Oxygen update

I have not had as much trouble sleeping through the night as I thought I would, wearing the oxygen all night long. The headaches have been absent up until the last few days, but I think that is more related to stress and demands I put upon myself. There is as much mental as there is physical dealings with the oxygen. The gentleman who delivered it said I was the youngest customer he has delivered it to. So over all things I think are improved. I am not sure when I go back to the doctor, my plan is to let him call me and schedule it. That is what he indicated my last visit, so I will wait. Either way I think I am improving which is always a great sign.

Nov 18

I had an oxygen machine delivered to me for night time use. My doctor thinks that I may not be getting enough oxygen at night and that it may be affecting me the next day, either by low energy or headaches. The machine is one with the tubes like the ones they put on your face in the hospital. I can say that using the machine is not that intrusive for sleeping however it is making me feel old. That is the hardest part of it I think, is that I emotionally am having a hard time adjusting to it. As to it helping me I do not really know. I have not noticed a difference in my headaches or morning risings. I am not sure how long I am suppose to use the machine for and when my next doctor appointment is. I will say I am doing very little to follow up for information also.

November 14

My nights seem to be maintaining which is nice. I am so far free of late nights staying up or waking up with pain. The pain in the some of my muscles is increasing but it has not interfered with my sleeping yet. I am trying to stretch my leg more and more on my own to keep the leg stretched. Unfortunately due to my physical therapy I was doing I counted upon them to do the stretching and helping me to keep my exercising going. I need to work at disciplining myself more as that is the only plan I can have now.

I am doing well with my teaching and clients. As usual though unfortunately I am taking more and more on. This is not always the best thing for me to do, as others tell me too. One issue that is a new experience for me as I go almost each day is the mental aspects that I need to deal with concerning this new way of life.

November 4

Well today I didn't have to teach but I was invited to participate in a Health Fair for my private practice. Of course I agreed to attend and was there to promote my practice and offer help to others. My main reason was the latter, to offer help to others. I admit that my practice is doing quite well as I am booked out two weeks, of course I have cut back how many clients I see in a week.

One thing that was new which I have not experienced in a long time was a sleepless night. For some reason I could not fall asleep last night until a little past two in the morning. It use to be that my mind worked and would not shut off its thinking but such was not the case last night. I simply was wide awake so I watched "Miss Congeniality II, Armed and Dangerous" two times, back to back. When I came downstairs to watch the television because I could not sleep I shut my alarm off so it would not wake Beth up in the morning. Of course I woke up about 3:30 in the morning and decided to go back upstairs to bed and get off the couch. I woke up suddenly at 6:15 because I failed to remember to turn my alarm back on.

I was sleeping OK on this same dose of medication for months so I am not sure why this happened. I am hoping that tonight it will be back to me sleeping as it was before. The headaches are still at a minimum which is nice. So I will see what happens and update tomorrow.

Update

Well I was unable to teach on Monday which is 100% against my philosophy and belief. I never want to cancel classes and take away a students learning and it was a real let down to me, though some of my students may have been happy. When I returned to the class room many asked me how I was doing as I stated my absence was due to medical reasons. I did not want to get too personal, so I told most of them I was doing much better. At the end of the day I shared with some that with a brain injury, tumor, there may be a long learning curve to address issues that may crop up. As I had stated in earlier postings my neurologist was trying an additional new medication on me. Well after three days the peak reactions should have occurred and yet I had reactions eight days later. Seeing how I deal with these types of medications in my private practice I have 'some' insight and it was confusing to me too. I will say that finally on Sunday I stopped taking the newly introduced medication. I saw my neurologist on Tuesday morning, as I say Monday I was unable to drive a car. Well he agreed I stay off the medication and we will take some medical measurements as we do any additions and subtractions of my medications. I agreed to keep daily notes on what is going on with me medically wise, functioning wise, and headache wise. Some may find it hard to believe but I need to do that so I keep the days and occurrences straight. I sit back and look at the fact that the surgery is approaching almost sixteen months old and I am 'still' on a path of certain recovery. I will try to keep updates as to what is happening, and I do not have a follow up scheduled yet with my neurologist. He is a very humble man in many ways.