Visitors!

06Jun12

Johnny M came for a visit just after noon, bringing the McCormick seasonings and spices we ordered, along with messages and good wishes from many of the London staff. He also came bearing a gift from a number of the manufacturing staff - a lovely card and a t-shirt they had all signed with Sharpies!

Now when Carman goes for his physio workouts, his peeps will truly have him “covered!”

Let it be known here that I did pay John for the spices we ordered...and the money mysteriously re-appeared in a very interesting location after he left...if you were in the GTA around 4:00 pm yesterday...you too heard the glove dropping...TBC Johnny  :o)

05Jun12

John, our new Respiratory Therapist, visited this morning and gave Carman a thorough assessment. We discussed his sleep patterns, daily oxygen needs and the challenges we have in preventing his blood oxygen saturation levels from bottoming out on exertion. John had Carman remove his cannula and breath room air only while monitoring his O2 saturation levels. We timed how long it took for his levels to drop below 90% (about 3.5 minutes) and then how long it took to return to an acceptable level once back on O2 flow. The two of them then took a walk to measure the effects

 of exertion on his levels. John answered all of our questions, explaining the difference in O2  therapy for people with IPF (like Carman) vs. those with chronic obstructive disorders like emphazyma or cystic fibrosis. We are now more comfortable with what Carman needs while at rest and during exertion.

Sylvia called from the Transplant Team to let us know she was able to book our appointments with the team coordinator, pharmacy conultant and surgeon next Monday!

Alex delivers...again!  Just before dinner time, we received a call from Alex, the driver from Vitalaire who came to our rescue in March (delivering extra tanks to the hotel for us, on his own time) was just around the corner and in posession of a tower of liquid O2 for us. I grabbed our empty E tanks and took them downstairs, to meet him in the foyer. Within minutes Alex arrived and then delivered the tower to our apartment for me. We weren’t able to get the travel tank refilled so will stick close to home this week and arrange for a refill for it next week.

Carman made dinner tonight (the pizza arrived about 10 minutes ago)...and I believe we are about to have a serious thunder storm - it's been rumbling for about 20 minutes and we've had the odd flash of lightening with a very interesting sky...and the rain is coming straight down in torrents, again! Took this photo from our balcony...

All in all, we had a very good day in the big city...

Become an Organ Donor