New C-Pap

In 2004 I went to the Camden County Women's Conference in Voorhees, NJ, a free all day event with workshops on health, well being, and family life. It is a marvelous event consisting of a keynote speaker and a large variety of workshops to choose from. Over the years I have taken free workshops in meditation, various exercises (yoga, Zumba, jazzercise,) Reiki, self defense, menopause, back pain management, financial planning, networking, and feng shui. Every year I go to this conference and every year I take at least one workshop that has a profound effect on my life. The one in 2004 was no different. I took a workshop on sleep apnea, it's effects and treatment.

I came home with the knowledge that Bob needed to see the doctor. He had always been a snorer, and sometimes I heard him stop breathing for seemingly long periods of time before gasping and taking a loud breath. In the workshop I learned that untreated sleep apnea could cause:

High blood pressure

Stroke

Heart failure, irregular heart beats, and heart attacks

Diabetes

Depression

Worsening of ADHD 

Headaches

We had only been married for three years, and I wanted us to be healthy together for a long time. So Bob dutifully went to the doctor, had a sleep study, and was ultimately diagnosed with sleep apnea. He has had his C-Pap machine for over ten years now. I have heard so many people say they would never get a C-Pap  saying that they couldn't sleep with a mask, they wouldnt like the sound of it, that their spouse wouldn't like the sound of it, etc. All I can say is that Bob sleeps well now, I am not bothered anymore with his snoring and don't hear his machine. It's all good. Except trying to get a new, updated C-Pap has been a real aggravation!

Last August Bob's doctor wrote a new script for a new machine and we picked it up today.  This after months of trying to get all of his records together and thanks to a managing company that apparently has hired a number of individuals who don't really want to do their jobs. The process has been made much more difficult by the fact that we are in a different state each month! But today we drove into Chandler, AZ to get the new C-Pap--yay! It is so much smaller that Bob's old one and automatically relays a report daily to some computer on how it is working. It can even be adjusted remotely by a respiratory therapist if needed. So cool.