Oxygen and a Tank of Nonsense

1/23/2014
This morning began as nearly typical. The previous night, like those for the past week, was spent tending to my son who has aspiration pneumonia. I guess all the sweating, over-heating, and shortness of breath, wasn't just a young man with a libido.

We are trying to keep him out of the hospital or E.R., so he won't lose his savings and house to a single bout of illness. He lost his health insurance in November. He applied and was accepted for new insurance, but it doesn't kick in until Febuary 1st, 2014. As soon as nurse friends shared my suspicions (five days ago), that he had developed pneumonia, I began treating him with Cipro. Luckily, we had some. After two doses, his fever began to reduce and the sweating decreased. He was having difficulty breathing, so I jumped on Craigslist to look for medical oxygen tanks. Knowing nothing about them, I sifted through the ads until I found one that sounded promising. The fellow had used the system for his mother, until she passed. I called, he brought the system over, since he was running errands in the neighborhood. We made a deal.

When he came with the oxygen system, he plugged it in and it worked. He warned me that it hadn't been running since he lost his mom. He also said it was overdue for service, but they had purchased an extended warranty with the unit. Originally, the unit cost $1700 or thereabouts from a company in Fountain Valley (where ever that is). Just as he was about to leave, the unit began flashing and beeping an alarm. He offered me a refund, but I said no, I'd keep it.

The next day I called the company in Fountain Valley. I told the woman the situation, asked what the light meant, and questioned if was there anyway to fix the problem. She said, "First, let's see if it was his to sell." She explained, it might be a rental or bought, but not paid off. It had never even crossed my mind that it might not be his! Luckily, it was his. He had bought it outright.

Next, she said these units require a prescription. Did I have one? No, of course not. That never occurred to me either, that a glorified air pump might need a prescription. Has this country gone crazy?!

She said that in all the time she had been working, she had never encountered this type of instance. Nobody had bought a unit, without a prescription, that someone else sold.

Is what I did illegal? I don't think so. He legally had a right to sell it. I desperately needed it to save my son. That which is necessary, is legal, is it not?

#DementiaHusband #OxygenTank