The Long Haul to 98

 

My oxygen is finally hitting 98 on the pulse ox (instead of the 95 I've been stuck at for months). I believe it was 100 at the colonoscopy for the first time in over six months.

So.

Like.

I get that 95 and up is normal.

BUT all I can say is I can tell a huge difference now that my oxygen is higher.

And 95 was never, ever normal for me. It was a change in my baseline.

I imagine if I was at 95 sitting, that movement dropped it lower which probably didn't make me feel so great.

Isn't part of the problem with Covid that it starves tissues even though your oxygen is normal? And wouldn't it maybe be the case that depressed oxygen, even if it's technically within range albeit not typical for the patient, be a signal that things aren't as healthy as they seem? That a system may have some burden still from Covid?

It makes sense to me. But what do I know? All I've ever gotten when I bring it up is '95 is normal.'

But I can tell the difference in my energy with this change. I am much more interested--meaning I have the energy to even be interested--and able to do things. I find it interesting that it correlates with an improvement in my oxygen.

The day after the colonoscopy, I collected and processed flower seeds from the garden. So far, I have calendula, zinnia, cosmos, sunflower, and marigold. 

I chased grasshoppers around the garden and sprayed them with an organic insecticide I'm not even sure will work. They've joined the yellow jackets in feasting on my strawberries. Sigh.

I helped hubby move this massive industrial cabinet he bought. With my good hand, I loaded the drawers into the cart and lugged several loads from the garage to the basement door. I helped wash the drawers, but that got to be too much for my hand injury.

Then I went with hubby to pick up a cabinet we found on marketplace. We're not quite to the point of being cabinet hoarders, but it's close. We plan to flip a lot of stuff at some point...the trick is WHEN is that some point? No one knows. We're too busy to do the flipping, but also too weak to pass up a good cabinet...

We had our massive Indian food feast.

By flashlight (it's getting dark so early now boo!), I dug and planted 50+ irises. Plus watered them.

I haven't been able to be this active since May! This is a huge change.

Downside? My hand hated all the activity so I'm trying to take it easy today. I'm cleaning and organizing and plotting the cleaning and organizing and gardening when my hand is too pissed to actually do anymore. Gosh. It's so frustrating to be sidelined all the time by one random thing or another. I'm so tired of it!

All that said, I slept all day the day before the colonoscopy. I mean ALL day. Yes, literally. I was just OUT. I couldn't wake up to save my life. I have no idea why. It was the sleep of the sick. The kind of sleep you get when you have a cold or the flu that just drags you under, except I wasn't sick as far as I could tell. 

Was it the clear liquids cleanse you have to do for colonoscopies joining forces with the prednisone leaving my system? Were my electrolytes off? What? Aside from surgery or serious illness, I've never slept all day like that.

But it hasn't happened since and my oxygen is up and I can tell the difference and I can eat. In fact, I'm going to go have some paneer tikki masala leftovers next. So huzzah.

Epilogue...

And then my oxygen dropped again. I felt the difference which prompted me to check. So. Like. It's not dropping as badly as it was as far as I can tell. That's progress still, right? And I imagine it'll pop up more often now?

Sigh. I hate covid.