Life with Mom

I took Mom to the doctor today. This was a follow up visit to see how she's doing with the oxygen and new prescription. She is supposed to be on the oxygen 24hrs a day but she has refused to use it during the day because "it's just too much trouble!" She's told me that she's worried about tripping over the tubing. I've explained to her several times that she can just take it off if she wants to get up and do something and put it back on when she sits down again, I even had the technician from the oxygen company tell her the same thing because we know I couldn't possibly know what I'm talking about.

Mom totally blindsided me when she started talking to the nurse about the real reason that she won't use the oxygen during the day. It seems she was convinced that if she took it off and forgot to turn off the machine that the oxygen would just keep building up in the house, flow into the cold air return vents to the furnace and then the house would blow up!

My jaw dropped to the floor and I sat there, struck dumb, while the nurse explained to her why that just wasn't possible and that she had nothing to worry about as long as no one was smoking in the house. He must have noted my surprise because as we were leaving he squeezed my shoulder and patted my back.

As soon as I got the portable tank switched off back at her house, she had me turn on the machine and had no trouble getting around with the tubing. I really hope she'll continue to use it all of the time and that it helps her think more clearly.