The respiratory tech from the new oxygen supplier, Community Surgical, came yesterday--what a contrast to Apria. She (also named "Pat") is very careful and thorough and was here for almost two hours.
Pat is a mature woman (56) and has been doing this kind of work for 17 years. She actually worked for Apria some time ago and--being a real professional--said nothing negative about the outfit. However, when we voiced our dissatisfaction with Apria, she mentioned that the general stance there is "let the customer come to you." At CS, she said, it's "you go to the customer"; harder on the employee, but appreciated by users like us. In addition, CS has a branch in Manahawkin.
Several times, Pat used the Pulse-sox (?) to measure my Pat's blood saturation--with oxygen and without, at rest and after "exertion." (Sadly, exertion for Pat means a short walk down the hall.) She then tried him on the smallest portable apparatus, really the major reason we switched to liquid oxygen, as it's much lighter than the tanks that hold the gas type for portable use. However, this is a "pulse" type: It works in response to drawing in a breath, and not through a continuous flow. Unfortunately, after her careful measuring, she told us she couldn't recommend it for him: He's a mouth breather and can't seem to breathe through his nose regularly enough to activate the pulse and get enough oxygen in his blood.
She left it to us to decide if we wanted to keep the liquid type or switch back to gas oxygen. The advantage to gas that is that you can take with you as many replacement tanks as you might need (they last about 3 hours). With liquid, you have to fill the portable and when it's gone, refill it from the main tank. Pat wore it from noon until 4:30 before refilling, so it lasted 4 1/2 hours, but still--if he goes farther than the bay and stays longer, it wouldn't be satisfactory, so I think we'll go back to gas.
However, we're still happy to have switched suppliers. Neither of us remember Apria ever sending a respiratory person at all, let alone one so knowledgable and nice, and certainly not one who spent the amount of time Pat did with us.
After lunch, went to Boscov's to try to find a dress for my niece's wedding. Didn't, and am just about ready to wear something from my existing wardrobe; have definitely decided to take back the two outfits I got at Penney's and just wear them for the fashion show. I don't feel like spending $190 for clothes I'd almost surely wear just once.