dogblr auntie

Always remember, Yvaine loves you for who you are 🌟 even from the stars. 🌟 Auntie DOOM doesn't love you if you're a bigot.

[petaltexturedskies]

Anne Sexton, from “The Truth The Dead Know” in The Complete Poems of Anne Sexton

[auntie-doom]

Apparently the treatment for my inability to exercise is "exercise." Well, damn, who knew? It was sure worth waiting a year for that neurology appointment.

We're skippi g all the intermediate steps and going straight to blaming the patient before I even leave the room. Retroaotively! Back to summer of 2024 when I flunked out of PT because after 6mo of strengthening exercises, I started weirdly getting weaker every session. My fault!! I wasn't exercising enough!!

[smalldogpropaganda]

Will Roland take home $10,000 and be featured on the cover of Modern Dog? You decide!

Roland is my little rescue mutt and the best, cutest little dog in the world. He’s super friendly and social and smart.

don’t forget to vote for Roland! he’s still first in his group but the cutoff for the first round of voting is tonight, and only the top 20 dogs will move forward!

[auntie-doom]

holy smokes albuterol is amaaaaaaaazing

didn't change my lung numbers one tiny bit but I feel full of Wonka's Fizzy Lifting Drink

[auntie-doom]

Pulmonology visit--

Tentative[*] diagnosis: paralysis of right hemidiaphragm.

Treatment suggested: surgery to tack it out of the way, so it's at least not blocking the way when the left hemidiaphragm does its work.

PT or personal changes that coukd improve anything (breathing exercises, etc): Nope.

...

[*] "I'm sending you for breathing czpacity testing, and when it comes back with this result, I will refer you to surgery."

[auntie-doom]

Edgar the household oxygen concentrator makes a lot of sound, his distinctive heartbeat and also the "whirr" between the "thump-THUMPs." These nasal cannula tubes go behind my ear and rest on my skull. You might recognize that part of the skull as frequently being used for bone conduction headsets, to send sound into your head without needing your ear. With the tubes in their "proper" place, I always hear whooshing. If I turn my head slightly so the tube is squished between my ear and my skull, I hear WHOOSHING. This doesn't make it easy to sleep (leaving aside learning to sleep with a buncha tubes around my head. There was an incident with the tubes wrapping around my bedside water cup and it was a wet mess...anyway).

So I have been looking for solutions to moving the tubes off my ears. Most of the medical solutions are SO MEDICAL. Awful. And uncomfortable-looking. I've been thinking about soft headbands, terry cloth or the ones used for face washing, and clipping something to them... but that will leave me with so much tangled hair in the morning.

During the day, I can clip the tubes up out of the way with mini claw clips. Above and behind my ear. I like the little flower ones available now, but the claw just needs to be large enough to n9t pinch the tube. I'm fond of having my hair like that anyway. At night, those stick out from my head a bit much, really pulls my hair if I turn my head. Might pull the claw out of my hair, wind up with the cannula hanging off my face.

I have experimented with a lot of little things to try to find something flat that is also secure. I've got it. Check this out: 3" long snap barrettes, and some of these magnetic glasses holders you clip to your shirt[*]. Take the back off the glasses holders, drop them onto the barrette, and you have a tube holder you can stick anywhere there's hair or a headband or even on a collar or something.

[*] get them from aliexpress so they're $2/each instead of $10

I think I will use one on Allan's (portable oxygen concentrator) tubes when I go out on the future, it's too annoying to lean or turn my head, and get yanked up short by a tube running straight to my head. Having the tube "pinned" on my shirt or something, before it goes back to Allan, can probably help with maintainijg some slack.

I should mention I am pairing this with a velcro mask holder behind my head to keep the tubes stable (worn just like a tubing holder, but wider & softer). I have skipped it and that works too, I just find it easier.

[auntie-doom]

We're in our hotel after Mayo Jax[*] on Thanksgiving morning. Tristan's Fetch and Tug Buddy wants to see the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade. Everything on TV is Santa, Santa, oh original Star Wars that's nice, Santa, hey Jimmy Stewart, Santa...

--oh! there's the parade! Apparently if we want to see All-American Thanksgiving on Thanksgiving Day, we have to go to the Spanish channel.

[*] "We need to do a lot of investigation" (let's take a lot of your blood, have you inhale things, zap you with electricity until your body jerks involuntarily, and take some of your skin and muscle too)

[**] Oh. Also christomas

[auntie-doom]

Oh wow. I sent Duolingo a complaint about the increasing errors and poor quality questions in the app, with examples. (Including that even with animations disabled, every single lesson ends with a flaming flying animation and once a day it does a flaming animation about the streak, and they HURT.) I said I am preparing to cancel my Family Plan subscription because I have been flagging these erroneous questions and submitted previous complaints with no response.

They've handed customer service over to the AIs, too, folks. The AI very helpfully gave me instructions for cancelling my plan. All righty then.

...

I replied with amazement about their choices and my intention to cancel (then went to cancel from the app store). Just in case this reply tripped some kind of keyword that would bring in a real person.

I have received a response! The AI helpfully says it, too, has cancelled my renewal. So it's doubly kicked.

[depsidase]

[isuggesteatingtherich]

i have a suggestion

[auntie-doom]

is this what they mean by going Dutch?

[auntie-doom]

I've had an oxygen condenser for like 4 weeks now and have put a lot of thought into tubing while laying insomnified. I want to be able to keep the cord above me, like IV, because I have DOOM Spaniels, and DOOMba, and am myself clumsy. I am trying to keep all the cords off the floor, but also if I pull on them, it should release; I don't want to have my head yanked if I fall or [recurring theme] am clumsy.

Anything shaped for computer cord management seems slightly too small. I only checked a few before I moved on, so there might be some that work, but I worry about the tubing getting pinched or kinked. I also tried silicone pen holders with magnets, and the shape wasn't right there either.

One thing that works *really* well is a magnetic golf cart cigar holder. One of the ones that's a silicone hook, not a closed loop. It needs a high-iron flat surface (a post won't work, it has to be flat) but it does a great job of holding the tubes until I pull on them at all.

I have tried adhesive hook-and-loop cable organizers at doorways, just put the tubing in as I go by and pull the tab open as I pass the other way. It works, but feels inconvenient. I don't like that it won't let go if the tube pulls gently; it sometimes lets go if I tug a little more. Occasionally the adhesive fails and it just comes off the wall instead.

I have tried adhesive hooks, the kind with a clear square adhesive backing. The heavy-duty ones have larger hooks. I tried hanging the tubing on those large hooks as I went by. The tubing slides off smaller shallower hooks, and I worry about this narrow hook kinking the tubing. [Note: it did kink the tubing.] It might help to get some of those silicone ear hooks they make to keep glasses on, put it at the tip of the hook to keep them from sliding out, but it's still not a good option.

I tried magnetic bookmarks, the kind that have a flap on either side of the page. Those stick to metal or magnets on the outside as well as to themselves. So I am folding them around the tubing at strategic intervals, leaving them on the tube. As I go by something metal, like a shelf or lamp, I stick the whole tube-magnet construction to it. They're weak magnets and let go sometimes just from moving around. That's better than yanking my head, but notmy favorite experience.

The golf cart cigar holders that have a secured strap might work better. I will see. Still testing. I'm trying something different in every room--and that might be better anyway.

I am really liking any solution that involves a loop around the tubing, with a soft connection--magnetic--to a wall. These may help with that: a pen magnet that loops around the shaft and the silicone is about the right size so there's no kinks (it's also an i okay kinkee tubing support), a cable management magnet, and some kind of fishing gear that's basically a glow-in-the-dark rubber band.

I'm out of images, so will reply with my current favorite tools.

[auntie-doom]

"Hat hangers" or "glove hangers" with an open loop seem to work well as a tubing guide, as long as there's a convenient way to stick the other end in place. The plastic triangular carabiner end is a good size and width for tubing, I think, thick enough to keep it from getting kinked. If I put strong magnets above doorways, I can smack those suspender clips to them as I go by, they're ferrous metal. I have a cable management magnet clipped into it right niw, but that's snagging all over the place as iI walk, it's not ideal.

The difficulty with these is the second the tubing is released (like when I move to another room), they all want to slide together tothe lowest point. Spiral "crimp straighteners" for tubing can help keep them in one section of tubing, but they hop over it sometimes. Still working. These are working terrifically, though, where they work.

Aha! I found a wall hook I can slip tubing into as I go by, slide it through forward and back as I move around, tubing pops safely right out of it if I walk away. I can fit a few loops in it if I want to take up some slack. It's a wall-mounted "toothbrush holder" with four little silicone fingers in a square, with balls at the end of each finger. Oh, and looking for them, it seems they make them with little teddybear kind of creatures too, sticking their "legs" out, how cute :)

I think I am going to put these toothbrush holders by doorways, and try to support the ends with the hat hangers or (other tubing guides) instead of solid holders. I'll reblab again if I have more to say 😅

Those "cigar holder" hooks I mentioned first are amazing too, like they were designed for this--I have one above my bed and it keeps my tubing perfectly out of the way all night, whether I sleep and toss and turn, or have insomnia and toss and turn. So far, no kinks from the cigar holder hooks. (That's a glow-in-the-dark tape strip superglued to it, for better visibility at night.)

[auntie-doom]

I stared and stared trying to imagine howthis could *possibly* be triggering a content label. None of the 8mages look like something an algal rhythm could misconstrue, do they? What could they possibly.... it's the repetition of "kink," isn't it. Oh for crying out loud.

It's just a post about keeping my breathing pipes off the ground

[auntie-doom]

I've had an oxygen condenser for like 4 weeks now and have put a lot of thought into tubing while laying insomnified. I want to be able to keep the cord above me, like IV, because I have DOOM Spaniels, and DOOMba, and am myself clumsy. I am trying to keep all the cords off the floor, but also if I pull on them, it should release; I don't want to have my head yanked if I fall or [recurring theme] am clumsy.

Anything shaped for computer cord management seems slightly too small. I only checked a few before I moved on, so there might be some that work, but I worry about the tubing getting pinched or kinked. I also tried silicone pen holders with magnets, and the shape wasn't right there either.

One thing that works *really* well is a magnetic golf cart cigar holder. One of the ones that's a silicone hook, not a closed loop. It needs a high-iron flat surface (a post won't work, it has to be flat) but it does a great job of holding the tubes until I pull on them at all.

I have tried adhesive hook-and-loop cable organizers at doorways, just put the tubing in as I go by and pull the tab open as I pass the other way. It works, but feels inconvenient. I don't like that it won't let go if the tube pulls gently; it sometimes lets go if I tug a little more. Occasionally the adhesive fails and it just comes off the wall instead.

I have tried adhesive hooks, the kind with a clear square adhesive backing. The heavy-duty ones have larger hooks. I tried hanging the tubing on those large hooks as I went by. The tubing slides off smaller shallower hooks, and I worry about this narrow hook kinking the tubing. [Note: it did kink the tubing.] It might help to get some of those silicone ear hooks they make to keep glasses on, put it at the tip of the hook to keep them from sliding out, but it's still not a good option.

I tried magnetic bookmarks, the kind that have a flap on either side of the page. Those stick to metal or magnets on the outside as well as to themselves. So I am folding them around the tubing at strategic intervals, leaving them on the tube. As I go by something metal, like a shelf or lamp, I stick the whole tube-magnet construction to it. They're weak magnets and let go sometimes just from moving around. That's better than yanking my head, but notmy favorite experience.

The golf cart cigar holders that have a secured strap might work better. I will see. Still testing. I'm trying something different in every room--and that might be better anyway.

I am really liking any solution that involves a loop around the tubing, with a soft connection--magnetic--to a wall. These may help with that: a pen magnet that loops around the shaft and the silicone is about the right size so there's no kinks (it's also an i okay kinkee tubing support), a cable management magnet, and some kind of fishing gear that's basically a glow-in-the-dark rubber band.

I'm out of images, so will reply with my current favorite tools.

[auntie-doom]

"Hat hangers" or "glove hangers" with an open loop seem to work well as a tubing guide, as long as there's a convenient way to stick the other end in place. The plastic triangular carabiner end is a good size and width for tubing, I think, thick enough to keep it from getting kinked. If I put strong magnets above doorways, I can smack those suspender clips to them as I go by, they're ferrous metal. I have a cable management magnet clipped into it right niw, but that's snagging all over the place as iI walk, it's not ideal.

The difficulty with these is the second the tubing is released (like when I move to another room), they all want to slide together tothe lowest point. Spiral "crimp straighteners" for tubing can help keep them in one section of tubing, but they hop over it sometimes. Still working. These are working terrifically, though, where they work.

Aha! I found a wall hook I can slip tubing into as I go by, slide it through forward and back as I move around, tubing pops safely right out of it if I walk away. I can fit a few loops in it if I want to take up some slack. It's a wall-mounted "toothbrush holder" with four little silicone fingers in a square, with balls at the end of each finger. Oh, and looking for them, it seems they make them with little teddybear kind of creatures too, sticking their "legs" out, how cute :)

I think I am going to put these toothbrush holders by doorways, and try to support the ends with the hat hangers or (other tubing guides) instead of solid holders. I'll reblab again if I have more to say 😅

Those "cigar holder" hooks I mentioned first are amazing too, like they were designed for this--I have one above my bed and it keeps my tubing perfectly out of the way all night, whether I sleep and toss and turn, or have insomnia and toss and turn. So far, no kinks from the cigar holder hooks. (That's a glow-in-the-dark tape strip superglued to it, for better visibility at night.)

[auntie-doom]

I've had an oxygen condenser for like 4 weeks now and have put a lot of thought into tubing while laying insomnified. I want to be able to keep the cord above me, like IV, because I have DOOM Spaniels, and DOOMba, and am myself clumsy. I am trying to keep all the cords off the floor, but also if I pull on them, it should release; I don't want to have my head yanked if I fall or [recurring theme] am clumsy.

Anything shaped for computer cord management seems slightly too small. I only checked a few before I moved on, so there might be some that work, but I worry about the tubing getting pinched or kinked. I also tried silicone pen holders with magnets, and the shape wasn't right there either.

One thing that works *really* well is a magnetic golf cart cigar holder. One of the ones that's a silicone hook, not a closed loop. It needs a high-iron flat surface (a post won't work, it has to be flat) but it does a great job of holding the tubes until I pull on them at all.

I have tried adhesive hook-and-loop cable organizers at doorways, just put the tubing in as I go by and pull the tab open as I pass the other way. It works, but feels inconvenient. I don't like that it won't let go if the tube pulls gently; it sometimes lets go if I tug a little more. Occasionally the adhesive fails and it just comes off the wall instead.

I have tried adhesive hooks, the kind with a clear square adhesive backing. The heavy-duty ones have larger hooks. I tried hanging the tubing on those large hooks as I went by. The tubing slides off smaller shallower hooks, and I worry about this narrow hook kinking the tubing. [Note: it did kink the tubing.] It might help to get some of those silicone ear hooks they make to keep glasses on, put it at the tip of the hook to keep them from sliding out, but it's still not a good option.

I tried magnetic bookmarks, the kind that have a flap on either side of the page. Those stick to metal or magnets on the outside as well as to themselves. So I am folding them around the tubing at strategic intervals, leaving them on the tube. As I go by something metal, like a shelf or lamp, I stick the whole tube-magnet construction to it. They're weak magnets and let go sometimes just from moving around. That's better than yanking my head, but notmy favorite experience.

The golf cart cigar holders that have a secured strap might work better. I will see. Still testing. I'm trying something different in every room--and that might be better anyway.

I am really liking any solution that involves a loop around the tubing, with a soft connection--magnetic--to a wall. These may help with that: a pen magnet that loops around the shaft and the silicone is about the right size so there's no kinks (it's also an i okay kinkee tubing support), a cable management magnet, and some kind of fishing gear that's basically a glow-in-the-dark rubber band.

I'm out of images, so will reply with my current favorite tools.

[auntie-doom]

Today I had *good* aqua PT. First time back since the abysmal first visit. Told this PT that I need to be submerged to my shoulders or need the oxygen, and he simply adjusted everything he had planned for me to make it in the deep end, or in squats of some kind in 4' depth. I was able to exercise solidly for the whole hour. I even felt muscle ache a couple of times 🥹🥲 I can't do that outside of water, now, my muscles quit entirely before they reach any kind of real exertion.

I'm so happy. I was really getting to "fit" when my body just stopped permitting exertion last year, and I was so afraid when I kept trying but could not find a way to resume exercising at all. I can do this, I can do this!

[auntie-doom]

believe it or not I'm walking on knives

I never thought I could feel so freaked

lying awake with pain-som-ni-a

what could it be?

believe it or not, it's not anxietyyyyy

this is too severe to be true

look at me, falling on you

[auntie-doom]

Woke up pain this morning, took my meds and snoozed. Unlike most days last few years, I feel like they really kicked in and worked.

Been singing. Oh, oh boy. I am going to be CHEERFUL on oxygen. Muwahahaha!

[auntie-doom]

Holy CATS. I had a walking test today to qualify for home oxygen. 6 minutes nd she took my pulse/ox every minute. At minute 3 oxygen saturation was 88% and zhe put me on oxygen. Readings stayed at 99% for the rest of the walk, and I feel tired but GREAT.

I had doubts I couldeven walk 6 minutes, but I made it! I was slow after minute 2,amd and I didn't recover to normal walking speed, but I felt so much better as I went. Felt like I coukd just keep going. It was wonderful.

My migraine is gone! 😳

My blurry vision is still with me. I have a theory that's not a during-low-oxy effect, but a post-low-oxy effect. So it just gets better when it... heals? Restores oxygen fully but slowly? I don't know.

Well, what the heck is wrong wjth me now?? I don't know. but she said I definitely qualified for oxygen supplementation and they'll get in touch to bring it out. That will help right now 😊😊😊

[auntie-doom]

I have oxygens! Three kinds! A compressor for at home, a battery powered portable one, and a big... small... depends on perspective I guess... backup tank of oxygen.

Feels. Funny. Like my fingers are inflating. Neck and upper back hurt less as, I guess, I am not trying as hard to breathe? I didn't think I was trying hard to breathe, but... huh.

...

I had a cardiac ultrasound with bubble today, and I cannot begin to express how delighted, thrilled, three-steps-closer-to-nirvana I feel to know that the patch in my heart is working as intended. No problems no leaks. So we still don't know everything, but we know that.

[auntie-doom]

Holy CATS. I had a walking test today to qualify for home oxygen. 6 minutes nd she took my pulse/ox every minute. At minute 3 oxygen saturation was 88% and zhe put me on oxygen. Readings stayed at 99% for the rest of the walk, and I feel tired but GREAT.

I had doubts I couldeven walk 6 minutes, but I made it! I was slow after minute 2,amd and I didn't recover to normal walking speed, but I felt so much better as I went. Felt like I coukd just keep going. It was wonderful.

My migraine is gone! 😳

My blurry vision is still with me. I have a theory that's not a during-low-oxy effect, but a post-low-oxy effect. So it just gets better when it... heals? Restores oxygen fully but slowly? I don't know.

Well, what the heck is wrong wjth me now?? I don't know. but she said I definitely qualified for oxygen supplementation and they'll get in touch to bring it out. That will help right now 😊😊😊