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Thumper Musing
A few minutes ago, probably about 8:58 p.m. CDT I resignedly uprighted the recliner and announced to my wife, “well I guess I’ll head for the rodeo in the spare bedroom.” “Rodeo,?” she said. “Yep,”says I. “Time to ride ole Thumper again.”
So here I sit. All hosed up to my snazzy, surely Super Deluxe Respirtech “Incourage” airway clearing system. Delivered a few years ago F.O.B. my home by a nice lady who even taught me how to use it. $1400. Bucks and change; that’s what Respirtech peddles it for. And get this: Medicare bought it for me. They must have discovered what good guy I am. Thanks for payin’ your tax.
Half an hour twice daily, often passing the time as my brain gets machine-scrambled by spinning whimsical yarns for fellow sufferers and habitués of the Mayo Connect Bronch/MAC forum. Thus it is this fine evening. Later, Don
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Good evening @thumperguy. I believe what Colleen was suggesting in her message was for you to use this original discussion as a place to come back to with your musings to create a "corner" of sorts with new titles when you start your post. I imagine you will have several members eager to join you! Does this help?
Yes Amanda, I think I’ve got it.
Hi Don - I look forward to your musings. They always give me a laugh.
Sue
Oh oh, reinforce me at your own risk. to wit:
On our lungs do they prey
A pair of thugs I dare say.
That their mugs are ugly is more than hearsay
"bronch" and "mac": the sounds of our dismay.
But then, emboldened by the distant yet growing
strains of our brief Anthem, we rally.
(to the tune of Farmer in the Dell)
"A Thumpin' I will go,
A Thumpin' I will go.
Ain't I the Cat's meow
A Thumpin' I will go.
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6 ReactionsThe sixth of the month will mark the third anniversary of the delivery of my percussion vest; a day that an hour of my daily life was effectively hijacked. I've been slow to dare question the prescribed 30 minutes twice a day schedule for hosing up to get jostled around, while inhaling by mouth aerosol clouds laced with 7% saline solution.
Finally though my Lemming-like behavior has been interrupted by a revolutionary thought. "Wonder what would happen if I streamlined the routine a bit?" Who sez it's gotta be a half-hour?
Well, I checked in this morning with my contact at Respirtech (The Thumper Maker). And lo and behold, she told me she has lots of what she calls her "clients" who have forsworn allegiance to the recommended treatment time without the sky falling.
So, this morning I boldly shut down the noisy boisterous rig after 15 minutes. The measure of success of course is to continue without interruption by a febrile flare-up of acute bronchitis. Stay tuned. Don
@thumperguy any streamlining sounds what I call fantastic to me. Take care Heather
Reading this post as I sit here with my vest on and nebulizing. Wil be so anxious to see how this goes as would love to shorten this twice daily routine even by a little bit. Getting ready to go out of town and before anything else am hooked up to my vest and nebulizer. Keep us informed and good luck!!!
Hi gej, I’m likely to disappoint. I’m so happy to have logged 13 months without a fever or an antibiotic which I attribute to scrupulous adherence to 2-a-day half-hour “vest/7% saline nebulizer” sessions since I put up the earlier post I’ve become diffident about tinkering with success. Hope you can decipher my murderous sentence structure. Don
@thumperguy Hey, it's worth trying!!! Good luck with that! Nan
Gej, another “guide to shortening the “vest” session might be to shut down the compressor when the nebulizer runs dry, which for me is at least a few minutes short of half an hour. Don