[geeks] falling in love with my wife, v2.0

[Jonathan C. Patschke]

On Mon, 20 May 2002, Bill Bradford wrote:

> Anyway.. I was diagnosed with sleep apnea.  They called it "severe".  Normal
> diagnosis..  Sleep apnea is when you have 4 to 7 "events" (obstruction of
> breath, stopping of breath, etc) an hour.  Insurance kicks in and pays for 
> treatment at 47 events/hour.  They "clocked" me at 112/hour.  I was getting
> NO (none at all) REM sleep, and got down to 87% oxygen blood saturation (where
> normal is 98% or so).  This had been going on as long as I could remember, but
> started getting extreme (the exhaustion) around 1998.

There's good news in this.  My father (and, likely I) has OSA.  When he
did his sleep lab, the worst segment was at 65% O2 saturation.  I could
hear him snore all across the house (with his bedroom being at the end
lengthwise opposite to mine--about 90 feet away).  So, he got put on a
CPAP in the early '90s.

When Mom left, he basically starved himself out of depression and lost
about 100# or so over the course of a few months (really, he ate next to
nothing).  At the end of it, he didn't need the CPAP.  He was skinny as
hell, but he didn't snore anymore.

Now that he's back up to a bit larger size, he's on the CPAP again.
Teresa's pointed out that I stop breathing at night, and my snoring can
keep her awake from a room away.  However, since I've lost a decent bit of
weight this year, I've stopped snoring as badly.  Perhaps, when I'm done,
I'll be back to where I don't snore at all any more.

So, if the CPAP is irritating you (Dad said it took him quite a while to
get used to it), there's a good chance that you could do away with it
after trimming down a bit more.  There's also a surgical procedure that
will permanently do away with the need for a CPAP in the majority of
cases.  You'll be in recovery similar to having your tonsils out, but it's
not much worse than that.

If I ever get bad enough to need a CPAP, I'm option for the surgical
procedure, merely because I wouldn't be able to sleep with the mask on.

> I've been on CPAP since then.  Minor annoyance at times, but we've gotten used
> to it, and its worth it.  I dont care if I look like darth vader at night - 
> i can sleep, and that makes it worth it.

No doubt about that.  For years, Dad was waking up more tired and
irritable than he was when he went to sleep.  The CPAP changed all that.

> I've come to ask.  Would anyone mind if Amy comes back on the geeks and/or
> rescue mailing lists?

I certainly wouldn't mind.  I've missed her.  She always has that "other
perspective" that most of us tend to overlook.

> I promise you that her blinding furious anger is GONE now - she's a
> completely different person (and will freely admit this to anyone who
> asks).

Even if it weren't, I think that what she added to the lists was more than
she disturbed.  There are people here who can (and have) been more
abrasive.  I think that whatever Amy said was taken more personally
because she is in a position of power with regards to the lists, but, at
face value, others have said things that I would consider worse.

1 vote for "welcome back".

--Jonathan