Dear Marion,

Thank you for your letter. Your perceived need to keep me
from "overworrying" is eerily reminiscent of Margrit's complaint
that I worried unnecessarily about her well-being, that she 
would be alright, because she always had been - and you know
how that turned out.

Margrit confused my efforts at objective description and analysis
with worry or anxiety, because she herself, like Pollyanna, was
able to manage only by escaping into a fictitious spiritual
environment which she maintained by cultivating friends who
would participate in her denial.

I admit that I don't understand your pulmonary problem. I have no
experience in interpreting blood oxygen saturation values of 88%
to 91%. I do have experience interpreting numbers purporting to
reflect blood pressure, intraocular pressure and visual acuity.
These are often wildly inaccurate and unreliable, if only because
they are subject to "natural" unexplained fluctuations. Within
limits, the sensitivity and specificity of those measurements is
poor. I believe that there is an unknown and perhaps small 
statistical probability that your blood oxygen saturation is in
fact "normal" and that your "shortness of breath" is hyperventilation
consequent on anxiety. I don't know. (When I practiced general medicine
in Damascus fifty years ago, a large proportion of my patients who
complained of "shortness of breath" were in fact hyperventilating.)

You wrote that Dr. Anderson told you that with your low blood
oxygen saturation "flying is not a good idea." That statement, which
I interpret as medical advice from Dr. Anderson, is not an expression
of my anxiety. Although I have reservations, I must assume that his
advice is correct. I suspect that the risks entailed in ignoring 
Dr. Anderson's advice are probably small; but they can be obviated
by your obtaining a portable oxygen concentrator of your own,
possibly paid for by Medicare as "durable medical equipment."
That seems to me an idea worth exploring. (FAA regulations require
US airlines to permit portable oxygen contentrators on all flights.
Whether there are comparable requirements for European airlines,
I don't know.)

Jochen