When I read the posts on the forum I'm always struck by how we are all much the same with our breathing difficulties but on the other hand we're all completely different...
Especially when it is in the use of oxygen.
I read through the comments you left on my article yesterday about not being allowed longer tubing and that brought it home even more that our oxygen usage very much depends on our condition and probably on our respective Consultants...
It was when I told the respiratory nurse at the hospital that my concentration had all but vanished and I was going to bed at six in the evening completely knackered...then sleeping for twelve to fourteen hours...that she said she'd have a word with the Consultant...
And this is where the 'but' comes in. I'm a retainer, so too much oxygen could quite possibly be lethal...and my lungs are dry...so I have to have a little gadget fixed to the main supply of oxygen which moistens it as it enters my lungs...a humidifier. It's refilled with boiled water every day and there's various bits of tubing attached to it which in turn are attached to the tank.
And I have portable oxygen as well for when we go out...the tanks are the smallest ones available...for the frail and elderly said Malachi cheerfully, though he did soften it with a wink and a smile...they last for about four hours...not long really, and at present I can only have six a month. Though I'm going to be asking for an increase during the summer when we go out more often.
Because of the humidifier, I can't have a longer length of tubing for the main stationery tank...the humidifier wouldn't work...can't use an extension lead for the plug either because it would weaken the flow.
I have just a smidgen over six feet of tubing...so I'm more or less tethered to my desk, though I can just about reach the front door. It's fine for night time because I sleep on the settee which is beside the desk... the back door, kitchen and bathroom are within feet of me... but too far for the tubing to reach.
However...I can now get up at about nine o'clock without feeling the need for another three hours sleep...can stay awake comfortably until ten in the evening and even better I can grasp new crochet stitches and read avidly...as well as sorting out who is related to who in family trees. Before I went onto oxygen, I couldn't even do a Word Search puzzle...
It's a bit of a head game isn't it? Making the very best of whatever you happen to be lumbered with.