Today we took a field trip to Apria home health in Redmond to pick up an over the shoulder portable oxygen container. The nurse checked my O2 sat walking around with this and I passed. So home we came. I tried it out for a late afternoon walk, and found that it is really quite heavy, weighing in at just under 6-pounds that includes the device and the carry case. Bottom line is that it was not that comfortable to wear for a 1-hour walk. I suppose for an airplane or car ride (they include a car cigarette type of charger) it would be fine. But for my needs, after the walk my mind was wondering whether I would be better off wheeling my oxygen tank behind me.

As you can see by the counting up and counting down, my overriding goal would be not to need the supplemental oxygen. We have 6 weeks +/- to get to that decision point.

Tomorrow, based on my appointment times at the clinic, I will be hiking up and down the hill twice and these are 1/2 mile walks so I will get a sense of if this shoulder supported device will work for these shorter outings. I will have lab tests and can report on those.

In the meantime today I again met my walking goals 11,500 steps over 4.5 miles. Slower pace today as it was warmer when we took our long walk. Tomorrow is another day.

Larry and Sharon