Sometime earlier this year we discovered I need supplemental oxygen when I sleep and also during exercise.  And well, when I say exercise, I don’t mean aerobics class… no way am I fit enough for that. But I am noticing that I get quite winded even on short walks.  There are things that affect my breathing like high pollution days, nights where there is a lot of fireplace smoke, the days after I don’t get much sleep at night, after eating dairy (evil evil sweet dairy, why can’t I give you up?!).  There are a lot of other random factors, and sometimes there are no explanations.  But either way, sometimes I need my oxygen.

A few months ago I sent back the oxygen bottles that Apria Healthcare sent me.  They were just too big to lug around on my back when I am outside the house.  I am mentally not ready to start dragging around a huge bottle on a cart, and would like to put that off as long as I don’t need oxygen 24/7.  After too many times of becoming promptly exhausted after short walks I decided to bug Apria for smaller bottles.  Heck, even this morning I had to stop and catch my breath just walking to the coffee pot at work (yea, it’s a bad breathing day).  I hate dealing with Apria, since they always seem to screw up my order, send a delivery guy who leaves the stink of cigarette smoke in my house, stand there and argue with me that what was ordered is not really what I want (when I KNOW what I NEED), such a pain in the ass.

I don’t usually call out company names when I complain, but this time I have had enough.  Yesterday I spoke with someone on the phone. We set up a delivery for some very small tanks (with a nice little backpack) that I could use during exercise, they won’t last long, but that is all I need. That evening the delivery guy tried to give me tanks that stood as tall as my hips! Dude! How on this green earth do you expect me to carry those?!!  Then he argued with me for probably 10 minutes that I am supposed to get these huge tanks and that I need a respiratory therapist to make a $65 visit to check my oxygen levels.  He laughed at me when I asked him if he wanted me to go get my pulseoxymeter to prove that I don’t need 24/7 oxygen. I am still so pissed at him. I don’t need an RT to check, it’s on the prescription, that I need it, just look stupid guy.  I just need oxygen, something that will last 30 minutes or so.

Today I have spoken with two people at Apria trying to get the correct sized oxygen bottles. Turns out they do not carry anything smaller than what I returned months ago.  They suggest I get a portible liquid oxygen system, which probably costs several thousand dollars.  It is a schnazzy little system, BUT, do I really need something so expensive?! Geez! Good news is that my insurance is raising their lifetime limit for duriable medical equipment at the first of the year (which I maxed out when I was 16), so hopefully I won’t have too much out of pocket if this is my only option.  It just seems rediculous that they MAKE smaller oxygen bottles, but since my oxygen company doesn’t want to carry them I may be more $$$ out of pocket.  Unbelievable.

I want to exercise, I want to improve my lung function… why doesn’t my oxygen company want to help me improve my life?!!  Thanks a bunch Apria!!