Quick Trip

We were having a little leakage around Meme's denver catheter.  I sent an email to MD Anderson and they scheduled us to be in today at 10:30 a.m.  So we left at 4:45 a.m. to make the appointment in time for her to have a chest x-ray first.  Traffic was.... well it is Houston.  We made it in time. 

I was not as well organized this time and always worry if we will have enough oxygen for the day.  Switching bottles, the gasket started leaking and I was afraid we would leak all the contents and I would have to go back to the car for the back-up.  I have new gaskets but I left them all at home.  As we have heard of and experienced, the legendary helpfulness of the staff MD, they came up with a new gasket. I had temporarily fixed the problem, but I knew that if I had to switch bottles again, we would not have to worry about losing the contents and running out of oxygen. When she is in the examining rooms, we plug into to their oxygen supply saving ours for travel and transfer.

Today a nurse did the draining and I observed to see if I needed to change anything in the way I have been doing the procedure.  The leakage was observed and they said that as long as it didn't get a lot worse, it was ok.  Meme's x-ray was good and showed that we were keeping the fluid from building and her left lung had not changed.  I learned that it is called a "Denver Catheter".  I suggested to Meme that it was named after John Denver.  She said it was probably named after Bob Denver (Gilligan).  That's my girl! 

Meme asked about physical exertion and they told her to try walking around the house a little.  Since we have about 30 feet of tubing on her oxygen concentrator, she can move around the house some.  Without the oxygen supply, her pulse ox % drops and her heart accelerates.  So a few steps is like running a mile.  She is sort of like a hard hat diver, as long as she is attached to the hose she can move around some.  I think I'll call her a "hard head diver".

We go back next Thursday to have her stitches removed.  I don't think we will try a one day trip again.  We might just drive most of the way Wednesday and finish the drive on Thursday.  It is hard to find a room on short notice near the Medical Center.

Today was brother Steve's birthday. Happy Birthday from Me and Meme!

Here is a photo from one of our summer visits to Edinburg. 1963

Notice who is in the center front?

Blessing List;

Safe travel (God is wonderful)

Steve and Melanie

MD Anderson staff

Having enough oxygen for Meme

Good results

and

 

Meme's sense of humor

 Pappy