Briefly…They Moved Fast

There is another post that was going here. A post about Christmas trees, Epiphany, and the Twelve Days of Christmas. However, I’ll put that up later in the week.

Today I spent just over six hours at Veteran’s Administration medical appointments. I’m not sure if you can understand the significance of that, so I’ll tell you, if you’re interested:

Normally I am up and about for only two to three hours at a time before I am exhausted and return to bed, the CPAP, and the oxygen compressor. To day I was up and away from both of those devices for more than nine hours, counting the time it took me to dress and to drive to the VA clinic for appointment number one and from there to the hospital for appointment number two.

The time up and about, not to mention dragging myself about 600 yard from the across the parking lot to the hospital and back left me almost unable to drag myself the 40 or so feet from my car to the house. By the time I returned I was more than exhausted.

Of course, when I entered the house I was greeted by a cat who had not been able to hassle me for all of those hours. Alex wanted to be held, cuddled, and fed (even though he had plenty of two different kinds of cat food in his dishes). Then I heaved myself into the bedroom shed my clothes, turned on the CPAP and oxygen thingie and collapsed.

Now about the VA appointments. At the first I was finally able to obtain referrals to the hearing and eye clinics. Great! As I’ve mentioned before, I know I have a hearing loss at least in my right ear—all dudes who have been around tanks have some type of hearing loss. So far as my eyes are concerned, I have more and more difficulty reading. Since I last had my eyes examined in 1999, I suspect I need a new glasses prescription.

The second appointment, which was at the hospital’s pulmonary care clinic, tested by blood oxygen level fro the third time in the past ten months. Of course it’s lousy! My inability to breath is what my Social Security disability is based upon. However, I did not know how bad my breathing ability really is. Resting, the level never rose above 92%. With limited exercise (remember my Doo see doo, Doc, and around we go! post back in early December?) my oxygen level quickly dropped to below 80%. That ain’t good.

After the data was gather—and that included that damned drawing blood from my wrist bone that hurts like nothing else—the respiratory therapist had me sign a paper that explained all of the reasoned why VA might not provide me with oxygen therapy and then told me that the results of the tests would be reviewed and I would be informed at a later date as to whether or not I’m eligible.

That cat nap I took when I returned home this afternoon lasted only about forty-five minutes. It seems the real cat in my house had been napping all the time I was gone and wanted me to serve him, not nap. Too make sure that I got that message, Alex perched on top of the CPAP and pushed the button which turns off the flow of air into my lungs. Needless to say, I awakened, jumped out of bed, and chased the cat until I was winded—about ten step.

As long as I was awake, I walked into the library and picked up my latest book: Barack Obama’s The Audacity of Hope. Before I could open it, I noticed the light flashing on my telephone answering thingie. The message was from a respiratory therapist named Paul, who asked me to call him as soon as I “returned from the hospital.” It was about an hour after I had returned, but I took the risk and telephoned him anyway.

It seems that the VA made a very fast decision (for a government agency) on my needing oxygen therapy and so tomorrow at 10:30 or so in the morning Paul will arrive with 12 canisters of real oxygen, which I am to use 24-hours per day. It seems my lousy breathing did impact someone!

Now, I have written much more than I planned to write. Alex has clawed me three times since I began writing this and is now outside enjoying the balmy 69 degree (F) January evening.

Sooooo, I am now going to demand the furball come back inside because we are under a tornado watch tonight. Then, I am going back to bed!

NOTE: I ain’t proof reading this; I am too tired to worry about mistakes.