I’ve pushed through the last 10 or 12 days, they haven’t been all bad, but there are things impacting my already compromised system, like all the smoke, which then wearing a mask, when my system is already struggling from lack of air, is wreaking havoc with me.
I knew the smoke was going to irritate my system, my lungs in particular which makes my heart have to work harder, it creates stress on my vascular system, which impacts my dementia. The last three days have been the worst and the accumulative effects are here, waking up this morning I realized how much my system is struggling and that I have a lot of inflammation happening and so today made the decision that I must go back to using my oxygen concentrator along with my CPAP, to try to alleviate and minimize damage.
I am so grateful that a few years ago Cindy and Richard and Andy, were gracious and caring enough to provide me with an oxygen concentrator, at a time when it was vital to me. I had considered gifting it on a number of months ago, then I was sick for four months this spring, it has become apparent that their gift will help me for a very long time to come.
I have tried to stay indoors as much as possible or at least out of the smoke as much as possible, apparently, we are supposed to have better air quality in the coming days. Being ok to admit that we are struggling on any particular day is ok, its actually so important to our overall well being. So often we have our game faces on, people with dementia are good at their game face.
Yesterday I had to go to the hospital for some pre blood work prior to having a whole host of scans tomorrow morning, the lovely young woman in the lab, said to me, ” oh my gosh your veins are a mess, they don’t even straight like they should, and they are so small, She said I’m sorry it’s hard to find a vein she eventually found one that she could access. I told her I’m aware its why I always alert them to use the small butterfly needle. I’m used to it, it’s just how it is. But her conversation triggered me to remember that I have to be extremeley careful right know, I definelty don’t want my system to crash.
Overall I’ve been doing well but time is marching on, things are changing, and environmental things can really impact not only myself but all with Dementia, so while the world is stressed, while we deal with fire, smoke, hurricanes, and all the other things happening please remember to ensure you are doing self-care, is hard enough living with dementia, without letting all these things have a negative impact…do all you can to take care of you.
Chrissy's Journey 