Mommy's new friend Wendy

After I failed my sleep study, I did some thinking. I knew the dental appliance wouldn’t work in my case. I thought about the surgery, but again, that only works in about 50% of the cases. Plus I really didn’t like the idea of surgery on my AIRWAY. Would it change the way my speaking or singing voice sounds, or how I play my flute? What if something went wrong?

So I resolved that I was going to wear the CPAP, and make it work.

Fortunately, I only had to wait one more week for the Respiratory Therapist appointment, and, even better, the RT would meet me at my home. I showed her my mask from the study. I told her I really felt like I was suffocating during the sleep study.

She had a much smaller mask for me, and a smaller CPAP machine. Best of all, my CPAP machine has a “ramp” function: it starts at a lower pressure than needed for therapy, and gradually increases to the therapy pressure over several minutes. The lower pressure is much better for falling asleep.

I’ve been getting into a routine of putting on the mask, hitting the ON button, then the RAMP button very quickly. I found that the ramp button will not activate until the machine is on, which is unfortunate as I must endure about 1 second or so of full pressure before the ramp will engage. So I’ve been trying to time my breathing so that I put on the mask, take a breath, hit on, and then hit ramp before I need to take another breath.

These CPAP machines are very sophisticated. They record the pressure in the hose, thus recording when the patient breathes. They also want to be used. The other night, I put on the mask, but had some trouble adjusting it. I had taken 3 breaths but I still hadn’t hit the on button. The CPAP turned itself on at that point. Well, OK then.

I decided that my CPAP needs a name. I didn’t want it be a man, because I felt I would resent it. I felt a would resent a woman less, because a real Girlfriend would help me sleep safely. Since she blows a lot of air, her name is Wendy (Windy).