Heading West

Tomorrow morning P will pack the van. We are going to spend a week in a town in central Iowa where my two brothers and one sister live. When I say pack the van I mean pack. P says that she must pack more for me then she did when the children were infants. And I believe her. She already has half of the dinning room table covered with items for my care. We must take bottles of sterile water and peroxide, drain sponges, tracheostomy collars, tracheostomy-cleaning kits, and battery chargers for the wheelchair and the external ventilator battery. In addition to that we must take the backup ventilator, spare ventilator circuits, and an extra Foley bag. The list goes on but I can't remember everything. P and I have been talking and making a list of needed items for a week now.

My sister, where P and I will stay, told us the oxygen tank had been delivered earlier this week. However, it isn't large enough to hold enough oxygen for out entire stay. So this morning while at work P has called the Medical Supply Company in order to have an oxygen concentrator delivered early next week. At least that has been taken care of. This is always one of my big worries when going someplace. Will there be enough oxygen at the place I am staying. In the past we have arrived before the oxygen was delivered. Once I am off the oxygen I go down in a hurry.

So tomorrow after everything is loaded into the van, we will fill three portable oxygen tanks and go on vacation. After all of this we will head west. I am really looking forward to this visit. My brother is taking a day off work so he and I can spend the day together. Next weekend my three other sisters are coming for the weekend. Sounds to me like it will be a weekend of visiting, talking, laughing and relaxation.

Then on the return trip home we hope to stop and visit my aunt and some friends of ours who just moved to the same town my aunt lives in.