A small victory

[vdub]

I think most of you know about my breathing problems and paralyzed diaphragm. The surgery last June brought my total lung capacity up from 46% to about 58%. That wasn't much of a gain, but I told the surgeon that I would be happy if I could snorkel again.

Three days ago we flew to Hawaii to test my lungs out. There's still too much pressure on my lungs to just snorkel freely, but if I use a buoyancy vest (the kind used by scuba divers), then I can get by fairly well. I had a little anxiety because I knew my vest was old, cheap, and had a small leak, but I managed. When I get home I'll get a good vest.

We snorkeled in 2 different bays and will go home Sunday (about 5 more hours). Small victory! 👍

[mishb]

That's awesome news vdub. One small step etc

How was the flight, did you feel any pressure in your lungs then?
I'm just thinking about how my water bottle gets sucked out of oxygen when in the plane

[Alysia]

Not small at all but Big :)
Even when I was healthy I never did it... ;)

[vdub]

I didn't notice any difficulties on the flight, of course, you're pretty immobile and not doing to much activity to make you need air. I should have brought my SO2 sensor with me, but didn't even think about it.