27th April 2007
The past 3 years I had very bad depression and couldn't even leave my house so I sat in bed all day and eat junk food and drank Dr.Peppers and smoked all day from morning til bed time. I would was dishes when they needed them and laundry after someone would carry it out for me because it took so much out of me to even carry the basket of laundry. It took my breath to even walk to my kitchen and sometimes just to the bathroom which is much closer than the kitchen.
This past Dec. Christmas was a fog to me and on the 27th. I told my son I needed to go to the hospital, I called my husband too and told him then called my daughter that lived close by. My daughter called 911, I could not even get out of bed or walk. The ambulance come and said I just had the crud and to open up windows and take meds for the flu and to not smoke and they left. My husband got home and they loaded me up and go me to the ER just in time. My husband said I was already turning blue. They put the tube down my throat and got me stable enough to take me to a different hospital that had better doctors for respitory problems.
As soon as they found out I was a smoker they attached the word COPD to me and also congestive heart failure but come to find out there was no heart failure. They did say I had double pneumonia in the hospital.
I have been going to the lung doctor. He has done no testing in his office, not sure what all he did if anything in the hospital except to xray my chest. He is very hard to understand and my daughter that lives out of town used to work with a doctor that was from another country so she could understand him better but she is not here when I go see him now.
I was sent home with oxygen and on my follow up he took me off of oxygen 24/7 and said to just use it when I do anything that exerted me. Next visit he said I would be able to get rid of my tank, didn't need it anymore. Then he had me walk the hall a few times, I was practically running. The nurse caught up wtih me and put the oximeter on my finger and then had me go back to the room, said my reading was 88 or 89 and they stuck the oxygen back on me real fast. My pulse was up also. He then said that I had to continue to use the oxygen when I did anything exerting.
He has me on meds also. I take one Theo 24 in the morning along with one dose of Spiriva and one Lasix pill. In the evening I take 2 puffs of Asmanex. I also take Xanax, low dose for anxiety.
Some of the meds seem to have my pulse rate higher so of course it goes up more when I do things. The Theo 24 has a side effect of higher pulse rate and probably the asmanex also. As for exercising he said I can do anything I want, I can go anywhere I want, I can do anything I feel like doing.
I have found also that my taste is not like it used to be, some things I can not stand to eat any longer. The pharmacist said it is from the Asmanex, the steroid in that inhaler.
I bought me a finger oximeter to keep up with my readings. I have been doing walking and sometimes I jog in place. I have just started this, before this I was just counting my steps daily and trying to improve on that and stopped the counting during Easter when my daughter and grandson was here. Been doing the following since the beginning of this week: I have been walking 10 minutes at a time and here lately walking 10 times a day at 10 minutes each time not counting just regular walking around the house and outside. When I do my walking the lowest my reading gets is usually 92 and after I finish and sit down it starts going back up to 98 or 99 and my pulse back down and this is without using my oxygen. On the average my oxygen level at rest is 97 or 98.
Do those reading sound ok to you or do I need to use the oxygen when I do my 10 minute walks. I am trying to build myself up and make myself stronger so I can do more since I am feeling better and want to get out and do things and go places now. I have been a very sick person the past few years and never realized it was so bad but now I feel like a new and different person.
I go back to the doctor June 12th and hopefully I will impress him then and show him that I don't need the oxygen. Heck, I did nothing for 3 years, my muscles were turning to mush!!!
I am not good with writing down things like this and I may have left so much out. If anyone has any questions about something that I left out just post here I will be checking back in.
Also any suggestions or input would be greatly appreciated.
Oh yes, when I walk I don't get out of breath on my 10 minute things. If I get tired while doing the walk that is when I will just stand in place and high step my legs in a walking type style or hold the back of the chair and jog in place. Oh, I don't have a cough either. Have not smoked either since I went to the hospital.
Thank you
This past Dec. Christmas was a fog to me and on the 27th. I told my son I needed to go to the hospital, I called my husband too and told him then called my daughter that lived close by. My daughter called 911, I could not even get out of bed or walk. The ambulance come and said I just had the crud and to open up windows and take meds for the flu and to not smoke and they left. My husband got home and they loaded me up and go me to the ER just in time. My husband said I was already turning blue. They put the tube down my throat and got me stable enough to take me to a different hospital that had better doctors for respitory problems.
As soon as they found out I was a smoker they attached the word COPD to me and also congestive heart failure but come to find out there was no heart failure. They did say I had double pneumonia in the hospital.
I have been going to the lung doctor. He has done no testing in his office, not sure what all he did if anything in the hospital except to xray my chest. He is very hard to understand and my daughter that lives out of town used to work with a doctor that was from another country so she could understand him better but she is not here when I go see him now.
I was sent home with oxygen and on my follow up he took me off of oxygen 24/7 and said to just use it when I do anything that exerted me. Next visit he said I would be able to get rid of my tank, didn't need it anymore. Then he had me walk the hall a few times, I was practically running. The nurse caught up wtih me and put the oximeter on my finger and then had me go back to the room, said my reading was 88 or 89 and they stuck the oxygen back on me real fast. My pulse was up also. He then said that I had to continue to use the oxygen when I did anything exerting.
He has me on meds also. I take one Theo 24 in the morning along with one dose of Spiriva and one Lasix pill. In the evening I take 2 puffs of Asmanex. I also take Xanax, low dose for anxiety.
Some of the meds seem to have my pulse rate higher so of course it goes up more when I do things. The Theo 24 has a side effect of higher pulse rate and probably the asmanex also. As for exercising he said I can do anything I want, I can go anywhere I want, I can do anything I feel like doing.
I have found also that my taste is not like it used to be, some things I can not stand to eat any longer. The pharmacist said it is from the Asmanex, the steroid in that inhaler.
I bought me a finger oximeter to keep up with my readings. I have been doing walking and sometimes I jog in place. I have just started this, before this I was just counting my steps daily and trying to improve on that and stopped the counting during Easter when my daughter and grandson was here. Been doing the following since the beginning of this week: I have been walking 10 minutes at a time and here lately walking 10 times a day at 10 minutes each time not counting just regular walking around the house and outside. When I do my walking the lowest my reading gets is usually 92 and after I finish and sit down it starts going back up to 98 or 99 and my pulse back down and this is without using my oxygen. On the average my oxygen level at rest is 97 or 98.
Do those reading sound ok to you or do I need to use the oxygen when I do my 10 minute walks. I am trying to build myself up and make myself stronger so I can do more since I am feeling better and want to get out and do things and go places now. I have been a very sick person the past few years and never realized it was so bad but now I feel like a new and different person.
I go back to the doctor June 12th and hopefully I will impress him then and show him that I don't need the oxygen. Heck, I did nothing for 3 years, my muscles were turning to mush!!!
I am not good with writing down things like this and I may have left so much out. If anyone has any questions about something that I left out just post here I will be checking back in.
Also any suggestions or input would be greatly appreciated.
Oh yes, when I walk I don't get out of breath on my 10 minute things. If I get tired while doing the walk that is when I will just stand in place and high step my legs in a walking type style or hold the back of the chair and jog in place. Oh, I don't have a cough either. Have not smoked either since I went to the hospital.
Thank you