August 2, 2007

This week has seen improvement! Maybe not much, but it all adds up.

I finally discovered at the beginning of this week that my marathon portable oxygen tank was malfunctioning. For almost a week, I thought it was me. I was short of breath much of the time and had some really terrible episodes of extreme sob when trying to do things. But much to my surprise, it was my tank, not me! It was delivering only a fraction of the O2 I need. I received another tank which is also malfunctioning. Hopefully, this will be reconciled so that I can continue my outside activities.

I didn't go to rehab on Tuesday because it was the last day of class for our current group. But on Thursday, I felt ready and was excited to be going. I only had the small portable Helios 300, but at rehab, I was able to use their oxygen. I walked in this time, rather than being wheeled in by Gail. I was short of breath, but my sats were around 94% when I checked.

First I did the UBE, and was able to do 18 minutes this time. I didn't even feel any burn in my upper arms or forearms, which was a happy surprise. My sats and blood pressure were good after this.

Then I went to the TM, but was only able to do 7 minutes before I pooped out. But it was better than 5 minutes!

The Nu-step was my next machine and I did 15 minutes, another improvement. At the end, my BP was 134/70 and my sats were 96%

It was hot and humid outside, so there weren't as many people there as there would normally be. I have discovered that there are a couple of other nurses in the group and we always have something to talk about. Libby was there with her great big laugh which I always enjoy and several others that are becoming such a big part of my life. Janet has broken a couple more ribs coughing, which is distressing to her. She's such a little bitty woman and I'm sure that has something to do with it. She also has osteoporosis which contributes to her fragile bones but she doesn't miss many rehab days and is an inspiration to me.

The foundation that I work for has obtained a grant to develop a program to bring free home visits to certain COPD patients and Rose, who runs the pulmonary program and I are very excited about getting it going. She will be a great referral source for us, knowing the rehab patients as well as she does.

I'm looking forward to next week and moving even more!

~Eileen