MY OXYGEN USAGE IS GETTING SCARY. Apparently my oxygen level continues to really suck. I had to remove my cannula for about half an hour earlier today for my Wednesday morning bath and shampoo, at which time my oxygen dropped from 97% to 84% … which is considered extremely low for a person who still has a heartbeat. And the same thing happens every time I remove my cannula, even if it’s just for a few minutes. We’re able to monitor my oxygen level and heart rate with a fingertip pulse oximeter, a fun little LED “toy” that Sam seems to diddle with almost as much as I do. I use my cannula and oxygen generator 24/7 now, and there’s even a portable oxygen tank in the closet just in case we ever have a power failure.
DIGESTIVE ADVENTURES. Last Wednesday [see post] I wrote about discovering Imodium, an OTC anti-diarrhea medication, as a complete cure for the hideous burning bladder spasms I’d been enduring for probably four months or more. Unfortunately, it took two days for the hospice M.D. to prescribe an anti-spasmodic medication — Detrol — that wouldn’t leave me with terminal constipation, and to get my digestive system working again I wound up taking several substantial doses of Senna (a prescription laxative) until all hell finally broke loose yesterday. (Forgive me for over-sharing. It’s what I do best.) Incidentally, so far I can claim one major side effect from taking Detrol … SOUR STOMACH. I’ve been trying to belch for days, something that’s not easy to do when you’re reclining all the time. Tomorrow I’ll call my hospice R.N. to ask what I can take for sour stomach that won’t interact with my other meds … and the list is considerable. Trust me.
Thank you for reading this. Seriously.
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