After waiting too long, I finally joined and got my gear.
Based on my small sample size including my Tuesday night men’s Bible study and my father-in-law, it appears that there may be very few my age or thereabouts who can relate. After the first night my machine and I spent the night together, our study group led off by going around the circle, ranking where we are at on a scale of 1 to 10 and explaining why. My number dropped to a 6 and I explained how day 1 of my learning curve went, not quite living the dream yet. Everyone close to my age and older nodded and spoke their agreement in old man “uh-huh” style. Ah, common experiences. I know this is common, but new to me.
For the uninitiated, see the technical explanation at the end of this article.
How did I get here?
Sometimes I would wake myself up snorting, most times Darling Bride’s sleep would be disrupted, and we would talk about it, so this has been going on for a while. I remember one camping trip when the kids were younger, all of us in our pop-up camper, the snoring was too much for them too. My reputation was established.
A year ago during my annual wellness visit (a “physical” is what you get to play sports in school, a wellness visit is for grown ups), I discussed it with my primary care physician (sounds more dignified than “doctor”), we put in order for a sleep study but that slipped through the cracks. The years before that, I have no excuse.
This year’s wellness visit got the sleep order to go through. Before too long I got the in-home sleep study, fortunately no slumber party at Indiana University Health. Results came back high-moderate apnea, close to severe. While I did not know what to expect, in a way I was happy for the high number, confirmation that I’m not just going through the motions and a tangible number to what we sort of knew.
While waiting for my trip back to IU Health to get my equipment, I got a walk through of what to expect with my father-in-law’s help. I got to see his machine, his collection of masks, his phone app, and a demonstration. I was surprised to see the wide variety of masks available that that get air from the machine to the person. How does one choose wisely?
Once I brought my gear home, the mask is where I struggled the first week. I got my orientation with a class of two others. During the meeting we get our paperwork, our machines, a chance to see how the touch screen works, and our initial mask selection. I thought I slept with my mouth open because I often catch myself snoring through my mouth and wake up with drymouth. With my machine and mask, I quickly noticed my mouth closed, but I think my large full face mask will be OK.
Actually, not OK
After day 7, I woke up with some pain in the bridge of my nose and I have a red mark that I’m treating with Vaseline.
I’ve gone through my paperwork and back to my father-in-law for consulting. I get one mask replacement within 30 days. Sunday afternoon I sent out an e-mail to get an appointment. I got a reply Sunday evening! Amazing!
The next day I start week two with another visit to IU Health. Turns out the person helping me was preparing for the next class, saw my e-mail, and was able to see me the next day. I settled on a smaller mask for only my nose, which works well for those who sleep with their mouth closed.
Turns out, sometimes when I sleep I open my mouth. When that happens, the machine will turn up the air pressure so that I feel as if I am drowning in a sea of air blowing up my nose and into my mouth. Still, my first score with the new mask is 97% and my events per hour have reduced from 27 without to 6. All this with an overnight incident of getting “blown away.”
My learning curve got better quickly, though.
Got my first perfect score – 100 out of 100 – even though Darling Bride woke me up because the hose was making noise. I was sleeping right through that.
Meanwhile, at the dentist
Starting in 2025 I started the Invisalign brand retainers. After a year, I got a dental implant so that I could get my final retainers. I have had quite a month – CPAP Machine, dental implant, dental retainers.
Lessons learned
ery thankful for “first world problems,” without them I would have little to no problems at all. Even so, with a stewardship to take care of myself for my family, myself, and God’s glory, excellence is my pursuit.
Thankful for the gift of healing through those who have figured out that snoring is a problem, those who have figured out the idea of using air pressure to help with snoring, and those who have designed machines, masks, and systems to get the job done.
Very thankful for an encouraging wife who is providing feedback.
Thankful for my father-in-law who is very happy to share what he knows.
Thankful for a process to trust.
I am very thankful for good health otherwise.
Grateful for a great day job with great benefits. I’ve been reading some Generation X themed writers who are struggling here.
Question for you:
How are you handling health care issues as time marches on?
Passage to ponder
Corinthians 4:16, “…we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.” (New International Version)
Technical jargon:
CPAP is Continuous Positive Airway Pressure, a machine on my bedside table for Sleep Apnea, the condition where the airway collapses during sleep, causing a pause in breathing. I have it, and to fight it I wake up, breathe, and go to sleep. This happens several times an hour, generally unnoticed. My score was 27, meaning that about every 2 minutes I would stop breathing, wake up, take a breath, fall asleep, then 2 minutes later do it again. Currently I am in week two of my new bedtime companion and have been as low as about 3.