Some of my cancer recovery is slow and steady, like the travel of a turtle. Information gathering is huge among the medical community, so one has to slowly, consistently gather information for them. Last night, I had the “pleasure” of sleeping with a finger clamp that was connected to a machine which read my oxygen intake and my heart rate. Fairly amazing, actually. Every second, it flashed the numbers of my oxygen intake and heart rate, as well as flashing a green light (the machine is happy) or an orange light (the machine is not happy.) I needed to sleep solidly, last night, for at least four hours for the whole process to be valid. I think I accomplished that from 12:30 AM to 4:30 AM.
What amazes me are two facts. First, I can’t believe that the clamp doesn’t really hurt, but it doesn’t. It looks like it would. Whoever designed it did a terrific job. Second, I am amazed that the sensor in the clamp can gather so much vital information. My finger, in the clamp, is sitting on a set of sensors(lit up with tiny red lights) that must pick up the needed information. I lay happily in bed reading the 94-95 number for oxygen, and the 65-70 reading for heart rate, whenever I have awakened in the night.
As I sit here sipping my morning carrot juice at 5:45 AM, I am waiting for 6 AM to arrive so I can take off the amazing finger clamp. (Slow and steady like my painted turtles above.) Yes, I’m up with the birds, and yes, it’s morning carrot juice instead of coffee. It’s all part of the healing process. Thinking back to when the cancer care first began, my heart rate, measured by a finger clamp in a hospital was at 150 and my oxygen intake was 80. My body is healing steadily, and the finger clamp can prove it!
