health updates

[mellowtigger]

I wear my FloMask Pro mask every time I'm around other people. Today, I found a failure mode for this mask. For all I know, it affects every N95 mask type, but who knows for sure. I was outside on another far-below-freezing day in Minneapolis, catching the bus to go to/from physical therapy at the hospital. My exhales caused the mask filter to freeze up, making it difficult to breathe through it. Fine, I thought, since it will thaw when I'm in the bus or building. It did thaw, but the filter never regained permeability.

When I started exercising during therapy and breathing heavily, the filter "blew out", breaking the seal. When I got home, I reseated the filter and locked it in, but the same thing happened again after being outdoors waiting for the micro-route bus to take me to the grocery store. I ended up manually holding the filter in place for inhales, then letting the dislodged edge flap loose for exhales.

Better than nothing, but not great. I'm calling this a potential exposure day. When I got home, I sprayed my nose with an iodine post-exposure spray. From now on, I guess I need to carry a replacement filter with me, so I can put in a working filter when I arrive at my destination when traveling in very cold weather outdoors.

Physical therapy is still mostly going good. The neuropathy is still worse than usual in my left foot/leg, but it's hurting less. I called attention to the one single exercise that still is the hardest for me to do and with little-to-no improvement after 2 weeks. We'll see if he has something new for me to try next week.