Not So Much Rage Against the Machine

 I 'think' I may have started to catch on to using the CPAP therapy finally.  I'm not saying that out loud yet, because I don't want to jinx it, but for the past two nights, I actually slept fairly well, only getting up a few times and averaging about six hours of sleep a night.  My apneas (breathing cessations) are down to around four an hour compared to seventeen before treatment, which isn't great, but is still a vast improvement. 

Miscanthus in January

I was waking up about fifteen to twenty times a night the first two weeks of wearing the mask which is really tiring, though I felt better in the morning since even the little sleep I was getting was more restorative.  Trying to sleep with sleep apnea is like having someone come into your bedroom and, in my case, smother you with a pillow seventeen times an hour.  I've met people who have had apneas in the 90's and 100's an hour, and I cannot imagine what that must be like.  Talk about tired! 

Big icicle going over Quarry waterfall from our sump pump last winter

The reason I know how many times I wake up for certain is my machine keeps track of everything I do sleep-wise on an SD card and will print out a report upon request,  it's like having a spy in my bedroom. Sort of like an electronic Santa Claus if you will-- (It sees me when I'm sleeping, it knows when I'm awake, it knows if I am breathing or not, so keep breathing for goodness sake!)

If I stop breathing or slow down too much, the machine automatically ramps up the air pressure which then, in turn, forces me to breathe whether I like it or not.  At first it felt like I was drowning in air at times, the sensation is similar to sticking your head out of a car window at around 55 mph and trying to breathe (how do dogs do that??) but I think I'm getting used to it somewhat. 

I did go and see my sleep tech last week Thursday and picked up two new masks.  One was a nasal pillows type which sounds way more comfortable than it was to wear (but I think, in time, I might get the hang of that type of mask, too) and the other was the newest full face mask on the market right now, one I had high, high hopes for and one I cannot get to work for me.  All the darn thing wants to do is leak and make highly inappropriate noises  (which in sleep apnea circles are fondly referred to as 'face farts', told you it was inappropriate.)  Not only are the masks incredibly attractive, they also serenade all parties present in the bedroom during the night, too!  

Carl is still valiantly putting up with this fiasco yet and shows no signs of weakening (or sleeping on the couch)  I am amazed by his determination.  Last night I woke up around 3AM to my face mask merrily flapping in the breeze-oh, here we go again, turn on the light and try to figure out what went wrong now.

We don't have the ice cube this winter, which is too bad...the hose froze up! 

  I've spent a lot of time over on the website dedicated to Sleep Apnea and read hundreds of posts which have been very helpful, though now it's time for me to get on with life and stop obsessing.  I have a new pillow ordered (buckwheat hull-filled, no, not a Sobakawa!) especially for Side Sleeping Sleep Apnea Snoozer CPAP Users like me which should arrive sometime this week and I can't wait.  I hope it's all it's cracked up to be.  I'm supposed to be able to 'dig' holes in the buckwheat hulls for a space for my mask and shove the rest of the hulls around to form comfortable lumbar support points and then just drift off to sleep. I'm not sure how that will work, but doesn't it sound wonderful?  Hey, I can dream. 

In fact, now I can dream, and it's amazing.  Now that I'm getting some deeper, REM sleep, I have been having vivid dreams and it's been fun.  I know that sounds odd, but I haven't had dreams like this in years, and I can remember details of them quite well.  The only thing I regret is waking up sometimes before the dream is over and I don't find out what happened.  Last night, it was all about lightning and a graveyard, oh, it was vivid and not scary in the least.  I could smell the rain in the air....

I am going to call the sleep tech guy again sometime this week to see if we can figure out something to do about the masks not fitting so well.  I have until the end of January, and I am amazed to see how short of time that is!  I can't believe how the time has flown by.  Normally we would have had at least one stained glass lamp built for the winter and I haven't even started laying out glass yet.  I love winter for the change of pace it gives us here, I can devote time to stained glass and not feel guilty that I'm neglecting the garden. So what do I do?  Neglect the craft.  Before I know it, it will be time to plant my seeds for spring and I won't have even one stained glass project done for the winter.     Procrastinatoe-y again, and another thing I want to change about me; maybe I will be able to make some changes now that I'm a hose-head. 

So ENOUGH with the sleep apnea, I'll try to give the topic a rest.

Now, where was I in that dream....