Quite the day yesterday–you might say it left me breathless. Here’s the lowdown:

I started off at the immigration office in Olongapo. If you’ve been in the country for six months or more, you are required to secure an Emigration Clearance Certificate (ECC) prior to departure. This is basically a process where they determine if you have any outstanding warrants or other crimes and infractions. I should be good in that regard, but I didn’t have everything with me that I needed to complete the application. One of the helpful Immigration Officers provided me with a list:

• Three 2×2 photos (white background, no eyewear)
•  Photocopy of itinerary ticket
•  Passport
•  ACR I-Card
•  All Official Receipt of tourist visa extensions indicating valid stay

I had only three of those items with me. And, oh yeah, you have to apply three working days in advance. I confirmed with the officer that bringing the completed application and other items this morning would allow me to pick up the ECC on Friday. So, I set about about doing what needed to be done.

I had the tourist visa extensions in my desk drawer. This morning, I completed the application, gathered all the required items, and had my driver take me back to immigration. I arrived just when they opened and was the first to be served. I guess everything was in order because they brought out two forms with my photo attached to be signed, and then I applied thumbprints from both hands on each of the forms. I’ll pick up the ECC on Friday morning, assuming all goes well with the record check. My current plan is to walk to the immigration office. I think (hope) it’s only around 8K.

The next thing that happened was I discovered what appeared to be a $2800. fraudulent deduction from my checking account on June 5. That freaked me out, and I immediately filed a fraud report with Navy Federal and changed my account password. As I investigated further, I saw that the fund transfer had gone to Chase Credit Card. I have an account with Chase, but I paid it off and haven’t used the card since. Still, it was a clue. I went to my email and searched for Chase. I found one from mid-May thanking me for scheduling my payment–and the payment amount was the same as what I thought was fraudulent. No idea why it took over three weeks to have the funds transferred to pay off the credit card, but in my defense (and it ain’t much of one, I admit), it was long enough for me to have forgotten about it. Yeah, let’s go, Brandon! So, I retracted the fraud claim and went on about my day.

The next thing on my agenda was a visit to Dr. Jo to see what I needed to do about whatever was ailing my lungs. She listened to my breathing through a stethoscope and agreed it sounded like the wheezing was likely infection-related. She prescribed an antibiotic and advised me to get a chest x-ray if the lungs don’t clear in the next few days.

Sloppy Joe’s is conveniently located practically right next door to the clinic, so at the conclusion of my appointment, I stopped in for some liquid refreshment. MJ, the mountain mother I support, came by on her scooter to pick up her weekly allowance. Well, two weeks’ worth since I won’t be around next Tuesday. She stayed for a beer, then headed to the market for rice. I continued on doing my beer thing for a while, then decided to change my scenery and visit Mango’s. I thought about eating, but just wasn’t hungry enough for the pork chops, and they didn’t have the roast chicken salad I wanted. So, I just had some more beer.

I figured I’d make Whiskey Girl my next and last stop. It’s only about a block up the highway from Mango’s. But as I started walking, I suddenly felt breathless. I paused for a moment, then continued on, but was feeling weaker. When I got to Whiskey Girl, I knew it wasn’t a good idea to go inside, instead; I caught a trike for home. I was really paranoid I was going to lose consciousness and fall out of the trike, but luckily that didn’t happen. When I walked through the door, my helper, Teri (who is also a certified caregiver), was surprised to see me home so early (it wasn’t even 6:00 yet), and then she noticed I didn’t look right. “What’s wrong?” she asked. Can’t breathe, I responded. She slipped the oximeter onto my finger, and it registered 83. Normal is 98-100; my normal with COPD is 95, and I’d never been lower than 88 previously. From what I’ve read, I was about to go into a state of hypoxemia.

When Teri saw my low blood oxygen reading, she immediately said, “I’m calling an ambulance!” I told her not to do that; I’d try the nebulizer first. Thankfully, it worked well enough to restore almost normal breathing and raise my oxygen reading back into the low 90s.

Nothing left for me to do but try get some sleep.

So far today, I’m not having any issues.

I didn’t walk today. The immigration trip made the Wednesday Walkers a no-go. I considered doing a neighborhood walk when I got home, then just decided to give my body a day off to recuperate. I still don’t know what, if anything, triggered yesterday’s episode. I certainly wasn’t doing anything strenuous (those beers only weigh 12 oz.). I’ve decided to get an oxygen tank for emergencies like I experienced last night.

Later this afternoon, I’ll head over to Hideaway Bar for the feeding and hope things turn out better than last night. If I don’t post here tomorrow, you’ll know they didn’t.