We got to the hotel on Friday around 8pm. Andrew left to go get food and we munched in the room while watching TV. Around 9:35 I'm getting ready for bed and to start treatment since I have an early morning (need to be at the fields by 7am). I unpack my travel machine and my heart stops.... I have no tubing. Suddenly, my chest feels tight and I don't know what I'm going to do. Andrew was very quick to step up and remind me that he will find a solution and it's his job to take care of me. He put his shoes back on and left without hesitation.
He started driving towards the nearest Walgreens and I called the other one in town (we're actually in a town outside the capital). Time stamp: 9:43pm. They tell me the pharmacy is closed and they don't have what I'm looking for. I begin to cry and ask them if there's any other place they can think of that might carry it. They suggest Walmart. I'm texting Andrew to let him know. Little did I know, he was on the phone with his dad (a nurse) who directed him to Walmart for other reasons...
I call the local Walmart and sob to the nice girl on the phone. She said the pharmacy closed at 8pm, but she will go look outside of the pharmacy... no luck. We talk for awhile and she is starting to freak out with me, understanding the severity of the situation. Her advice was to go to the hospital and ask for one. I thanked her and called Andrew. He was walking into Walmart that moment, but wasn't heading to the pharmacy. He was headed to the aquarium section!! After some time, he returns to the hotel with these items:
25 ft. Aquarium tubing (what pumps air into fish tanks)
Zip-ties
A pack of lighters
A pair of scissors
He cut the tubing to make it a manageable length. We rinsed it out through the sink too. The tubing was just a little too small to fit on the compressor/neb so we used the lighters to soften the tubing and stretch it out with the hotel pen. Then, when it wouldn't stay on the neb, we put a zip-tie around it so it wouldn't go anywhere. With a little bit of Redneck Ingenuity (or Macgyver!), I was able to do treatment that night/early morning.
The next morning, we called a local pharmacy and bought actual compressor tubing, but hear me out friends: should you ever run into a bind like I did, just pick up those items at Walmart and you'll get through the night!
Pics for proof:
Neb with tubing and a zip-tie to keep it in place.
The aquarium tubing Andrew bought
Very thankful for my creative and quick-thinking father-in-law and my husband who is willing to do anything to keep me well!
-A
