Pearl Family 3: Living on Snake Oil, Charcoal and Plexus

[MariaariaM]

5 hours ago, hoipolloi said:

Shalom has also supplemented the O2 with some bottled stuff (not medical-grade) from WalMart or wherever

Walmart sells bottles of oxygen? Not from the US so I genuinely have no idea but I would be mildly amused if she'd instead brought him a couple of bottles of oxygenated water, thinking it was basically the same thing.

[FiveAcres]

Found these on the Walmart website. I suspect the use case is for people trying for a quicker recovery after a burst of activity during sports. Traditional oxygen is delivered via a nasal cannula. (When the Riverdance Company was touring here in Colorado Springs, I believe there was a newspaper article that the performers were using oxygen back stage.)

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[Howl]

The first time I saw this type of bottled oxygen was in Sawpit Mercantile, a little store down the road from Telluride, CO.  I guess people use it to help deal with the elevation. 

[JermajestyDuggar]

1 hour ago, FiveAcres said:

Found these on the Walmart website. I suspect the use case is for people trying for a quicker recovery after a burst of activity during sports. Traditional oxygen is delivered via a nasal cannula. (When the Riverdance Company was touring here in Colorado Springs, I believe there was a newspaper article that the performers were using oxygen back stage.)

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Yes, she got these from Walmart and he went through a bunch of them. 

[Giraffe]

I wonder if they're questioning how he's really doing. If he needs oxygen that desperately after supposedly seeing a huge percentage decrease in his tumor, they have to be questioning the efficacy of the spa, right?? (I know, I know, they'll chalk it up to everything but that. It's unbelievable!)

[FiveAcres]

5 minutes ago, Giraffe said:

I wonder if they're questioning how he's really doing. If he needs oxygen that desperately after supposedly seeing a huge percentage decrease in his tumor, they have to be questioning the efficacy of the spa, right?? (I know, I know, they'll chalk it up to everything but that. It's unbelievable!)

At this point, I can't imagine any legitimate doctor wanting to have anything to do with them: they are just too deluded so unless they find an equally deluded MD, they will have to go to the ER for symptom management. And I suspect they will attempt to order the ER docs to provide treatments that the ER docs can't ethically provide, which never ends well for the deluded. (Anyone who followed the Herman Cain Award forums knows that. And that is another thing: what happens when he inevitably gets COVID-19? He sounds as though his lungs are already thoroughly compromised.)

[Ozlsn]

2 hours ago, Giraffe said:

I wonder if they're questioning how he's really doing. If he needs oxygen that desperately after supposedly seeing a huge percentage decrease in his tumor, they have to be questioning the efficacy of the spa, right?? (I know, I know, they'll chalk it up to everything but that. It's unbelievable!)

I doubt they are, I think they are just focused on getting home and pushing everything else aside. At this point I just hope they make it, but it wouldn't surprise me if they end up in an ER on the way. 

[Giraffe]

12 minutes ago, Ozlsn said:

I doubt they are, I think they are just focused on getting home and pushing everything else aside. At this point I just hope they make it, but it wouldn't surprise me if they end up in an ER on the way. 

I agree. I'll be shocked if they make it home without an ER visit. 

Did they say what day they expected to get home?

[Howl]

 Almost 18 hours from Albuquerque, NM to  Nashville, TN.  Not sure where they live; just picked Nashville as a random destination in that part of the country. 

[JermajestyDuggar]

They got oxygen from friends.

They stopped at the blue hole in NM and Justin went swimming in it. Shalom was afraid the cold water would shock his heart. 

[Giraffe]

Ffs! So they're ok with their friends getting oxygen from a real honest to goodness doctor but not enough to go to an er. These two are idiots. 

[MariaariaM]

I will say: he looks healthier than he sounds. And he's obviously still a stubborn patriarchal asshole or he wouldn't have ignored his wife's fears (and the possibility of a sudden oxygen drop that might've left him too low to get back out). Plus: I doubt he took his oxygen tank in with him so even if he wasn't swimming very actively he must still feel reasonably confident without it.

[Bluebirdbluebell]

Maybe their friends took them to a doctor who wouldn't ask too many questions. I find it hard to believe that someone would have 3 cannisters of oxygen just lying around that they didn't need and could give away.  Also swimming seems like a bad idea for someone who needs 3 cannisters of oxygen. 

[marmalade]

He went swimming? The hell? 

[Giraffe]

6 hours ago, Bluebirdbluebell said:

Maybe their friends took them to a doctor who wouldn't ask too many questions. I find it hard to believe that someone would have 3 cannisters of oxygen just lying around that they didn't need and could give away.  Also swimming seems like a bad idea for someone who needs 3 cannisters of oxygen. 

It certainly feels like they're not being entirely honest, doesn't it?

[hoipolloi]

52 minutes ago, Giraffe said:

It certainly feels like they're not being entirely honest, doesn't it?

Sure does. IIRC, in order to get a new tank of O2 my relative first had to turn in the used one - and that was with an Rx. Remember once being at their place when the Apria truck pulled up & we had a couple of empty tanks ready to exchange for full ones.

So, yes, it seems odd that a "friend" would have 3 full tanks of O2 lying around that they could just give away. 

[Howl]

14 hours ago, JermajestyDuggar said:

They stopped at the blue hole in NM and Justin went swimming in it. Shalom was afraid the cold water would shock his heart. 

Santa Rosa Blue Hole  Water is 62 degrees.  Here's the information for scuba divers:  Santa Rosa Dive and Conference Center. 

This website says the Blue Hole is closed due to a  subsurface rock collapse on one side.  I think there is a second "hole" so maybe he jumped into that? 

 

[Howl]

They've been travelling across a part of the US that is relatively high elevation (4,000-7,000'), but elevation drops steadily as they head east, so maybe that is easing his oxygen deficit issues

 

 

[Expectopatronus]

4 hours ago, Howl said:

Santa Rosa Blue Hole  Water is 62 degrees.  Here's the information for scuba divers:  Santa Rosa Dive and Conference Center. 

This website says the Blue Hole is closed due to a  subsurface rock collapse on one side.  I think there is a second "hole" so maybe he jumped into that? 

 

They might have been stupid enough to go in anyway. The rules don’t apply to Godly folk, dontcha know. 

[Howl]

1 hour ago, Expectopatronus said:

They might have been stupid enough to go in anyway. The rules don’t apply to Godly folk, dontcha know. 

That exact thought was floating around my mind! 

[JermajestyDuggar]

They stopped at Route 66 park (I assume in Oklahoma) and she said his oxygen levels are better now. Maybe because they are at a lower elevation. 

[Ozlsn]

17 hours ago, marmalade said:

He went swimming? The hell? 

I think it's possible Justin knows all is not well but is coping by being "normal". So swimming, driving, all the things he would do as a perfectly healthy individual. On some level I think he's aware that this is quite possibly the last time he'll be there, so why not do the things, take the risk, be normal.

I think both of them are pushing all the signs - the oxygen, probably tiredness - to one side and creating a narrative in which they'll go home and it'll all be back to normal, but of the two of them I think Justin probably has more unacknowledged niggling doubts.

[JermajestyDuggar]

They are planning on making it to Ft Smith Arkansas tonight.

Edited August 7 by JermajestyDuggar

[Bluebirdbluebell]

Where or what is Fort Smith?

[Xan]

I noticed that Justin is driving in that last video and he's on oxygen.  I guess Shalom is trying to keep a good face on everything, be hopeful, and decide that prayer will work.  Still, she must be aware that things are not going well.  He's way past the point that vitamins and organic foods will help.