The life I still have

On Nov 13, Wed...this happened to me:
I'm not sure I would have woken up this morning, when I was breathing with C-Pap which stopped working when the electricity went off.  When that's happened before I gradually have gone into a less conscious state, not exactly sleep because I'm not getting enough air while wearing the mask which usually pushes plenty of air pressure into my nose.

A text message on my phone from the electric company woke me up. It wasn't until I read it (hard without my glasses on) that I realized how hard it was to breathe.  I live in an apartment complex with many more seniors, all of whom were probably bundled in their beds at 6:30 am just like me.

I dressed and went to my car while it was 13 degrees outside. And the electricity apparently came back on around 10:15, just like they expected in their next text. But I was still elsewhere getting lots of warmth and air to breathe.

Lake Tomahawk on Nov 11

I waited in the car for the frost to melt...found driving to the parking spot where sun was shining helped. One neighbor walked by asking if my elec. was off also, she was going to drive to the interstate, she said.  I drove to one of the fast food chains and got a large coffee and a biscuit. Then fortunately I had scheduled doing some work at church, so I went there...it was still early.  I turned on the heat in the office and plugged my laptop in, and had breakfast. Of course I hadn't done any of my morning routines. So when I went home at 11 (the elec. was back on) I took my pills and used the nebulizer to help my breathing.  It proves I can postpone these routines for 4 hours and keep walking and driving around.

Frost on the picnic table

But every breath now is full of gratitude. I woke up agin.  I had choices that were able to be made.  I kept on going. And now I'm off to get a hair cut at Joe's.  All these things are part of a life I still have.

Well, having written that, I even packed a box of pottery to take to put on the shelves at Joe's...and waited for him to get back from lunch.  But he never came back, and when I checked the note on the door, it said he was sick. So no haircut today.  Everything is happening like this because Mercury is transiting the sun (so sayeth my astrology-wise friends.)

So now I can catch up a bit on household tasks.

Here are some photos of the Veterans Memorial at Lake Tomahawk. I forgot to post them on Monday Nov 11.

Later on I mentioned my anxiety to the suppliers (Linncare Home Health) who sent me my C-Pap, that I was wishing something would wake me if the electricity went off.  They told me there wasn't any alarm system available, that most people just wake up when they notice that the C-Pap isn't working.

Then another friend said there are some C-Paps that have a backup battery. Well, that would certainly be nice! I'll be talking with my pulmonologist today (or at least the nurse) to see what they recommend.