How do you write a big wrap-up when you didn’t do much? Ah well, we liked it anyway.
On Friday night we had a surprise call from Rasslor – he was on his way up to see Brophey and could he crash at our place that night, since it’s about halfway? Well, friends are always welcome, so we left a light on for him (though Takaza was somewhat groggy when he let Rasslor in at 1 AM, then stumbled off to bed).
Saturday morning was lovely – first some nice quiet time, drinking coffee and net-surfing, then waffles and good company once Rasslor got up. I probably kept him far too late by making breakfast so late, but it’s those good-host reflexes kicking in 🙂 Takaza got up not long after Rasslor hit the road, and we bummed around the house for a while. My woof had a hankering for miniature golf, so we headed up to Adventure Landing. We (tried to) hit a few baseballs in the batting cages (Dan did much better than me – I hit one out of 25 and tipped a few, including one right into my shin. Ow!) Mini golf followed, as we navigated around the shrieking kids and the family that was apparently hanging around the waterfall in the middle of the course for fun (?!?). Right as we hit the 18th hole, a thunderstorm rolled in, so we headed inside to play some video games, approximately 30% of which were broken in some fashion.
Let’s just say I’m not dying to go back to Adventure Landing.
As the torrential rain started falling, we drove a bit aimlessly through north Raleigh, eventually winding our way to Gourmandises de France, the divine little French bakery I’ve mentioned before. A couple of pain au chocolats later, we did a little shopping, and had a filling but not very good dinner at Fat Daddy’s.
Sunday, we had even less motivation, but that was OK. Mostly we did laundry and got grocery shopping for the week out of the way.
A digression: I used to go to the store every day or every other day – a habit I picked up from my parents when they lived over in France. You see, the typical French kitchen doesn’t have much storage space (think dorm-sized refrigerators), since daily trips to the market are de rigueur there – they didn’t have much choice but to follow suit. In the US, there is less of an emphasis on fresh foods, so these daily trips aren’t really necessary. Dan finally got me to do weekly instead of daily shopping and our grocery bill dropped substantially since I wasn’t making the impulse purchases one makes on daily trips.
Today has been nice and quiet. I cleared out the reaction equipment I’d been using for the project that got cancelled, and tallied up some of the data. Dan called to say that the sleep study center had a cancellation and he had to be there at 8 PM tonight (beats waiting until July, his originally scheduled appointment). He’ll be heading off right after dinner, and I’ll be alone tonight. Bleah. Ah well, this is important – hopefully they’ll be able to tell him more about his sleep apnea and what we can do to make things better.
Sleep apnea…
Having had several bouts of this condition in my life, I can give you a little preview of what to expect.
When I saw my doctor in 1997, there were three options for dealing with Sleep Apnea:
1) Surgery. The surgery was described to me as essentially roto-rootering the throat– carving out flesh to make more room for air to move in. The doctor said that this surgery had a low success rate, and a 2-4 week recovery time (I had a friend who had this surgery in 1998. He didn’t notice a big change, and was indeed out of work for a month with the recovery). The sleep tech also mentioned that most of the people who opted for surgery returned for a C-PAP anyhow. Granted, this was five years ago, so the surgery might have improved.
2) C-PAP. This is the common procedure for treating the condition. A filtered air compressor is hooked up to a humidifier, which feeds into a mask that you strap over your face. The air pressure keeps a satisfactory level of oxygen in the lungs. Some people swear by them. I hated mine. I’m a “free range” sleeper. I like to toss, turn and roll across my bed. Being tethered put a cramp in my sleep habits. Likewise, I found that my mask had a hard time keeping a seal on my face, even when I was cleanshaven. I’d often wake up in the middle of the night, with an air leak onto my face. On the upside, the machine is generally quiet and makes for a nice white-noise generator.
3) Weight loss. When you get overweight, you tend to put it on everywhere– including your throat. Picture a clogged artery, think of your throat like that. If you drop weight, that fat lining around the throat will also diminish. In my case, when I lost my weight, I lost a lot of fat in my throat. Judging by my leather collar, I’d say I lost a good inch judging by the “before” and “after” holes I used to secure it. Also, after I lost my weight, I found that I didn’t need the C-pap anymore. Everyone’s body is different, but I found that my “activation” threshold seems to be around 250 pounds. If I keep it under that weight, I’m fine. If I go over, I start feeling it.
Hope this helps. If you’d like any more feedback or advice, you know how to get a hold of me.
Sleep Apnea…
True to form, I called my doctor’s office about the predetermination for a bi-pap, and no, the insurance company hasn’t responded. Time for me to find my copies of the letter sent, and initiate the review process via work.
Good thing this isn’t a life-threatening disease. I’ve decided that I live in a sitcom. My life is a series of running gags and repetitive jokes.