Bound Away

I'm headed out for the Historical Novel Society conference in Schaumberg, IL this upcoming weekend. We'll be visiting with friends in Milwaukee for a few days afterwards, and hope to meet up with Auntie Nae as well..

Not sure what the availability of safe on-line connectivity will be, so don't be surprised if you don't hear from me. I'm probably going to be too tired to GET online... (Given how paranoid we can be when good friends don't check in for an unexpected while, I thought I'd let you know that I'll merely be missing in action from the Net scene.)

Have a wonderful time away and we won't worry about you as long as you don't stay away TOO long.
Kathy

kteague wrote:Have a wonderful time away and we won't worry about you as long as you don't stay away TOO long.

Kathy,

Well, I'm ba-ack..... managed to talk to Auntie Nae once or twice but our schedules didn't mesh, so we didn't get to meet in person.

I had a spectacular time at the Historical Novel Society Conference, and came home with a TON of new books which look like a great deal of fun.

It was great to see most of our friends in Milwaukee, whom we hadn't seen in nearly four years.

I wasn't feeling well on Tuesday, so Harry and Todd went up to Todd's river side cabin for a day trip. I spent to day visiting with friends and working on writing with my friend Jennifer. Todd also dragged Harry out for some boating on one of the inland lakes on Thursday while I worked on writing with Jenn.

Oh, and Monday night, I had an Adventure. Got into Todd's pool, did some of my water therapy exercises, went to get out... and discovered that, between my bad knees and hips, and last year's surgery, I was no longer able to climb UP the ladder to get out of the pool. We tried two different step ladders, and finally, two of the guys dragged concrete blocks in to build a set of steps that I could climb out on. At one point, I was afraid we were going to have to call the fire department to haul me out, which would have been embarrassing beyond belief. Result of this was that Todd went out the next day and bought a brand new pool stair and installed it. Which a number of his friends thanked me for, as they've apparently been trying to get him to replace the old ladder for several years.

But of all things, I forgot my Hozer hose manager. Mind you, I have two of them. One by the bed, and one NEAR my travel pap. Operative term is NEAR. It didn't get in. I discovered that I am one of those people who must have hose management. My leak rate went to Hades in a hand basket. While in the hotels, I could improvise by slinging the hose over the bedside lamp. But at our friend's in Milwaukee, I battled hoses, pillows, and dachshunds on hoses and it didn't work well at all.

I did determine that having a Calamari as surge suppressor and splitter was super for travel -- it has a flat, rotating plug which made it possible to plug it in to almost any motel outlet. It also has a significantly longer cord on it. One night, I ended up with it plugged in on Harry's side of the bed, with the cord running across the head of the bed, and down to my side for the Pap, the cell phone, and the reading light. A Calamari is a heavy-duty item, and might not be for every traveler, but for me, it was worth the size.

I had hayfever the whole time I was in Milwaukee, and had to resort to my full face mask. Between it and no hose management, leaks were super bad. (151 minutes of large leak?!)

So my gear is already set up, hose back in the Hozer, and I'm looking forward to getting back to the Headrest or the CL2 instead of that miserable full-face mask.

Had a great time.

I enjoy travel... but heavens, it's good to be home.

Welcome home! Glad you had a nice trip. I'm sure you will remember your Hozer next time! Just think how wonderful you'll feel in the morning after a night in your own bed with all your xpap stuff just the way you like it!

Brenda

bdp522 wrote:Welcome home! Glad you had a nice trip. I'm sure you will remember your Hozer next time! Just think how wonderful you'll feel in the morning after a night in your own bed with all your xpap stuff just the way you like it!

Brenda,

I'm looking forward to it! I didn't have a recurrence of the hip pain which led to my being diagnosed in the first place, so clearly, even having the machine under suboptimal conditions was better than not at all.

But I'm looking forward to being fully rested... and my own bed will help with that as much as the xpap stuff properly arranged. That, and not having all those large leaks!

HI Kira,
It seems you always manage to have an adventure somewhere along the way. Since I started Cpap, I still think it is fun to get away - but oh so nice to come home to our own bed . .

Jan

SaltLakeJan wrote: It seems you always manage to have an adventure somewhere along the way. Since I started Cpap, I still think it is fun to get away - but oh so nice to come home to our own bed . .

Jan,

I don't MEAN to have adventures... as Bilbo Baggins said, "Adventures... nasty, uncomfortable things. Make you late for supper!"

I plan to head for bed in a few minutes... just a quick swing through here on my way....

And last night was delicious. In my own bed. With everything arranged just right... no particular time to be up this morning. (I took a couple extra days, as this is the first long trip I've done since starting xPAP.)

Leak rate back where it should be.

And to my shock... no hypopneas and no apneas, and no periodic breathing.

Yep, I love traveling... but it sure is good to be home!

Glad to hear you had a fantastic trip, welcome back home,

sharperjudy wrote:Glad to hear you had a fantastic trip, welcome back home,

It's good to be home. Now all I have to do is put to good effort everything I learned at the conference.

The title of your original post, "Bound Away", had me picturing you bounding over the hedges like a kangaroo. Must be all the energy the bipap auto sv gives you.

Your time in Milwaukee reminds me I was just reading about the cryptosporidium outbreak they had in 1993, in which 403,000 people became ill, including 4400 hospitalized.

I don't know anything about historical novelists, except that I am distantly related to one, Judith Merkle Riley, http://www.judith.com. She must not be a member of your association, as her name did not appear in a list at their website.