Like too many of my fellow USAers I used to smoke and am obese...so I suffer from sleep apnea, COPD and Emphysema.
As a result day and night I have to wear 4 liters of oxygen every day all day and at night blended into my CPAP.
Currently I am in a rehab place and dependendent on their oxygen machine to get what I need. And before for a week I did the same in a local hospital.
Due to sheer bad luck at the hospital at night the CPAP acted goofy so I could not wake up at first. They told me they tested my oxidation level and it was going down to as low as 83. They finally got me up but I was so totally out of it I couldn't talk or think clearly
Luckily for me they realized what was up and replaced the machine.
Tonight as I was watching TV, at the rehab place
Before I put on my CPAP i noticed i was having problems breathing again. I was going down to 88 percent say which made me sense as I had my cannula in and the machine was running but something was up.
Luckily this time when I pressed the call light an na came in pretty quickly. When I told her what was going on she ran for the nurse
Long story short....an earlier na came by and pushed the bedside table too close to the concentrator basically pulling.my cord out of the machine.
So...2 times now in less then a week I woke up from sleep or a daze not able to breathe/catch my breath.
Luckily everything worked out ok. I am not sure why I'm writing this personal diary. It's not to preach against smoking...like myself people who smoke for a long time know the risks. It's also not to preach about how short suddenly life could well be..I am not trying to be a drama queen about it. I know many people have it worse off than I do.
I guess I wrote this to say...not having enough oxygen sucks.
