reply via email.

Follow my blog and you will be able to see how I cope with Living on O2 for Life. Even though my life is complicated with heart, breathing problems, migraines, scoliosis along with a few other health problems, I do my best to make my life one filled with quality fun. Even though life can sometimes… ok..ok.. often times be a challenge, I think it’s all worth it.