The machine I got only came with a 7' hose. Being a smaller lower powered machine, I didn't want to invest in anything else until I saw how well it would work for me first. Although cheaper & lighter than a full sized unit that could deliver up to 5LPM or more at 95% concentration, it was still very expensive & un-affordable for me (much more than my apartment's monthly rent). I actually had to borrow the money to get it. So there was literally nothing left for more hoses, connectors, & other stuff.
This smaller 16lb unit only draws 100 watts. It will deliver 90% concentration at 1 LPM, 50% at 2 LPM, 40% at 3 LPM, 33% at 4 LPM, & 30% concentration at 5 LPM. Normal air is almost 21% oxygen.
I'm home bound too, so can't really go anywhere. Outside, uncontrolled, unfiltered air usually makes my breathing worse. So I can't really go out & buy hoses & stuff. The few close friends & family members that are still alive, live way too far away to get here much. So they can't actually run out to get stuff to bring to me much.
I have to order stuff & have it delivered. But a few years ago just about all delivery services (USPS, UPS, FedEX, DHL, etc.) have adopted a policy of just abandoning my packages just about anywhere outside around the property, & not even bothering to ring a doorbell they they arrive. So all of my deliveries would get stolen.
Tracking updates sometimes would indicate it's not even in the state, then suddenly later in the afternoon or evening show that it was delivered (abandoned somewhere on the property) many hours ago. Or if tracking did say to expect a delivery that day, it could arrive anywhere from 7am to 9pm. Am I supposed to sit outside in all sorts of weather for 14 hours to watch for them?
I live in the back of the building on the second floor. So I can't see the street, or entrances. I can't even hear the street traffic from my place unless it's a real loud vehicle. The view from my few small windows is just the neighbor's back yards & trees.
So just about anything I need I have to have delivered to a friend or family member out of town. Then wait weeks to a month for the next time they're in the city to drop it off to me.
Fortunately my sister makes it into town about once a month. But she can't carry much & is on a tight budget too. She was also forced into early retirement due to leg problems, back problems, arthritis, & diabetes. So the trip here to drop stuff off is difficult for her, & an expense on her tight budget. If it's more than a bag of stuff, she has to drag a friend with her to help carry it, & get it up the stairs to me.
Longer hoses are on the way, but probably won't be here until after the middle of the month. The O2 concentrator doesn't have enough air pressure to fill O2 tanks.
I'm getting a 42 liter medical grade O2 bag that it can fill. That's basically an inflatable pillow, which you can actually lay on as a pillow. At 17"x30" it's a bit large to carry around, but can be a nice emergency or somewhat portable O2 supply to keep in a closet, cabinet, or carry into a vehicle... anywhere where my cat's nails can't get at it put a hole in it. And it weighs almost nothing!
Although our lungs hold about 6 liters of air. At rest we only breathe about a half a liter per breath, or around 7 liters per minute. My O2 machine at 90% concentration on 1 LPM, or even down to 30% at 5 LPM is helpful for me with proper breathing techniques to get the most use out of every bit of it.
So a 42 liter bag with 90% O2 could last a long time. In an emergency or portable situation, I would probably take brief short breaths of the 90% O2 in between normal breaths of normal air. But my machine will only deliver 90% concentration at 1 LPM, so it will take 42 minutes to fill the bag.
I'm also getting a 3 pack of smaller inflatable camping pillows. Each one holds about 7-8 liters. I can easily fit 2 of them in a backpack. For my condition, I estimate that 1 of them filled with 90% O2, in an emergency situation where I need extra O2, I can ration my breaths from one of them to last me at as long as 14 minutes.
At rest, just sitting or laying around, I breathe pretty much normal... almost like I have no COPD at all. Only on the worst days is my breathing a bit rough just sitting around... where just brushing my hair or a cat would get me out of breath.
Concentrated O2 is very corrosive though. I would imagine the O2 would eventually break down & ruin the plastic in small non-medical pillows & have to be replaced. Also there may be plastic odors or particles leaching into the O2 if stored in them a long time. So the pillows should be emptied & refilled if sitting unused a long time to keep the O2 fresh & clean. Ideally, they should be emptied & refilled the day I plan to use them. The medical grade 42 liter one is designed to store O2 for a long time though... it's supposed to be made of a nylon fiber.
I don't know about walking through the house tethered to a long hose much. The cats may see it as me dragging a toy around for them & attack it. Or they may chew through a small hose laying around.
When I first got the cats they chewed through almost every USB, charger, & AC adapter cord in the place. It's a good thing I adopted them. A less patient person, who wasn't handy fixing stuff would had got rid of them after that, or made their life miserable about it. You can train cats, but you can't train or punish a cat the same way you would a dog or child. The results would be disastrous. You'd wind up with a nuts, freaked out, unstable, & possibly dangerous animal.
They don't chew through wires much anymore, but every few months I find another charger or adapter cord cut in half. They don't actually chew them either, it's a clean cut, a bite, like done with wire cutters.
The last one they cut, I repaired the wire properly as usual. But I guess the adapter got damaged when it shorted & cut off the power. It reset itself by unplugging it, so after the repair, when I plugged it back in, it exploded with a loud bang, flash, & blew a 20 amp breaker. Amazingly, hand wasn't damaged, but it left a big scorch mark on the outlet.
So now I put thin (only 1/4" diameter) split tubing on all my charger & adapter cords. I had just read about a cat getting killed chewing through a Christmas light line. They don't even try to bite the tubing shield so far. A few years back, I noticed some teeth marks on some AC power cords too. I wrapped them in duct tape. They seem to not want to bite of the tape. It looks like hell but it solved the problem. I should get some black duct tape some day. That will look better.
Yep. I tried all sorts of breathing methods. Bending over still puts me out of breath more than walking around. I thought it might have to do with throwing off the balance of blood pressure in the body when bending over... like if a normal healthy person bends over & stands up several times in a row very quickly, they may get a little dizzy.
Betty's Pub 20.1
Topic: Sissy stuff to keep warm with during the "VORTEX"? (Read 98906 times)
