Absent

I was absent yesterday for my pulmo rehab. I woke up dizzy and I know things go bad when I force myself to get up if my sleep cycle is incomplete. My CPAP machine has been extending my deep sleep phase and when I'm woken up suddenly I get very dizzy. My alarm woke me up and I guess my body wasn't ready to wake up yet. 

To make up for my absence, I used my spirometer as usual and spent extra time doing some gardening. I re-potted some plants and gave rice water to select plants. I was planning to cook dinner, but my energy ran out. I'll just cook tomorrow and skip any heavy gardening. 

Oh well, that's my life nowadays. There are good days and there are bad. I just adjust as needed :)

#BeKind #StaySafe

5th Clotiversary of my Second PE

I was hospitalized several times five years ago. After a confinement in December 2020, my doctors tried to wean me away from taking blood thinners. By Christmas I started having SOB and by early January it got worse.

My respiratory doctor confined me. My scans were clear, but I wasn't getting better. By day 4, my doctor had me scanned again on a guy feel. I had a smattering of clots across my lungs again. Discharge was postponed and I spent the weekend in ICU. After a few more days, I was discharged.

Recovery was harder. I was in and out of the hospital for the rest of the year. That second pulmonary embolism led to more complications and that's why I had to retire. It's been five years and I'm just glad to be alive.  I can create more happy memories with my boys.

#BeKind #StaySafe 

Clot Scare

It's been an unproductive week for me. We went out last Monday to check-out something. The vaccination site though on my left arm was still painful and felt warm. It was strange since it's been a week since I was vaccinated. I had two vaccinations in the past two weeks. First one was for flu and the second one was anti tetanus and diphtheria (to also prevent pertussis which is hard to treat according to my doctor). My infectious disease doctor advised to get vaccinated since I've been hospitalized twice in the past 8 months. I'm still due to get the pneumonia and shingles vaxx. 

Anyway, I felt really bad on Tuesday. I slept most of the day since my whole body hurts. I also felt very lightheaded on Wednesday. I started having a terrible headache by Wednesday evening. I took the medication my neurologist gave me for migraine. It worked, but I still had a nagging headache until today. I also had upper back pain on and off since yesterday. 

The upper back pain concerned me a lot since it's the same area that hurt when I had my last PE* in 2021. The pain was still there when I woke up. Sweetie cancelled by pulmo rehab appointment since I didn't feel well. I kept telling myself not to worry too much since it may just be pain from the scars in my lungs. My oxygen saturation is also normal. I still took it slow today and used my collection of pain ointments/oils. I read up about Boostrix and what I went through are its side effects. It was probably weirder for me because I'm immuno-compromised.

I watched a movie on Netflix with Miggy and I felt a bit better by early evening. I also watered the plants and played with the cats. The kitties surrounded me and they helped to relax me. I feel better now and will report what happened to my doctor since I'm still due to get two more vaccinations. Maybe we need to space it out since my body takes longer to recover.   

*PE - pulmonary embolism

#BeKind #StaySafe

Breathe, My Pulmo Rehab Journey

Breathing well whether asleep or awake has worked wonders for me. I started pulmo rehab last September. I'm expected to finish my first set by next week. I should have been done in November, but I got sick and missed 2 months of rehab. I resumed last week. 

My lungs are scarred due to various illnesses I had in the past. It started in 2008 when I had pneumonia. Five years later my doctor said after OHS my lungs looked like it had gone through surgery. It got worse after I had two PEs. I was lucky because my former physiotherapist who was working on my back is also an expert on pulmo rehab. She had to work on my breathing before we could do any exercise for my back. Even though it wasn't the focus of our sessions, the exercises for my lungs helped me a lot. 

I've been advising friends who had COVID to get their lungs checked. I send them the post-PE exercise video which I followed before. Exercising your lungs will help prevent scars. Scars in your lungs cannot be removed. The best way is to save and strengthen the healthy part of your lungs. That's what our focus is on right now for me. 

My stamina dwindled since mid-2022. My body went through a lot and it was frustrating because I could barely do anything. I can't cook. Can't clean. Can't do any gardening. Going out is a huge challenge. So I asked my doctors what should I do to improve my stamina. They prescribed pulmo rehab, had me do a sleep test, and work on my nutrition. 

It's been a lot of work, but I'm seeing the fruits of our labor. Sweetie and Miggy play a big role in my health activities. They take turns to spot me while I do my pulmo rehab sessions. Make sure I eat well and on time. Miggy has been strict about getting us to the bedroom earlier (he has to because Sweetie and I tend to hang out downstairs past midnight). 

What changed my game was when I started using a CPAP machine. Pulmo rehab + better nutrition helps, but I needed better sleep. My doctor explained that breathing well in your sleep is important to restore your body. Good sleep + my daily gardening exercise has so far kept me stable and I've become more active at home again. Maybe this year I'll finally be able to organize our home better (together with my boys of course). 

 "Even as little as 10 to 15 minutes a day to deep breathing can help reduce stress and tension, lower blood pressure." - Harefuah Medical Journal#BeKind #StaySafe

Confused, eh

I'm so annoyed with myself. I spent the afternoon cutting fabric to finish a quilt blanket project I started 18 months ago. I finished measuring cutting the fabric and then realized I made a mistake with the measurement. Grrrrr. I didn't have enough fabric left so will need to find the same fabric so I can complete the blanket. Sigh. 

And the mistake is due to one of the issues I've been having -- confusion. I noticed this when we went home from the hospital in mid-January. I told my doctor about this and he wasn't too concerned. This maybe due to breathing issues I'm still experiencing and will hopefully resolve soon. I'm usually on-point with most things and sometimes it gets frustrating. 

One of the dangers of this is getting my medication mixed up. Ahh, this is where I have to be very careful about. I must not double up or miss drinking my meds, it will be disastrous if I do. No worries, my neurologist also checked me recently and said I should be fine. Will just need to monitor myself closely and my doctors gave me pointers what to watch out for. 

On a happy note, I finally finished my Christmas project. I started it in October and was able to send my creation to a few friends in the Philippines. I haven't been able to give the ones for my friends here in SG because December got disrupted. It was impossible to sew at the hospital since my hand was always pre-occupied with another type of needle hehe. Here's what I made for my friends.

It's a mug rug! It's meant to be used for your coffee or tea. I'm glad my friends liked it. Here's another version I made -

If you want to make one for yourself you can watch the video below or read the instructions on The Evening Quilter -

CB///303 #StuckAtHomeDay/333 #StayHome #BeKind

Voice Typing Today's Blog

Hi everyone! It has been a challenging day today. They had to switch my drip to my right arm. My veins are too small and keep swelling up, so I was told not to move my right arm for now. I'm right-handed so this is proving to be difficult.

I remembered that with Google Assistant you can use it to voice type. This is the first time I'm using it to blog. I remember that time I taught Lasallian Brothers in Rome how to use this feature together with Google translate. They said some of them had difficulty typing and some shared that it was hard not to have a common language to communicate with each other.

If my dad was alive today he'd be using this feature a lot. Growing up he used to ask me to type his writings but he had the most difficult handwriting to understand. Eventually I got used to it that's probably why Mom gave me his love letters to her. It's one of my treasures. 

Isn't technology amazing? What about you what new technologies are you using to make your life easier? What features have you used with your parents?

Happy Sunday everyone!

CB///276 #StuckAtHomeDay/306 #StayHome #BeKind 

Uh-oh Not Again

I got up earlier than usual today. Showered earlier also so I can be fresh for today's activities. I thought I was going to be discharged, but my doctor wanted to keep me for another day. 

After his visit I had a flurry of activities. A blood test, then my spine doctor came by, then it was back and forth in other areas in the hospital. Things became serious in the afternoon when my doctor came and said he wanted to do a test. I said yes because I thought it would be better if we knew what was wrong.

I have another PE*. Ugh. And now I'm in the ICU again for monitoring. I went through this two years ago, but didn't get hospitalized back then. I hope this one isn't as bad since it was detected earlier. So, here we go again. I hope they discharge me soon.

 CB///274 #StuckAtHomeDay/304 #StayHome #BeKind 

Early Staycation?

Woke up this morning feeling nauseous and asked help from Sweetie to message my doctor. I was concerned that the change in medication is what has been making me ill. He suggested we go to the A&E.

And that's how I ended up having a staycation errrr getting admitted at the hospital. I'm in good hands so please don't worry. 

*My finger above looks like I'm phoning ET (80s kids ftw!).

#CB//250 #StuckAtHomeDay/280 #StayHome #BeKind