I have been thinking about buying a portable oxygen system. We have rented several different ones for our road trips but I think I want one on hand so we can take off overnight on a whim. Apria wants two weeks notice to have a concentrator delivered to a destination. I should mention that I currently use a liquid oxygen system at home. There are two large tanks in the garage, which get refilled every two weeks and I fill my backpack whenever I need to exercise or work in the yards. From my understanding, Apria is no longer offering liquid oxygen to their new patients. It requires a certification of the driver to refill the tanks and it is down right dangerous.
When I ordered a small tank of liquid oxygen (so I could fill my backpack, if needed) for our stay in Las Vegas several years ago, they sent a concentrator instead. Why? Apparently, it was a security issued. I was told, "It can be made into a bomb!" It is very flammable. I totally understood.
My problem with portable oxygen systems is that most of them are not continuous flow but on demand. I just don't have enough strength in my lungs to kick in the demand when I am in a deep sleep. An alarm goes off after awhile, which wakes us up...
With that in mind, I am planning to go to the Interstitial Lung Disease Support Group meeting on Tuesday. It will feature someone from one of the large companies with demonstrations of the newest portable systems. I will be taking notes to pass along.
Also next week, I am having a new test called a Fibroscan for my liver. My 10-years of prednisone liver. With the liver biopsy, those numbers are used in a baseline and the liver can be monitored in this very non-evasive manner. More on that as we get closer to the test.
Happy Friday!
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