What one has to do to breathe these days

Probably an hour of my time was taken this afternoon learning how to use a humidifier on my CPAP machine. For those of you raised by wolves, a CPAP is a continuous positive airway pressure machine used for sleep apnea, which I have. If you want to know about sleep apnea, then I suggest you look for its meaning. Especially so if you snore so loud you wake yourself or others up in the night.

I received a new full face mask for my machine yesterday from the VA since mine has leaked air for awhile. Since the objective is continuous positive airway pressure then it would make sense you don’t want that air to leak. If you have sleep apnea like me, and you have insomnia like me, then a leaky mask is a worthless accessory to your nocturnal breathing. If you don’t know what nocturnal is, get a freaking dictionary. The new mask came with a couple of little manuals. A Velcro snap on a strap that runs across the crown of your head is meant for positioning the air hose over the back of your head, down your forehead and to the mask. I didn’t want that so it took me about another hour, manual included, to figure out how the mask fit on my head.

Last night I had the mask now set to easily pull it over my head and on to my face. I had to do a little adjusting because I wear a bandana around my head that I use for a sleep mask. It has become a habit,the nighttime bandana.

In a very short period of time it seemed as if I was getting more air than usual, plus my mouth and throat were drier than the Texas sand, to paraphrase the great songster Gary P. Nunn. Finally, I had to take the mask off. I just couldn’t keep getting up every hour and getting a drink of water. So, I decided upon finally using the humidifier.

Because  water is poured into the humidifier and failure to properly clean it can get one mold in their machine I had tried to avoid the accessory. The humidifier is about the size of the CPAP machine so the breathing apparatus expands in size by approximately two. It takes up more space, in other words, which I don’t have. I also fly somewhere once or twice a year so I don’t enjoy having one more object for the TSA to examine through security check.

Finally, the machine is hooked up and it seems to be working with the humidifier, so far. The test comes tonight. We shall see if the blogmeister has mastered the operation of a fairly simple CPAP machine in this day and age. How the new generations will learn all the stuff they need to operate in their lifetime, I don’t know. I suspect they’ll have an easier time than this old dog learning new technology. Let them worry about it. Hell, they are more technologically-adroit by the time they reach middle school these days, the kids probably know 10 times as much as I know. So let them have at.