I was looking forward to having more energy after I had two of my heart valves replaced. But here I am back in cardiac intensive care two months later with newly identified Cheyne-Stokes respiration and pulmonary hypertension. They’re making a lot of medication adjustments, which always takes time for my body to get used to. But they’ve also placed me on 24 hr oxygen until further notice. Right now, I can’t even leave bed for long without my monitors’ alarms sending the hospital staff into overdrive. Frankly, I’m really frightened this time. I’m certainly no stranger to heart issues as I was born 40 years ago with complex heart defects and have lived with arrhythmias, dilated cardiomyopathy and CHF for years. But using oxygen all the time to reduce the strain on my heart sounds really ominous to me as well as logistically tricky. Does anyone else use oxygen all the time? Does it make you feel any better? Do you have any practical advice for setting up the concentrator/tubing in my home? What are portable concentrators or like? They seem expensive but tanks seem unwieldy… I honestly don’t want to think too deeply right now about
the larger issue of what always being dependent on oxygen means about
my prognosis. Too much rumination could set off an alarm. I know my google search on pulmonary hypertension certainly did.
Post Edited (CalmWaters78) : 7/26/2019 3:27:22 PM (GMT-6)