It's Never Convenient When Your Health Is Declining Pt 3

My first appointment with my sleep specialist and first sleep study was in November. I had to wait until December 2nd for my second sleep study due to the Thanksgiving holiday, and the the sleep center was booked. It was a Monday, a school night. I decided to do it anyways because the next available date was 2 weeks later. I wanted to get the ball rolling and onto better health sooner, rather than later.

The Second Sleep Study (CPAP):
My sleep specialist prescribed me Ambien to take for this sleep study. I needed to sleep so they could get good results for programming my CPAP. The tech and I discussed it, I would take the Ambien when she came in to hook me up to all the wires, again. I spent time trying out the different masks to see what I felt comfortable with. Right away nasal pillows were ruled out (it only goes over your nose) because my mouth opens when I'm sleeping. With nasal pillows, your mouth must stay closed or all the air being pushed in through your nose goes right out through your mouth. Not helpful for sleep apnea :) So full face mask it is. There are soooo many to chose from. I spent almost 2 hours trying them all out.

I think this look will take off ;) I call it "The Bane"

Finally I picked a mask to try for the night, plus two others as back up. The tech came in to start the lovely process of hooking all the wires up. We talked about lots of things, including not being diagnosed for years. She looked at me and said. "Really!?! You have the classic signs." I told her I use to be skinny, so... She said, "No, not your weight. Your jaw..." I don't remember the other things she said that were signs. She told me her goal for me was to get me into REM sleep for most of the night so my body could start healing. She finished getting me set up, and I climbed into bed. 

I don't think it took long before I started to doze off a couple times, but I kept waking up. I think it was every time they adjusted the air pressure that did it. Then the mask started bothering me. I kept feeling condensation rolling along the mask, and it was irritating my skin. I couldn't get back to sleep. I really tried to make this mask work. I think it was around 3:30 am that I gave up on it. The tech came in and I switched masks. Much better! I was finally able to fall asleep. In the end, I only slept a total of 2 1/2 hours. I was worried I would have to come back in and do the sleep test again. The tech told me it would take two weeks for my sleep specialist to get the report. I felt a little frustrated, I want my machine now!

Waiting For My CPAP:

I got the phone call from my sleep specialist's assistant a few days later. My sleep specialist had ordered my CPAP. She gave me the phone number of the place where I would pick it up, and told me to call them instead of waiting for them to call me. I called the next day. I was told they had to order it and were waiting for it to come in before they scheduled me to come in and get it. It took a couple days for it to get in. By the time it came in, they didn't have an appointment for me to come in and get it for almost a week, December 17th. I was feeling slightly defeated. All I wanted was my CPAP so I could start feeling better, and start being able to take care of things so Dave could focus more on school. I felt like it was so close, yet so far away.

Jaron finished building his Lego set, so I'm afraid there will have to be a part 4. I'm I boring everyone yet?