Skip to main content

No O²

Sometime in July 2023

What has been happening?

Hypoxemia. That's a fancy way of saying "Oxygen don't like your body, ma'am.

°°°

What caused it in my case?
1. Not using my CPAP machine every night because Eskom wants to see us dead. This machine helps with sleep apnea - every now and then I stop breathing at night, presumably to admire myself in my sleep. 
2. I have diastolic dysfunction - fancy way of saying a certain part of my heart muscle doesn't ever relax (pretty much like my personality. IYKYK)
3. Anemia (I'm treating this by consuming iron every day. If you stand too close to me, you can smell the iron ore. Don't tell the US government. They will mine me.)
4. Pulmonary hypertension (I'm also taking pills for this. But we found that they have lost strength, so doc increased the dose to Final Boss Level.)

°°°

What has been happening to my body (symptoms)
1. Lower lip has been darker (I just need to put on lip gloss, and it looks like I have a new lipstick.)
2. Slight confusion, e.g. forgetting regular nouns, like tree, dog or electricity. That last one isn't my fault though. I also just want to sleep the whole time. 
3. Failing the 6MWT - I couldn't walk for longer than 6 minutes without gasping for air (and maybe vodka.) Going up and down the stairs at home has been a mission. 
4. Going out of breath from doing nothing. And here I thought I was just so stunning that it took my own breath away. Kanti in dying. Lol.

°°°

How to help me
1. Don't show up without ice cream.
2. Don't scare or startle me.
3. Don't make me laugh too hard. 
4. Hug me on sight.
5. Pray for me (throw in a request for a husband while you're at it.)
6. Feed me iron and potassium-heavy food. (Does tequila have potassium? Asking for a friend)
7. Tell me when my speech is weird or I sound sleepy. It could save my life. 
8. If I send you a message/text/email that makes little to no sense, tell me immediately. This too could save my life. 

°°° 

What am I doing about it? (Treatments)
1. Temporarily stop going to the gym (Oh no! Lol.) My heart rate is raised and needs no further raising (unlike our salaries, bestie.)
2. Extra diuretics - to remove excess water from the lungs and the rest of the body. As a result, if I even look at water I need to go pee immediately. 
3. Electrolytes - to combat the dehydration. I MUST drink liquids - a cruel twist.
4. Supplemental oxygen. Sort of like going to the petrol station, but for my lungs and heart. 
5. A magical extra electricity supply from Eskom means I can use my CPAP machine at night. 
6. I take a steroid-loaded inhaler every morning. I'm gonna start lifting when I go back to the gym, which I sadly have to. I'm gonna look like my childhood hero Schwarzenegger. I will terminate all my problems. 

I'll be back!

An oxygen molecule structure
















Labels

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Not Without My Lola

  Activated charcoal, to bind the poison. Anti-parasite meds. Antibiotics.  Pain killers (on my request). A mineral drip. My baby is in hospital. I cannot see anything beyond Lola. Not yet anyway. She’s still 4 years old. We still have at least 10 more years, no? Her eyes are darting side to side. She’s not responding to anything, not even an ear massage. She’s just laying there, in her cage at the local vet hospital. Lola went from bouncing dog to a drooling mess. We couldn’t find her in the morning. She was discovered facing away from life, while seated on a muddy patch. She struggled to go into the house, and then still faced the wall when she got into my room. A five-minute drive to the vet felt like a mountainous train journey. The vet staff helped us get her to a doctor’s table and she was immediately taken to a “procedure room.” After the longest 30 minutes, it still needed to be clarified what the issue may be. But poisoning is the main suspect. We are in South Africa,...
Post a Comment
Read more

Race Rage Gape

1. "I love having her around, but seeing bits of her hair in the shower is unbearable! I want her to stay, but I just can't stand it. It's... gross." Faced with a dilemma seemingly so minor, Viera didn't have time to mull over her decision because her black tenant overheard the conversation and immediately felt unwanted. She eventually left. No amount of apologising and pseudo acceptance could glue that relationship back together. It was Humpty-Dumpty. Gone. I was disgusted with Viera and I let it be known, with the kindest words possible, of course. No use fueling an awkward storm, but we had to talk about it.  She doesn't hate black people, nor did she expect her own visceral reaction to seeing all the little coily black strands of hair in the shower she shared with her black acquaintance.  In her words, it wasn't that the hair was from a black person as much as it was a foreign sight. One that she could not stomach. She felt like her senses were invaded...
Post a Comment
Read more

Needles & Olives - Prequel to Now

Okay. This is where I unpeel. I've dragged you into my journey with health. You cheer me on, but you're not 100% sure what's going on. So here's a laundry list with a timeliness. Hopefully it will make certain sense.    1. Buckle up.   2006 - Pregnancy. Hypertension. Snoring. Acid reflux. 2007 onwards - Getting higher doses of hypertension medications and being told to lose weight. Medical apathy. 2018 - Iron deficiency started showing up. I was not aware, until later.  mid-2019 - Breathing difficulties manifest at odd times. Started on steroids. Important to remember.  2019 - Enlarged heart detected. 2029 (Dec) - Personal paranoia about SARSCOV2 hits high inside me. Causing me to be a hermit ahead of the lockdown. Feb 2020 - Asthma diagnosis. Fear of COVID19 contraction escalates. March 2020 - The cardiomegaly continues (fancy way of saying, “Your heart's too big and not in a good way.) 2020 - Partaking in the collective insanity. 2021 August - Vaccinated again...
Post a Comment
Read more