UPDATE: Meeting Challenges Head On…

I’ve been wanting to talk about this subject for a time now. It’s made me feel quite overwhelmed. Life, lately, especially the past few weeks has felt chaotic. I got the results of my Annual Physical labwork back… my creatinine was off, my TSH was off and even my Iron was off. What does that mean? Adjust medication and retest the labwork. Ugh. 

I had a good talk with my doctors and the subject of Home Health (Physical & Occupational Therapy as well as Social Worker) was brought up again. This time, we were interested in getting the information to see what I qualify for and also to plan for the future. My health will decline more and it’s better to be prepared. It NEVER hurts to find out what’s available so that you can plan for the future. Better to be prepared than to be in the position where you need it immediately and not know what to do. 

Trust me. Since this is all new to K and me, getting all this information so fast is a bit overwhelming and slightly stressful. However, I’m handling it the best I can and I’m trying my best to stay optimistic throughout this new phase of my health adventure. When I feel down, I think of the roadtrip we’re going on soon to see my family. They always are a joy to see. 

One sister is throwing me a birthday party and the other took my rubber chicken, Birdee, to Cozumel! So how can I NOT be happy when I have a great support system. K has done all he can to help me cope with the changes in my health. He knows my life is hard but we do/change things to try to make it easier.

Taking a shower to wash my hair is ridiculously hard for me to do. If you are familiar with a Bipap and it’s mask that needs to be worn to use the machine, then you know that to wear the mask, you need the head gear to hold it in place. It’s the same thing to use a Trilogy machine. For me, I can’t take a shower without using my Trilogy machine. I want to stay as independent for as long as I can, so I invented a mouthpiece to use by putting together odds and ends of medical accessories. LOL! Even using this, it’s still hard because, to wash my hair, it uses a lot of upper body strength that I’m losing due to my cardiac and respiratory conditions. But, at least the head gear isn’t in my way of washing my hair with my new fandangle apparatus! Crazy awesome, isn’t it???

I don’t shower unless K is home in case he needs to help me out. If I’m in the shower, he stays in the house so he can hear me shout out if I need him. When the water is turned off, he asks if I’m ok. He’ll even help me get dried off or dressed if I need extra help but I’d rather do it myself to give me a sense of independence. The first couple of times I needed him were scary because I started turning bluish gray. Not sure who was more nervous about that between K and myself. I’m constantly thinking of different ways to do things that are hard for me. I have a 10ft hose that I use with my Trilogy. The DME only gave me a 6ft hose which was ridiculous because how was I to be able to park my Trilogy in my kitchen and fix dinner while just using 6 feet of hose to move around? So I got a 10ft hose from Amazon and presto, I became mobile! Much better.

So this week has been incredibly challenging for me. I’ve been so stressed out with people coming over doing evaluations and setting up appointments. I’m not used to so many people coming into my home. Every time someone comes over, I have to lock my pups in a room which of course makes me short of breath. But I’m going to give this Physical/Occupational therapy a try in hopes they can help increase my endurance and maintain, or even improve, the level of my health. Tomorrow, Saturday, is the first day this week that I don’t have to get up early or expect anyone to show up. This girl is sleeping in! I’m just so tired. *snore* Oh hey! Where was I? Oh, yeah….

Eventually, I’ll need care that’s not covered by insurance. It’s better to research that now than to be uninformed when that time comes. 

Not to worry though, I am resilient and I’m excited to see my family and I wonder who will be taking Birdee on her next World Traveler Adventure. One person has volunteered already but I don’t know when that vacation will be. So, I’ll let you know when I know! All I know is that my sister said she got some strange looks from a few people but she didn’t care because she was doing this for me. Awww…. *BIG HEART EMOJIS*

I hope all is well in your life. =o) Just to give you a heads up, I’m turning my blog into a ebook that will be in chronological order!! How exciting is that? I want it to be done with it by the holidays. YAY! *hugs* to you all!

A Bit of FUN!

It’s been a fun week of adventuring for my awesome rubber chicken! I’ve decided to change her title to a WORLD TRAVELER MASCOT. Birdee is my newest rubber chicken because, may he rest in peace, Klondike passed away from a broken neck. However, while he was with us, he sure had fun in France, Germany and a few other locations in the USA!

Since I can no longer travel like I use to, people are lining up to take Birdee on her next adventure! Lucky bird! Honestly, I’m excited about it as much as Birdee is! I have to finish crocheting her new backpack to get it ready for her next adventure. I’ll have to “renew” her passport too. *wink*

Over the past week, she had her first international flight to Cozumel! You’re probably wondering why I have a rubber chicken, that acts as a “Flat Stanley,” if you will. It makes me feel like I’m experiencing the vacation in a small way. It just works well for me… trust me. It also gives me great joy to see all the pictures coming in from Birdee’s vacation adventure. My husband bought my first rubber chicken YEARS ago and I named it Poke. So, it all started with Poke and the roadtrip mascot was born.

This time, my sister volunteered to take Birdee to Cozumel. She’s not shy about carrying a rubber chicken around with her in public. Sometimes, she stuffs my rubber chicken in a backpack to carry around but that’s ok! What an awesome sister, right?? BIG *HEARTS* to her! Especially since every time Birdee is squeezed, she screams REALLY LOUDLY. lol!

Birdee experienced some daring and exciting things: Flying in an airplane, boating, scuba diving and then got seasick. Poor Birdee. I hope she feels better soon! Below is a slide show of the pictures of her big adventure. I hope you like them and put a big smile on your face as it did mine.

Next post will I will be updating you on what’s going on with me health wise. It’s been a little overwhelming. So that’s why I haven’t posted about it yet. However, I think I’m ready to discuss it now. *big hugs* I hope you are dealing with the heat safely. Don’t forget it’s almost time for a Flu Shot! Yay? lol!

• 

  Birdee has arrived in Cozumel! Birdee has just arrived in Cozumel and seen the ocean and beach! She is my World Traveler Mascot. Thanks Birdee for going places I can not go!

• 

  Birdee looks a little anxious trying on the scuba gear that looks way too big for her.

• 

  The Captain allow Birdee to steer the boat! Whoa what a cool captain!

• 

  My sister diving with Birdee! Wow what an adventure!!!

• 

  Birdee is totally amazed with all the coral and look at that huge lobster!!

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  Birdee said “squawk” (that’s HELLO in Birdee speak!) to the big turtle!

• 

  Birdee really close to that shark. Now what????

• 

  I think Birdee was trying to float away from the shark who’s in the background.

• 

  Uh oh! Birdee might have had too much fun. She sure got seasick… Poor thing.

• 

  Ohmygoodness! Birdee!! You naughty chicken! Eating some of the birthday girl’s cake. I’m sure she was just trying to celebrate with her.

• 

  K and my tradition for our anniversary and my birthday. My sister did this for me because I can’t get to a beach this year. Love her so much!

When unexpected things happen…

Living On Oxygen for Life

I know… I know… It’s been since January of this year since I added a post to my blog. SOoooo much has happened since then. K had surgery on his eyes…. AGAIN, and his momma passed away which had hit us HARD to name a few. I even started a new heart medicine. It’s been a year full of challenges so far but we are taking each challenge head on. Battling them like you would expect us to do. Go team!

Yesterday, (Tuesday) brought us a new challenge or should I say frustration. K and I had a doctor appointment in Dallas that had us getting up at 5:45 IN THE MORNiNG.. Yeah, I know.. Me getting up that early is unheard of. I kid you not. I tend to get insomnia a lot, especially when I have somewhere important to go the next day. So, I don’t get much sleep the night before I have to wake up. K is always telling me, “Go to sleep Chris.” Ugh! I wish I could.

Well, I got up on time. I know, I’m very impressed with myself. I’m even ready to leave on time. WHAT???? Yeah… I’m shocked too. K filled both of my liquid portables for me AND took care of our dogs and cat for me. Awww. I know, right? He’s soooo sweet.

In my van, I have a 75lb liquid oxygen reservoir which was filled on the day before at 1:30pm (Monday) and K went out to the garage to strap the tank in. He also took one of my liquid portables out to my van so I’m only having to carry one portable when I’m ready to leave. He’s thoughtful like that. Well, he came back inside and told me my van reservoir was bone dry. He even led me out to the garage and pulled it out of my van with one hand. I was SO mad. Even though I have 2 portable that would last me 4 1/2 hours on 6LPM which is 2LPM less than my normal 8LPM I usually need, we can not risk driving all the way to Dallas with no backup, my reservoir, which I totally depend on. That means K & I had to cancel my appointment and I just hate doing that.

The inconvenient part of this story is that I called my oxygen provider and told them what happened. They were extremely nice about everything. They agreed with me that the reservoir should not have bled dry within 18 hours of being filled, even if the thing was turned on, which it was (on 6LPM) by no fault of ours. They told me they would bring me a replacement today (Tuesday) because I told them that I missed a doctor appointment this morning in Dallas. They even apologized but they didn’t show up today and I ended up waiting ALL day for them and I was exhausted even with getting a short nap while K waited for the phone call that they were support to make to let us know they were on their way.

So that was my Tuesday. They better show up tomorrow (Wednesday). Grrr…. =o) I just hope I don’t have to wait around all day again. You can count on me calling them first thing in the morning. Being on oxygen 24/7 and not able to function without it makes it a really scary to have things break on me. Thankfully, K is usually with me when we leave the house.

My next post will be good news! YAY! I hope everyone is having a great Summer. It’s scorching hot here (99 – 100 degrees this week) and I’ll be indoors a lot! Have a great day!!!! OH! And Willow, my puppy is just ADORABLE and I love her!! (and Rocco too!)

When you least expect it…

Living On Oxygen for Life

Sometimes life throws us a curve ball and how we react to that can really show us how much of a team we are. We’re not just married and love each other; we are all-in through thick and thin with all the rollercoasters and good times that make up our life.

Throughout this year, K has been telling me that he really, really needs a vacation on a beach. He’s experienced an emergency visit to an ER clinic for himself at which time I had to bail on him because I developed a MASSIVE migraine while waiting in the patient room with him. Thank goodness his sister came to our rescue so that I could go home leaving him there alone until she got there. (I felt so guilty!) He’s had to deal with working in 100+ degrees heat over the summer. There’s also been my up and down health with the fact that I could no longer do the chores around the house that I used to do, which meant that K had to do them. That’s not all of it but you get the gist, right? So, yeah, he really needed a beach vacation.

I told K that, with the way our budget looked, we were going to have to get creative about being able to afford going on vacation. I knew he really needed it but I was concerned, not only for the financial aspect, but also I wasn’t sure if I could make the 10-hour drive this year. I didn’t want to say no. He works so hard and does so much for me. Thus, came his idea. Out of the blue he said that he wants my help in selling all his McFarlane action figures on eBay and that’s what we did.

We got incredible lucky with a German buyer who bought 5 really large boxes filled with K’s action figures, earning enough money to pay for the hotel in South Padre Island. We actually earned quite a bit of money! So, everything was looking good for our vacation plans. That is until K mentioned a little problem a week and a half before we were to leave.

K had noticed some floaters in his GOOD eye and he knew that he was suppose to call the Optometrist right away. They got him in the next morning. A few hours later, I got a phone call from K while he was in the doctor’s office, asking me if I had already taken my diuretic. *cue the drama music* Luckily, I was still in bed because it was only 10am. (Hey… I sleep in! Don’t hate me because I can! *wink*) He wanted me to get up *UGH*, get dressed and he was on the way home to pick me up because he needed eye surgery within a few hours. *Wait..what????*

I was freaking out. I was worried about K having to go through surgery again, having enough energy to be in the waiting room, having to run all the prescription pickups, taking care of K after surgery and then of course paying the copay bill of the surgery, the doctor and the anesthesiologist. What worried us the most was the amount of time K was going to have to take off work. Sick leave and vacation pay only covered most of it but it’s the few days that was unpaid that worried us.

We are NOT rich but we just sold a huge amount of K’s action figures and we had that money but that means we had to cancel our anniversary/my birthday vacation that I just reserved. That hurt… In fact, I cried.

But looking back at this whole situation, this whole thing felt like everything aligned just for this moment. Somebody up there was looking out for us. We’re not out of the woods yet but this shows us how well and how much of a team we are.

Not only K and I are a team but also K’s sister and my sisters too. My older sister came down and cooked 2 quiches and a huge pan of lasagna so that I didn’t have to cook. My sisters and mother kept texting me encouraging support to me, which helped a lot. I’ll try to blog more often. You can catch me on my Living on O2 for Life Facebook page or ChristineLovesDaisies Instagram if you have those apps.

So, this is why I’ve been mostly quiet. I don’t like posting things that seem negative or stressful but I wanted to let you know that we’re ok and alive. =o) Lots of love to you all! *hugs* FYI: if you start seeing a lot of floaters in your eyes, that could be from tears in or a detached retina. Get it checked out ASAP (within a few days!)

Life: full of fun!

Living On Oxygen for Life

Happy Day After April Fools Day! I’ve never been into the whole “April Fools” thing since the time my little sister wrapped a raw egg in foil and put it in my bed while I slept. Yep, I rolled over onto it and the egg broke, leaked egg guts and made a mess in my bed. Yuck! So, April Fools? No thank you! haha!

K and I have been BUSY lately. My garden is growing like crazy! We have little tiny cherry tomatoes growing (3 of them…wow!) and my potato plants are getting huge. I even ate my first strawberry from the garden and it was DELICIOUS! So sweet! Yes, I shared it with K. I didn’t really want to because it was so good but there was only one berry and it would have been rude of me not to share. Right?

I’ve started crocheting again. I had stopped in October since K was having trouble with his eyes. Things got hectic with his Glaucoma and Detached retina problems. And I thought taking care of my own problems was hard. Add helping K with his medical stuff (no lifting heavy things for 2 weeks for each eye surgery), it was a little crazy around here. Here’s what I’m working on right now:

I’ve been a little inventive in the kitchen lately. I created a protein shake that can rival Starbucks’ mocha, caramel frappuccino. It is delicious and I want to try making a peanut butter, chocolate protein shake (without the bananas). Here’s the ingredients that I used:

Rivals Starbucks Frappuccino!

I told you I’ve been busy lately. In fact, K made one of my dreams come true. Yay K! My older sister dug up a pond liner (hard shell) from their yard when they moved into their house and gave it to us. Of course, K said no we can’t have a pond. So, many, many years I have been working on him about having a pond. Yes, we kept it THAT long. Out of the blue, he asked me a couple of weeks ago, what I thought about having a pond. Of course I was overjoyed, ecstatic even. Naturally I said YES! Picture me jumping up and and down cheering and then bending over out of breath saying… “Whew, I’m tired now. But, let’s do this!”

I have to let you know. I AM A PLANNER. I like researching things I want to do so I know what I’m doing once I start a project. K is the opposite. Kind of. So, it took us a couple of tries to stack the flagstone to make it look almost the way we want it. Let me tell you… those are so heavy! K did all the hard labor but I still wanted to help with some of the physical stuff. I tried moving the flagstone and after four stones, I was done. K told me to go sit down. I like being involved in our house projects. The way I was involved was helping pick out the type of stone, fish, and planning how the pond will look. K wanted to name the goldfish with Beatles names. Ugh! Really? I named one of the goldfish, Thunder! K named one of them White (not Whitey, he says)… So, I call him White Ghost because he’s an all white fish. Clever, I know! We have a total of 8 fish. 5 small goldfish and 3 medium goldfish. It was hard to get K to wait until the water was ready for fish.

Bamboos just added my dream pond.

I also have 9 flowers on my lemon tree! NINE!!!
Please don’t fall off… Please don’t fall off!
I even caught a sale at the grocery store for fresh green beans! Late last night, I washed and blanched them so that I could freeze them. They are so much better than green beans from a can. Blech! I only wish that I had bought 2 bags of them instead of one. Darn it!

Yes, life is good. I have things to look forward to every day. Feed my fish, check my garden, and pray for lemons to produce on my Meyer lemon tree. Hooray! All these things help keep me happy which distract me from bad breathing days which is awesome. I hope life is going well for all of you.

Life is amazing!

Living On Oxygen for Life

For most of us who have respiratory problems, the Winter months can be tough to get through. I try to stay home as much as possible so that I’m not exposed to people who are sick. I know… I wish they would stay home too. Because I stay home, I get cabin fever. Seeing it overcast outside and cold, really makes me feel blue.

By the time January rolls around, I’m getting excited because I know the next month I’ll be planting my garden beds. Hooray! So, I get out the graph paper and plot out where and in which bed I want my seeds. We also decide what our newest “experiment” crop (K likes to call them crops now. He’s slowing getting into being a farmer. *wink*) will be. This year I let K decide. He chose something that I have wanted to try since last year. Corn!! How exciting, right?!?

Now we don’t have a lot of “farming” space for corn. So we are only planting one row of 6 or 7 plants in the actual ground (not a raised bed). We also decided we need more strawberries and more of a variety of tomatoes. K got pretty handy and found our old window planter boxes for the strawberries and I had an idea to mount them on the side of the garden beds. Nifty!

2018 Spring Garden

I love getting creative! We have hanging baskets of cherry tomatoes too. Hopefully they will be successful. I don’t have a lot of energy to take care of all of this but K has really taken the lead on the watering the garden so that I can enjoy watching all the vegetables grow. There’s just something rewarding about watching & caring for the things you plant to grow into the vegetables you later eat. This excitement helps motivate me. The joy and motivation I get from my garden is the main reason K is onboard with helping me with it. He does what he can to keep me moving and exercising my lungs. Not to mention all the yummy vegetables we’ll get to eat!

So are you ready for some warm weather??? Lots of love to you all!!

2017 A Year’s Review…

Living On O2 for Life

Life during 2017 sure has been interesting. K and I have found ourselves confronted with many challenges that mostly were unexpected, which usually is the case for us. However, there were a LOT of good, fun, adventurous times throughout the year for us too. Thank goodness… because we really needed them.

January 2017 started with a visit from BOTH of my sisters at the same time! It was shockingly fabulous because it’s difficult for the both of them to have the same time off with their work schedule and then they’d have to drive down to see me now. I don’t travel well anymore and they are starting to understand that a little better now. It’s one thing for them to know their sister’s health is declining but it’s another thing to actually see it first hand. January brought the gift that I’d been waiting for… Christmas cookies made by my older sister and frosted by me and my sister and decorated (little kid style) by my very adorable niece.

February 2017 brought all kinds of exciting fun planning of my vegetable garden. We tried growing new things this year, like broccoli, squash, and tomatoes. I tried to keep up with the garden but with my health and the Texas heat, it started to get me way too tired just trying to keep it watered. A couple of times, K would tell me to just go inside because he would see me struggling with my breathing. So, he took over the garden for me. He’s my hero!

If you haven’t ever grown your own vegetables, it’s a sight to see and it’s actually very therapeutic. No, really… I swear! In March, the potatoes and our two tomato plants were growing like crazy due to amount of rain we’d keep having! Yay!!

In March, K and I were shopping in Home Depot and my liquid oxygen tank flew out of the cart and landed on the cement. What a scene that was! K was so worried about me but I handled it amazingly well after I realized it still put out oxygen. Whew, right? By the end of March, I was harvesting my first strawberries! Yummy! In fact, K was so interested in my strawberries that he filled two hanging baskets with strawberry plants to grow some of his own. Wow. I’m slowly turning him into a farmer! haha!

In April, K’s Aunts and Uncles came down to visit but stayed with his mom and his aunt here in town. By May, I had a lot of tomatoes I didn’t know what to do with them. I mean, we could only eat so many slices of tomatoes on sandwiches and for salads. So, I looked up on Pinterest how to make homemade tomato sauce. The process was tedious and it felt like it took forever but it sure was a success. I even had to call my mom for advice.

I didn’t get to go to my niece’s recital or birthday party because I can’t drive myself that far alone anymore. It just wears me out being the driver for that long. In between the missed trip to my sister, to the time I got to go see them later in the year, K and I went to 2 concerts. We saw U2 and then we saw Roger Waters (think Pink Floyd). Those concerts were a gift from me to K for his birthday and Christmas of last year. We used my wheelchair and I a bought a cup holder that I could attach to the arm of my wheelchair from Amazon. It was SO handy.. so convenient and affordable! Yay.. we all love affordable, right? Going to the concerts with K reminded me of the old days of dating K. We had a good time dancing, singing and acting goofy back then as we did for these two concerts.

In August, my older sister road the train to my city and drove me in my van to her house. I stayed with her for 10 days and then she drove me home and caught the train home. How sweet was that??? I know, right? I have to admit that I missed K something fierce. After I got home and rested up, K and I went on an adventure to South Padre Island for our 25th anniversary. We hit every art gallery and tried various restaurants and did all kinds of fun things. It was a great 10 days but on the way home, the front grill of my van flew off and went over the top of the van. I’m just thankful that it wasn’t me driving because it sure was scary. We didn’t see where it landed and thankfully no one was behind us. I knew we should have taken Klondike, my rubber chicken (road trip mascot). We got an estimate to replace the grill but it was an outrageous price. K and I had an idea but we didn’t realize that we were both thinking the same thing until we started talking about Plan B. We’d the grill replacement part on Amazon, order it, and K thought he could put it on the van himself. So that’s what we did for so much less! I’m so impressed with K’s skills! Though, he’s not much of a car guy but he can fix simple things. My MacGyver, he was! *wink*

From October up to now has been rough, K has had a lot of trouble with his eyes that scared the ever-lovin’ bejeebers out of us. He’s had to have 2 surgeries and I needed to take care of him while he recovered. It reminded me of just how much he actually does for me with my health needs and all done willingly and without complaint. I’m so lucky. I have to mention that he’s got some great ophthalmologists. One of them has the most awesome waiting room filled with jigsaw puzzles that anyone can work on and even a blanket rack that has CROCHETED afghans! *shock* Wow! K said his doctor wanted to meet me. Apparently, K had been telling him about me and the doctor has a daughter with scoliosis like me. So, without giving names, I’d like to give a shoutout to her! “HEY! If you are reading this, here’s a big hello to you and hoping that you are doing well.” *hugs*

Christmas was great! I got to help K decorate the house with new creative ideas this year. We try to add new ideas every year to the decorations! This year we added 5 wreaths we decorated together, 3 hung in our family room windows and one for two large mirrors we have. I had to go at a really slow pace hanging Christmas bulbs, wrapping ribbon around trees, and creating my 3 wreath masterpieces but we got it all done in about 5 days. Hooray! And now it’s January 2018. We’re ready for a better year. *fingers crossed* We’re already planning some exciting things to look forward to which is how we stay optimistic during the tough times.

You can see the pictures I take if you look in the right column of this blog under the Instagram heading. You don’t need to have an account to see my pictures. I just didn’t add them to this post because it’s already so long.

A Long Awaited Update! September/October 2017

Living On Oxygen for Life

Let’s be honest… I’ve missed blogging and I know it’s been since before my birthday (last month) that I’ve posted anything on my blog for you to read. In my defense, the last two months have been incredibly… what’s the word I’m looking for?… trying?…no. Hectic? You could say that. Let’s throw in challenging with a bit of a MacGyver twist and super stressful at times. If you wrap all that up and include my two road trips that I took (one to Oklahoma to see my family & one to South Padre Island for my birthday/25th anniversary), I have to admit, it’s been a pretty awesome adventure.

It all started with my birthday/anniversary vacation that we try to take every year. We both took turns driving down to South Padre Island which took us about 9 hours even while having to stop nearing every two hours (when K was driving) to get out and stretch our legs and walk the dog. Rocco loved sniffing new territory but I hated having to use convenient store or McDonald’s bathrooms. Not just because I never knew what to expect going into one of those things but also because getting in and out of the car and walking to the bathroom now wears me out and makes me short of breath in the worst way. That’s something new.

We made it to Padre and it was overcast but that’s ok because we knew Hurricane Harvey just past by and almost everything was up and running again on the island. Yay for us! Two days after we arrived, a boat washed up on the beach which drew everyone, including the Padre Beach police, to check the boat out. We should have set up a beach chair next to it and charged people for us to take their picture! It took nearly a week for the boat to wash up this far on the beach.

K and I normally go for a nice steak dinner for our anniversary celebration. But who knew that there wasn’t a restaurant on the island, nor close by on the mainland, that sells a good steak? Instead, we had a small party of two at our condo with a gigantic birthday/anniversary cake that K intended to share with the waitstaff had we gone to a restaurant. Thankfully we brought our big ice chest and I had some square foil pans to save the leftover cake to freeze and take home. You better believe that I ate it all once I got home (K had the last piece..darn him!). I LOVE birthday cake!

We really had a lot of fun and took a few goofy pictures. I was even a pirate! Argh! After ten days in Padre, it was time to go home and on the way home, the craziness began. We were north of Austin, Texas when it happened. I was reading and K was driving… thankfully. Our grill from the front of our van broke loose and flew over the hood and smacked our windshield and then continued over the top of the van. It scared us so bad. Thankfully, no one was behind us and we looked but didn’t see it land on the highway. We get home ok and called our mechanic to see what it would cost to get it replaced. $600! Are you kidding me? The thing was made mostly of plastic. K and I had the same idea… look on eBay for the part. K said he could fix it himself and I was, like, “You go Rambo…you get into that MacGyver mode!” Sure enough, it cost us a total of $200 and K attached it with no problems! YAY K!

What K didn’t tell me was that on the way home from Padre was that he was starting to see floaters in his right eye. Then when he went to work, he called his optometrist and they told him to come in RIGHT NOW. He had a detached retina. I was so worried because now he had to have surgery and this was his eyesight!. The first time I went with K to his optometrist, K told me that he had been telling the doctor about me because he has a daughter who has some similar health conditions. Let me tell you that I have no problem that K talked about me. I mean, I blog… so of course I don’t mind. I was really excited about meeting this doctor to learn more if he wanted to talk about it. Naturally, I knew this appointment was about K but I did bring a printed copy of an x-ray showing my scoliosis. This doctor was really neat and very personable. K and I really like him. But what excited me the most was his waiting room. Holy cow… the moment I walked into the building, I was thinking that EVERY waiting room should be like this one. There were crocheted afghans on a blanket rack next to the door and in each waiting area there was a card table with a puzzle to be put together. I immediately zoned in on the puzzle. K knows. I love puzzles and there was an older man sitting there working on the one I noticed. I just blurted out … “Oh yay a puzzle!!!” (I know you’re visualizing that.. aren’t you? haha!) The man heard me and started to get up saying that I could work on it. I told him to please stay and I can work on it with you. I told him that I love puzzles and this reminds me of when I worked on puzzles with my dad. Awww! I know, right? I was so engrossed that I didn’t even hear K’s name called by the nurse. What’s so awesome was that there was ANOTHER puzzle in the waiting room in the back! I was in waiting-room heaven!

K’s surgery went well but I wore myself out having to drive him to appointments and waking up to check to see if he wasn’t sleeping on his back for the first week after surgery. That was stressful but after the first week, he could sleep on his side but NOT on his back. You would think that it wouldn’t be a big deal but people move around while they sleep and K is accustomed to sleeping on his back. So, I had a lot of waking up to do to check on him. With everything that was going on with K, I truly had an eye opening experience about how much he does for me without complaining. He drives me to doctor appointments that are an hour away, he pushes me in a wheelchair when I need it, he takes care of everything in the background when I have migraines, not to mention doing most of the chores and all of the grocery shopping now…and most of this is done without me having to ask. I got a taste of what he does for me when I needed to take care of him for a change. I was definitely humbled and I gained a new appreciation for what he does for me. Not that I never appreciated it but my health is changing faster now, requiring K to do more and I don’t always see what he does for me.

Lots of love to you all! Don’t forget to subscribe to my blog to follow along! Leave a comment too! Have a great day!!!

Crazy Awesome Weekend with Family!

Living On Oxygen for Life

I had a very long but fun weekend. First was the Pulmonary Hypertension doctor appointment and an Arterial Blood Gas drawn. Then we ate lunch at McDonald’s because we had other things we needed to do. We had to run to Walmart to return some stuff and pick up some forgotten thing from the grocery trip K did the previous day. Plus we picked up a new inhaler at the pharmacy. That was all on Friday.

When we came home from the errands, we got busy finishing up with cleaning the house because family was coming!!!! Yay!

After I made it to bed feeling exhausted, I knew I had to get up way early again for another appointment on Saturday that was a little over an hours drive away.

While we were at the appointment, my sister & her family already arrived at our house (we call it The Chateau), and we finally got home around 2pm. Yay! 

We got to babysit my niece for 4 hours, which was super fun but by the time they got back, K and I were wiped out.  My niece must have some sort of super-charged mega-battery that keeps her pumped up with energy.  I asked to borrow it but I didn’t think it’s transferable. Darn! 

We had so much fun but I’m glad we didn’t go to lunch with them today. It’s time for this girl to crash. I need sleep or at least down time. My niece is 7 and she asked me lots of questions (even taught me a two person hand-slapping song that was called Lemonade. I think?!) about my bipap mask that I was using when she snuck in my room to see if I was awake yet yesterday during my very short nap. She wanted her own cannula. She also wanted to see what it felt like with it connected to the oxygen. 

So, like a fun Auntie that I am, I used it as a learning experience for her. I got her a 7 foot cannula (like the ones used with portable tanks), connected it to one of my oxygen tanks, and I turned the oxygen on to 2 liters first. She wasn’t really impressed. So I told her, “Ok, now this is was it feels like at the amount that I have to use which 6 liters.” Her eyes got really wide when she felt it in her nose and she said, “Whoa! How do you do that?” “Baby girl, I do it because it helps me breathe.” 

I always want to make sure that she knows it’s ok to ask questions about me or my equipment. Curiosity can be a good thing when paired with learning about something that will expand her mind. We had a great time this weekend and I feel happy as I always do when I get to see one or both of my sisters. It’s like medicine to my soul. Sounds a little corny but it works for me. 

Getting ready for company..

Living On Oxygen for Life

This is how K looks out for me. He’s awesome. I meant to post this last year. I just wanted to show you that there are some really great spouses out there. There are so many things that are just too hard for me to do and that’s when K steps in and takes over. I love this man.

Me: (finally lying in bed with Bipap & oxygen on totally exhausted from working along side K to super clean the house) Thank you so much for your help K.

K: (while mopping the hallway) Is the music too loud?

Me: No. Right now I don’t care about the music or the light being on. I’m exhausted. What you’re doing is so appreciated.

K: (stops mopping) This is what you wanted done.. What you needed, right?

Me: What you’ve done is awesome. You’ve gone above my expectations. Thank you.

A Darn Good Day!

Living On Oxygen for Life

I had a GREAT day yesterday. Even I couldn’t believe what all I got accomplished on my own. I made it to the pharmacy and then decided, what the heck, I still have energy… I’ll go grocery shopping all by myself. I did find myself huffing and puffing my way into the store but I grabbed a cart and rolled it the short distance to the produce department while doing a little purse-breathing along the way. (Remember? K has been taking over the grocery shopping for the last 5 or 6 months. It’s been getting harder and harder for me to go along.)

I did a bit of “slow browsing” to give myself enough time to catch my breath and then away I go to shop to my heart’s content. No, I did not buy ice cream. But I did by ingredients to make cookies and maybe even turtle cheesecake. *drool* I even had fun saying hello to people I don’t even know, even the little kids. I had so much fun!!!

I knew I’d be tired when I got home because K wasn’t going to be home yet and I skipped my morning diuretics to get an early start on my day. So I grabbed a roasted chicken for dinner. Won’t K be surprised?!?!

I got home with my groceries and unloaded AND put them away! All. By. Myself!!! *super proud of myself* Next, I started dinner! Whaaaat??? How am I even doing all this??? I just don’t know. All I can say is….K sure was surprised because not only did I accomplished all the stuff I did yesterday, I even made a salad to go with dinner! Whaaaaaat? I think I scored some extra points with the salad. *grin* Who says men don’t like salad? After dinner, my energy was definitely draining. I could only rinse off the dishes but you KNOW I had just enough energy to sit down to crochet for a few hours while we watched some TV together.

It was a happy day yesterday and I hope I have another one again soon. I am paying for all of yesterday’s effort today. I’m tired, tired, tired today and when I told K that I was ready for a nap earlier, he politely reminded me that the Cowboys play at 3pm which is about 25 minutes ago. Argh!!!! haha! So, here I am with my bipap on, in bed, trying to power up for the game.

I’m happy. I hope I don’t mess up whatever I decide to make for my contribution to our family Thanksgiving dinner. It’s supposed to be something chocolate-flavored. That’s where the turtle cheesecake comes into play. *shrug* hehe!

Have a great Sunday! Lots of love to you all!!!

Gearing up for the PH International Conference and What’s up with my heart?

Living On Oxygen for Life

I’m super excited to be going to the PH International Conference in Dallas this month. Hooray! I’ll be surrounded by so many people who have the same disease that I have. I hate to even call it a “disease” but that’s what Pulmonary Hypertension is. It’s a disease that has no cure but it’s slowing amassing some amazing medicines to help battle the symptoms that PH causes. We still need a cure. The conference is going to be a way for me to learn even more about PH. I want to actually try to find other people to have Pulmonary Hypertension who also has Scoliosis like I do. My PH is secondary to Scoliosis and Restrictive Lung Disease due to Scoliosis deforming my rib cage. Finding others like me will be difficult. Not many people out there like this. PH is a rare disease. I want to find those people and compare how they manage life with how I manage life and breathing. Maybe we could learn something from each other. *fingers crossed*

Before I go to this conference, I have to get through the next 9 days of the 10-day Halter Monitor I’m wearing to get a read on what my heart is doing. Tikosyn is not really helping my heart arrhythmias which is discouraging. The doctors didn’t believe me so I “suggested” that they do a Halter monitor to see what’s going on. We’ll find out one way or the other. Right? Like I said, *fingers crossed*

I’m actually impressed with the newer halter monitor that I’m wearing. It’s cool! I get a “Sensor” that has 3 leads and I wear it around my neck from an attached lanyard. Plus, there is the “Monitor” which is like a cellphone. When I have an “episode” with my heart skipping, I get to push a button on the screen of the monitor and go through a few questions about: What is happening? (I check: Heart skipping), What’s your activity? (I click either resting, mild, moderate, or heavy). So far, I’ve not had to click on heavy activity. I’m not crazy! haha! It’s raining and humid here. So, my activity is limited to indoors, low to minor-moderate activity because I get tired a lot faster in this kind of weather. There’s no telling what my carrots look like in my garden. I only have one orange left on my dwarf orange tree. The wind blew the others off.

If you want to see the many pictures of Klondike’s Adventure in Germany, you can view them all here… you don’t need an account to view them. My sister really did show my rubber chicken a good time so far. His trip is coming to an end soon. I’ll be meeting my sister and her family when they fly through on their way home. Maybe I should make her some more cookies! Shh! It will be a secret!

Stay well and be safe. Lots of love to you all! *heart emoji!*

–Christine

Klondike’s Adventure Begins! Off to Germany!

Living On Oxygen for Life

Yesterday was so exciting! K & I drove to meet my sister & family at their hotel for a visit before they take off today for their vacation. It was so great! Yesterday, though, I got a text from one of my twin nephews asking if I’ll make his favorite cookies. The whole family loves Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies. I texted back.. “Of course I will!” I made a whole batch yesterday morning at 5am because I couldn’t sleep any longer. Before I started, I was kind of freaking out because I thought I ran out of sugar and thought I didn’t have enough 1-minute oatmeal but I finally found the new bag of sugar that was hidden away and the oatmeal ended up being enough. Whew!

I made Klondike a new hat, an English to German dictionary (like his French one), a fun tourist map of Germany, some miniature old newspapers of WWII as reading material for my chicken while on the plane, his wallet & money, his Germany Travel Journal (different from his Paris Journal) and his passport. My sister said she will get some German stickers to cut down to size to add as customs stamps to his passport. How clever is that? She’s very creative like me.

The first picture came in today as they are getting ready to head to the airport. Klondike is a PRETTY COOL DUDE! I can’t wait to share his adventure with you and hopefully brighten your days to come like it does for me. Being on oxygen, we need all the fun and exciting things we can get to help us get through life. So, even though owning a rubber chicken who goes off on adventures is a little silly, he does his job in brightening my day. He really makes me laugh so much! lol!!!

Klondike is wearing his fuzzy wolf ears from the hotel and enjoying his first Chocolate Oatmeal cookie. He’s ready to travel!

This is the cover of his dictionary. It’s only 2 inches tall. Everything fits in his backpack.

Stay well everyone!!!

2015 Happy Jar Revealed…. she opens the jar!

Living On Oxygen for Life

Happy Jar

This post is more about becoming more motivated about living life while on oxygen. It has shown me that even though my year was filled with challenges, I still had many happy moments to add to my Happy Jar.

This is the happy jar that I made for my 2015 Happy Jar project. I filled it with written down happy moments that happened for me throughout the year. I’m now reusing this jar for my all-exciting happy moments of this year [2016]. If you’d like to read about what Happy Jars are used for, click and read my post that I wrote titled, Happy New Year!! It’s nearly 2015!.

Today, I dumped out the 2015 happy moments and started to read through them. Last year was a tough year for me. I struggled with motivation and breathing problems. With all of that going on, I didn’t think that I had slipped very many “happy” moments in my Jar. As I read through the “moments,” I found myself smiling while I remembered the fun and exciting times I had. This “Happy Jar” has been a great idea! In fact, I’m hoping to fill it up this year!

I hope you created one for yourself last year with me. If you didn’t, start one now! It’s not too late. You don’t have to be super creative with your jar. Mine is a clean Spaghetti sauce jar that I ran through the dishwasher and then painted and used polymer clay to decorate it. Give it a try and do it your way!

I thought I would share my happy moments with you. Let’s see how many I have. Maybe you will recognize some of them! Granted… not every happy moment of 2015 made it in the jar. It was fun pulling out the papers and reading the things I nearly forgot about that happened.

HAPPY JAR 2015

~ I just made a batch of Oatmeal Scotchies (cookies) and cleaned the mess. AND I’m not even tired from it! Hooray!

~ Results are back on the CT Scan. My aorta is only 4.3cm instead of 5.1cm. YAY! Whew!

~ Going to Oklahoma for 5 days for my birthday/anniversary!

~ I finished an afghan for my cousin’s baby! I love babies!

~ Made Rocco some doggy biscuits- homemade! He loves them!!

~ I finished the family Christmas photobook. I ordered an 8×8 book just for us to see how well it turned out. Can’t wait!!

~ My mother-in-law gave me a gift of a t-shirt that’s black with blingy cats. I LOVE IT!

~ Sore from painting last night. So, I made brownies as my motivational reward. Then, I continued taping trim and walls! Happy Day!

~ I finished my Happy Jar (added the cat on the lid) and made decorative papers for my Happy Jar! So Happy!

~ I sent an afghan to one of my parents! He wanted my name and date on it. Awwww!

~ I went to the doctor today to get the paperwork started for a new Bipap! Saw K at work, mailed a Need a Hug afghan, and then made dinner in the crockpot & cleaned up the mess. SUCCESS!

~ Family came for a visit and they tested out the Margarita Machine I got K for Christmas! Great weekend!

~ I’m so happy. K and I finished painting the family room walls, hung curtains, and pictures. Then cleaned our mess. It looks awesome!!

~ Klondike goes to Paris with sister and her husband.

~ Pictures are now coming in from Paris! Klondike is having a blast!!!

~ I finished Klondike’s Adventure in Paris photobook that I made for my sister as a thank you for taking Klondike on their vacation.

An Overload of Information to Catch You Up!

Living On Oxygen for Life

Oh my goodness… I have so much to catch you up on. First, let me show you my MacGyver invention that I took to two movies and a trip to see my sisters a few days ago. It enabled me to take both of my portable liquid oxygen tanks and not have to carry them myself.

Going to a 2 hr and 15 min movie with 2 tanks and this cart I invented to carry both tanks.

I put one of the portables in the bucket and strapped the whole thing in my van on the middle bench with the seatbelt. It worked really well! Next thing I need to tell you that my trial with Adempas is over. I didn’t do very well on it. I had a constant headache and my breathing had gotten worse. So, I talked with my doctor and she agreed to stop the medicine. Having Restrictive Lung Disease makes it hard to find Pulmonary Hypertension medicine that my body will tolerate. Right now, I’m back on 62.5mg of Tracleer twice a day.

Christmas was great!! K and I decorated the house again this year. Unfortunately he had to work on his days off but I had the energy to decorate most of the Christmas tree myself since I went slow. It took me a couple of days to get the ornaments on the tree. Here’s a couple of pictures of what we did.

Our 2015 Christmas Tree!

K made our table look great with a live tree from Jackson & Perkins.

I had fun crocheting some holly and berries… I turned them into knob ornaments.

My Mary enjoying the Christmas tree 2015.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When I was visiting my sisters a few days ago, we met up at Winstar Casino since it was the most central place to meet. My little sister is the one who went to Paris and she brought me back Klondike! It was good to get him back home but it looks like he is going to be a world traveler because my little sister said they will take him to Germany when they go. Germany!!! How cool is that? They really liked the Shutterfly book I made of all the pictures they took of Klondike in Paris. They texted them to me each day they were there. By doing this, it gave me a chance to travel by proxy to places that I’d never thought I could go. Overseas! Plus, I got a very awesome purse and a beret! Yippee!!

The French Beret I got from my sister!

I know I’m overloading you with a bunch of information but I can’t stop now! I have more news to tell you! This one is super exciting because I worked all year to accomplish this one. My dwarf Meyer Lemon tree, that I’m growing in a half whiskey barrel, produced 3 whole lemons for the first time ever and it took all year to grow them. I think I’m going to make lemon brownies with a glaze on top. I forget what they are called but I found a yummy Pinterest recipe. The lemons are HUGE!

It took one year to grow these!

I’m still crocheting Need a Hug afghans. Even though 2015 was pretty rough and my Happy Jar doesn’t have a whole lot of “Happy Moments,” I’m determined to make 2016 a more awesomer year. Yes, I said AWESOMER which is a new word I invented and I’ll say it until it catches on! haha! Have a great year everyone and stay well and warm. Sorry I had to throw everything at you in one blog post. Believe me, I could go on but, I’ll let you digest this post for a bit before I post more. Lots of love and hugs to you all.