The recent trip was fun but I thought I would share with you, dear reader, what it entails to travel for even a short visit.
Oxygen: I have a large top loading liquid oxygen tank in the garage at home. It weighs over 250 pounds, is on wheels and is filled once every two weeks. Before we left, I had to remind myself to wheel it outside under the eves so it could be refilled on the day we were driving home. Also, I filled my portable system to bring with us, in case I needed it but it is good for about six hours.
Unfortunately, I could not order a top loading liquid oxygen to be at my room upon arrival in Vegas. Therefore, I would not be able to refill my portable system and would not have any supplemental oxygen outside of our hotel room. This is potentially a huge problem in the future as I continue to deteriorate.
The reason the oxygen company could not deliver a top-loading refillable tank to my room is that Homeland Security believes it may be used as a bomb. So, I had to order a concentrator. It was a big very loud concentrator that plugged into the wall and made the oxygen at the rate I needed during sleep.
At night, we plugged it in and left it in the bathroom with the door shut. We had a long tube extending from it to our bed, which I continued to trip over throughout our stay.
Breathing: The casinos are full of smoke. I had a mask with me but there were so few people in the casinos, I really did not need it. If someone lit up next to me, I just cashed in and moved on.
It was a struggle walking between casinos in the heat especially up a long ramp. I did my special breathing and was able to recover quickly.
Also, I did not to eat a large portion of food as it makes me breathless.
Washing my hands: Imperative to staying healthy. There are so many viruses and germs in an environment fill with people from throughout the world. I had to keep my hands away from my face, especially my eyes which really bothered me because of the air conditioning.
Support Hose: If I stand too long or sit too long, my ankles swell a lot. A whole lot. Grossly. It takes almost a week to get them back to their normal size. It is also not healthy to let them get that big. I wear expensive support hose I bought at a medical supply store. I put them on the morning we left and removed them the evening we arrived back home. I wore them every moment of this trip.
Medications: Always a challenge. I had several medication being delivered before our trip and they had not arrived before we left. I did have just enough to get me through. I have one medication for glaucoma that turns to water in high temperatures so I had to leave it in the refrig at home and not use it. We went on our long trip over a year ago, I had to plan for over 6 months to have all the medications I needed.
Sleep: I try to stay at my same schedule as at home – bed by 8:00. This didn’t work this trip and I arrived home totally exhausted, which can cause me to get really sick. I tried to be careful but really did not get enough rest. It was too exciting. It was too much fun to be with everyone. I have been home now for four days and I am still sleeping 12 hours at night and a nap or two during the day. Bad. This one is going to take a long to recover from all the fun.
Hotel Rooms: The rooms are full of germs. We always bring wipes and sterilize every thing in the room and bathroom. We always begin with the TV clicker, as I believe it is the dirtiest thing in the room. We wiped everything from light switches to the telephone.
So, it does take much planning when traveling, even for a short trip.
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