Yawning

Good Sunday, August 26, 2018 to you. It is nearly 6pm here and I’m sitting in my chamber. I took last night off because of nasty ear pain yesterday. I think that I have been saying it wrong. It is my left ear. You know, the ear on the side of my body where my heart is! Also my wedding band is on my left hand.

I was told years ago that I am “perfectly imperfect.” That’s how I am going to look at things in my life more often. Today, I slept in until about 9:30. I was waking up every 1.5 hours to use the restroom, get a drink, and pray for my hurting ear. I looked up my symptoms and the use of hyperbaric. I learned a lot of things that I will begin implementing. Today, I tried a cold medicine. I took one that dissolves in water. I drank it down about 20 minutes before I got in here. I read that either decongestants or an antihistamine could be tried. Another help is gum chewing and that was not working for me last time I was in here. I have kept the gum to try again, just in case. If not, my grandchildren will enjoy the bubble gum themselves. I learned that the swallowing and yawning and pinching of the nose and blowing out gently are things to do. I continue to do them. It also says that the ascent is when the ears have more difficulty so we are going to deflate the chamber over a longer length of time today. All of these helps will benefit me and also others, as this is my hope. Oh, another thought that I had, was not to start the  extra oxygen until the chamber is up and running. So I did not put the cannulae in until the psi was 1.3. There might be an ear benefit in this too.

So the chamber is completely inflated. The valve is working properly letting out a little of the pressure to maintain the 1.3 psi. My right ear continues to pop when I need to assist it with a yawn.  My left ear still has trouble adjusting to the pressure. The swelling and tenderness from yesterday has lessened but it is still not responding the way that I hope it will. I will tenderly take care of my ears. I remember the terrible earaches and middle ear infections I would get on occasion when I was a competitive swimmer!

I am yawning a lot today. I know that it is because of my left ear pain and being tired but I think it also has to do with the stress I have taken on. This stress is a result of not knowing or understanding everything that goes on around me. I need to know my world. The knowledge includes my husband and children and grandchildren, the dogs, the weather, the condition of the house, all of the tasks I need to complete before my Mom arrives next Sunday, and certain events that are brewing that will impact our lives in different ways. I know that its life but when I am cognitively impaired it makes things more difficult. I react to things dramatically. When I don’t know every little detail I freak out. My family looks at me as if I have grown the biggest zit on my forehead right before their eyes. I just don’t understand. So I yawn.

It took me hours to complete a simple reservation I needed to make online. I stumbled and cried and dropped it and picked it up again and fussed and looked at lesser places that a cockroach wouldn’t like and then I would inch forward toward what I wanted and then back off out of fear and then pick it up again and move forward until the reservation was made. I yawned often with this one.

So, I am already fretting about dinner this evening. It won’t be ready until after 8 and probably closer to 9 by the time I get out of here. That’s a late dinner but I am hungry. D will make the fish we are eating. I will make the gluten-free ramen soup. I bought the mushrooms and onion and garlic for the soup on Friday. The rest of the ingredients we already had. I’m yawning not out of boredom. I’m yawning to minister to my ears!

D just told me that it is raining outside. I have a tiny window facing one of the windows and I can’t see the rain. The skies are cloudy but not dark. Looking out at the bright sky made me yawn really big!

Yawning pretty much indicates being tired or low in energy. I just remembered a funny thing from years ago. Before D and I began dating, one of D’s football friends asked him if he would set him up with me for a date. The guy was short and stocky.  I think that the guy played semi-pro football as a kicker. I was so interested in dating D that I agreed to a dinner at my apartment. That way I controlled the entire evening, and brother, it was very boring. I don’t remember too much about the most boring date ever..but I do remember yawning repeatedly at the table, while doing dishes hunched over the sink as he watched me, and then pretending that I fell asleep in an arm-chair watching something on tv. Thankfully the guy left quickly and quietly. If I am remembering correctly D called the guy “Stumpy!” I was bored and o yeah, so glad it was over. There’s another round of yawns.

I have only been here for 3/4 of an hour. Really? Was I yawning?

Let’s discuss this chamber now. We purchased a Grand Dive Vertical mHBOT. It is from Summit-To-Sea. The chamber and all of its components came in multiple boxes. There is a flash drive that is provided for set-up and care. We discovered it after we put it together. What a task it was without instructions. We imagined it as a puzzle with lots of big parts.  It is nearly tall enough for me to stand upright in. I am 5’7″ and it is wide enough for two small ottomans or someone to sit on the floor next to me while I sit in my very comfortable zero gravity chair. I can not lounge in the chair but nothing is touching the walls. It is very comfortable. I think that the smaller size would have worked out for me just as well. I am going to ask D if he wants to join me tomorrow in here. Its plenty roomy for the two of us. I will take pictures if we do get in together. The frame is internal. It is made of pvc piping. There are two rounds (larger at the bottom and smaller at top) that have three attached y’s for the three upright poles and they are labeled too. The pvc structure hold the weight of the chamber when it is deflated. There is a nice round rug at the bottom of the chamber that my chair sits on. There is a really sturdy round that fits inside of a separate zippered bottom of entire chamber that keeps the shape well. There’s even a hook in here to hold something. Maybe a backpack! I am glad that the chamber is white. It makes for a more comfortable dwelling place inside of my larger dwelling. How convenient is that!

My left ear has not popped yet but it is not troubling me yet. Remember that it is iI n the ascent that the ears have difficulties. So we will work on it in due time. I continue to try to release the pressure in my eustachian tube but only get a slight cracking sound like my ear is under water and wants out. O yes, I continue to yawn.

The cool vest is not cool enough. I need more ice. I will try the ice pack again with the cool vest. And I won’t forget the cool towel for my head. I really notice the stuffiness because I do not have the towel in here.

Big yawn! Right ear doing well.  Hey there left ear…cooperate and pop! I yawn again!

Fifteen more minutes. I just heard the thunder outside from inside this chamber. I failed to mention that this is a noisy place but soothing all together in one space-capsule like experience.

I can hardly get my mind around the fact that September is in a few days. Where has the year gone? In some ways this summer has seemingly lasted long but the neighborhood kids are back in school already. My garden vegetables are producing less. The night air is getting crisp. And my precious crabapple tree is so heavily laden with quarter to half-dollar size red skinned apples. I am not going to harvest them this year. I will pick four gallon bags of apples for the freezer. I use them in our dogs raw food I make for them. I have one gallon bag remaining for them in the freezer so the four will take me through this coming year. I made two dozen pint jars of crabapple butter last year but this year I am not motivated. We will see. I do have the jars so I might make a dozen.

Its time to begin my ascent. Let’s see how things go for me! I took the oxygen out of my nose. I am beginning to feel the effects in my right ear. It is properly adjusting. My left ear still feels like it is underwater. Fulness. No pain yet. And I yawn and yawn. I am putting my head back and opening my mouth and still the fulness remains. Its ok. I will find success. I won’t give up. I won’t give in. I will yawn my way to freedom. I must say that the slower ascend is working well. This is truly what we will need to do to better care for my ears. It is by trial that we learn! Much more pleasant. Nearly done. Yahoo!

God bless you.

Suz