You guys are lucky. Sometimes, I wait so long to post about something, I get bored and impatient with it. It becomes a lot more succinct when that happens. You are welcome.

Part of the aforementioned patience was taken up by trying to remember how to spell “succinct” just now. I want to be a WRITER, not a SPELLER.

With that in mind. Sleep Apnea. I gots it. I’ve had a couple of tests done, at home, things on my finger that measure my blood/oxygen level and therefore, somehow, the number of times my sleep is interrupted. By lack of oxygen, I suppose.

For the past 6 weeks I have been trying out a CPAP machine. CPAP stands for Continuous Positive Airway Pressure. I’ve been using one like this with this mask. It blows I think the whole thing was kind of bass ackwards. First I saw a technican. A month after I started with the CPAP, I finally saw a medical sleep doctor and he had me fill out a pre-registration for an overnight sleep study in the hospital that won’t happen for another 3 to 4 months probably. Oh Canada. So I guess the ass bacwardness is good, since I’m already on the treatment.

They told me that there are three types of treatment

1. special mouth guard – good for mild to moderate cases. I believe I fall into the “upper moderate” category.
2. surgery – ouch. not always effective.
3. CPAP – “100% Effective! It’s great! Buy one now! Do you have extended insurance coverage?”

Although, on the Sleep Apnea wikipedia page, they list “Learning to play the didgeridoo,” as an alternative treatment. No one mentioned that to me!

It’s annoying. It’s hard to get used to. If I can’t breath through my nose, due to allergies, I can’t use it at all. But… I’m no longer snoring. Wil gets a better nights sleep because of it. I seem to wake up faster when I use it. I don’t wake up with headaches. I have less daily fatigue.* And my blood pressure is way down. So that’s good.

Ultimately, I hope it helps the weight gain and depression as well. I’ll have to let you know.

It was all I could do not to just bullet point that entire post. Sleep well. Don’t forget to breath.

*due to a diagnosis of very low iron levels in my blood, I am still experiencing daily fatigue. But that should be better in a couple of weeks, since I am taking PILLS OF MIGHTY IRON!

I’m not much for poetry, really. My favorite poets, in no particular order, are Shel Silverstein, Dr. Seuss, and my husband. So when I come across a poem that moves me, it’s quite unusual. And wonderful. Which is probably the best way to enjoy poetry, even if it’s not often.

Yesterday, a poem grabbed me. Enough to make me think I might want to read more of this author. Here it is.

i am a little church(no great cathedral)
far from the splendor and squalor of hurrying cities
-i do not worry if briefer days grow briefest,
i am not sorry when sun and rain make april

my life is the life of the reaper and the sower;
my prayers are prayers of earth’s own clumsily striving
(finding and losing and laughing and crying)children
whose any sadness or joy is my grief or my gladness

around me surges a miracle of unceasing
birth and glory and death and resurrection:
over my sleeping self float flaming symbols
of hope,and i wake to a perfect patience of mountains

i am a little church(far from the frantic
world with its rapture and anguish)at peace with nature
-i do not worry if longer nights grow longest;
i am not sorry when silence becomes singing

winter by spring,i lift my diminutive spire to
merciful Him Whose only now is forever:
standing erect in the deathless truth of His presence
(welcoming humbly His light and proudly His darkness)

 

– e.e.cummings