CPAP Machine

Ok, here is an update.

I went last week to get "fitted" for my CPAP thingy.

It was quite interesting. Took about an hour. The lady asked me straight off if I "mouth breathe". I told her I had no idea. I don't pay attention to what I am doing when I am asleep. Pretty much impossible, in my mind. She said that I would know if I did, because I would wake up with a very dry mouth and be very thirsty. I said then I guess I don't because that doesn't usually happen. It has happened here and there over the years, but it is not the norm. Ok, she said then you need just a nasal mask, not a full facial mask. Fine.

So she went and got four various types of those. We spent a lot of time trying them on and fiddling with the machine. It was very odd to get used to all this air blowing up my nose! I had to keep my mouth closed all the time, if I opened it...I don't know how to describe it! I guess the best way would be to say it was like there was a cyclone or something IN MY FACE. Like, inside my head really. Felt like my cheeks were flapping in the wind caused by it and I couldn't get a breath. She said always keep the mouth closed and it is no problem. She was right! Sitting there awake and keeping my mouth closed, really helped.

You know how you sometimes have one of those thoughts way in the back of your mind but it can't seem to make it to the "surface" and be voiced out loud?? It doesn't get to the part where the vocal part of the brain says "VOCALIZE THIS". It was just a little tickle or something that just didn't come all the way really even to the conscious thought area.

Well, that happened. It wasn't really until I got home and was playing around with the machine, filling it with distilled water, showing it to the kids, that the thought of mine FINALLY surfaced. What if my mouth falls open when I am asleep?? What will happen then?? I told myself that I would wake up and shut my mouth, because I would not like the feeling of what it does wearing this mask with the mouth open.

Not so, apparently.

I woke suddenly at 2 AM. I don't even know how to describe what I felt in my entire mouth, throat, & on my tongue. If you took sand and rubbed it all over those places and then dried it with a blow dryer and left it that way for about ten years...that would be close!

I was in agony and my mouth was SO DRIED OUT that I could hardly move my jaw to close my mouth and gather up a pittance of saliva to attempt to moisten things. It felt like everything in there was made of paper and was going to rip and tear, but that paper was also on fire and burning! It was SO PAINFUL to finally gather up spit and close my mouth and try and swallow. I went and got a drink and then brushed my teeth and drank some more! I shut the machine off, needless to say.

I left that morning to watch my friends' little 16-month-old. I have been doing that once a week or so all summer. That is another story, though. I went to spend the morning with my wee friend and while he was napping, I called the sleep disorder place.

I told them that I think I need a full facial mask, not just the one that goes in the nose. I can't find a picture of my mask on-line, but it is something like this but not really! Mine is just a softer smaller looking thing with two separate things for each nostril. Clear like that, but something goes into each nostril.



I am hoping to get something like this


So I have an appointment tomorrow at one PM to get that taken care of! OH! People are so silly. When I was talking to the guy on the phone and explaining what happened and how I think we need to switch to a full face mask, he put me on hold to talk to someone. He came back and said, "Yeah, it sounds like you are going to have to switch to a full face mask". NO! YA THINK!?!? WOW! I wish *I* had thought of that!

Is that a guy thing?? My husband does that to the kids and I ALL THE TIME. We say something and then he repeats the exact same thing we have said, but in a way like HE thought of it. Anyone else experience this?? It has honestly never happened to me with females before. It is only guys who ever do that, in my experience.


Alright, off to feed the homeless at the Gospel Mission. I need to find a place that lets the kids do it too. The place we went to a few years ago is too far away...

If you take the time to read that, please remember that L=Cryptic, B=Jock, R=Clown and
Bee=Princess. This was before I thought of their "nicknames" and I just used their first initials. Obviously, Jock and Princess have the same ones, so my friends and I started using "Bee" for Princess when she was born. When we e-mail each other about our kids, we just use initials instead of typing out their entire name all the time. Mothers need anything to save time, you know:)

Anyway, the place I am going today will only allow Cryptic and I. Well, I mean Stud could come too but you have to be 16. Cryptic won't be 16 until November, but they are making an exception:) teehee. But yes, I want to find somewhere closer that we can all go to regularly. Another thing that bothers me about the place I am going today is that it is only once every two months!?!? Sorry, but I want to help more often than that, ya know??

Hope everyone has had a lovely weekend!