Conversations While Carrying Oxygen

When I have to wear my large liquid oxygen tank – it is a Helios Marathon for lung people readers – it is enclosed in its custom-made backpack, which came with the Marathon. As I exercise or work in the garden, it allows my hands to be free and I don’t have to drag a cart behind me.

It is also a conversation starter.

While in the gym at the hospital, a woman approached me and asked me about my oxygen system. That conversation developed and by the end of it, I gave her names, phone numbers and resources for her husband who was struggling with a lung disease. She followed through and he is now in my rehab class.

A conversation that I will remember forever was at the county fair. Friend’s sons were showing some animals and we went to see them. Because we were going to do a lot of walking, I wore my oxygen.

Entering through the turnstile, a woman who was the ticket taker asked about my oxygen system. We began to talk and I was so surprised to learn that her husband had been diagnosed with Hypersensitivity Pneumonitis. I had only met one other person who had been diagnosed with HP. She was shocked that I was moving and active.

She said her husband was not doing well. The diagnosis had sucked the life out of him and he was totally depressed. She was working the fair for a second income as he was out of work and in bed all day. She was trying to help him but needed to support them financially.

As she told her story through tears, I learned that he had been treated at a small hospital and they really were not treating the disease well. When I told her all the tests and how my hospital deals with me, her eyes got huge. I encouraged her to get him into the university hospital lung clinic.

I also learned that they had not applied to state disability, Social Security Disability, or began the search to discover what caused the disease. She looked utterly relieved when we talked about possible income and future Medicare. We also talked about pulmonary rehab.

She was smiling and hopeful as we hugged goodbye.

Next: The Circle Closes