Sleep Apnea

This is a post a long time in coming. For years I have been concerned about Michael not breathing while he's sleeping. Yes, he snores but that didn't concern me. It was when he stopped snoring that I got scared. I probably noticed it for the first time five years or more ago. Every once in a while I'd ask him to talk to the doctor about it but he didn't think it was that big of a deal (he hardly even believed me when I told him he snores!) or he'd forget when he'd go in for something else. Once I pretty well grabbed his arm and marched him into the doctor's office and told him everything. The doctor made an appointment with a sleep clinic for two weeks from then and I was at peace. A couple days later Michael was laid off from his job. No job, no insurance, no trip to the sleep clinic. That was several years ago. Apparently Michael was the butt of some jokes at the Father & Son Campout and when I heard about that, it really fired me up. Truthfully, I was angry because I knew something was really wrong, I was mad at myself for not making something happen earlier and I was upset that people were laughing about it. So I forced the issue again. And this time we got our sleep study.

I went with him to see him get all hooked up. We had been told that there were going to be a lot of wires and I had prepared myself. But I clearly had NO IDEA. There were probably 12 wires hooked up to his head and face, a pulse oximeter on his finger, two things up his nose, one over his mouth, two bands around his chest and two wires connected to each leg. And that's only the stuff I can remember. If you look at the tangling of wires on some of these pictures, it really astounding. Even though Michael was mentally prepared for that, sleep did not come easily.

And now the interesting part...the results. Michael was in bed for 6.6 hours. Of those six hours he was asleep for 4.8 hours. Of those 4.8 hours, he was only breathing for about half that time. That's right...half of the time he was asleep he wasn't even breathing. He had about 45 apnea events per hour, which, by definition, is not breathing for 20 seconds or more. He had no REM sleep and his lowest oxygen saturation was 82%. A healthy person's oxygen saturation is between 97% and 99%. He was pretty concerned about 82%. He was diagnosed with severe sleep apnea. Finally I felt relief. I had gotten my husband taken care of before something catastrophic happened because of his apnea.

Michael now uses a CPAP machine when he sleeps. It's so quiet that I don't even realize it's on and Michael feels like a completely new man. Gone (well, except for on Sundays) are the much-needed three-hour naps on a pretty regular basis. Good-bye to frequent headaches. Hello to more energy, happiness and time spent awake!

Michael may have a few contributing facts to his apnea, one being a long uvula (look it up). That may require surgery in the future but they're checking him regularly to see how big of a role that plays. Important to know about sleep apnea is that it is not only people who are overweight who suffer with it. I have a very, very petite aunt who has it. It can also affect young kids. I'm really grateful that I took matters into my own hands to get Michael the help he needed. Sleep apnea can literally take years off a person's life as well as creating all kinds of other havoc with the body. I've finally gotten done what I needed to do all these years and I am at peace. It just took me getting a little bit mad. :-D