SLEEP DISORDERS / Feeling Grateful

[85 Day Jerk]

Well, it is official:  I suffer from Sleep Apnea.
I went to the doctors a little before Christmas because I was shooting blood out my tonsils every time I coughed hard.  The LNP that saw me was very thorough and scheduled me to see an Ear Nose and Throat Doctor.  

I went today, and she examined my sinuses with a thing that looked like it came straight outta the X-files.  She shoved this scope thing about 8 inches into my head through my left nostril.  It felt freaky as hell and I damn near had a panic attack.  From there I went to the nearby hospital and had my very first Cat Scan.  They had to run an isotopic dye through my bloodstream and it took the technicians about 25 minutes to finally pop in an I.V.  The machine sounds like a damn jet engine or something and when they let the dye drip rip, I had the sensation that I was flying down a water slide on my back and pissing my pants at the same time.  

The tech let me look at the results on the computer and my nasal passages look like a damn rollercoaster.  It's no wonder that I snore and sleep shitty.  On top of that, it looks like I may have stones in my saliva glands.  All in all, a whole lot got done today and now that I am on Medicare, I only have to pay for 20% of it.  I am very grateful for this.  I have'nt slept well for years and the nights I don't breathe right certainly have an effect on how I feel the next day.  It looks like I will be going in for surgery, and I look forward to it.  I want to get back to my old self and be full of energy.

[kpickle39]

Good luck.

[Anonymous]

There's something unnerving about a person whose every orifice is open and crooning for examination and peer review.

[flygirl]

[ This Message was edited by: flygirl on 2006-04-26 06:04 ]

[85 Day Jerk]

I saw the doc this morning and it turns out that my gland problem is a result of taking Lithium for so long.  They are gonna take a biopsy of gland tissue in Feb just to make sure, as well as schedule me for some sleep studies and it looks like I'll be fitted with a forced air blower later next month.
     This got me to thinking that alot of reoccuring dreams may be a result of sleep apnea.  I remember that I had a re-occuring dream of being back in high school and getting a "second chance" in life.  I think that alot of that stemmed from how shitty everything turned out after Straight.  I had jumped through all the hoops, made straight A's and it was like nothing mattered because my stepbrothers always had to come first, no matter what, and they were both a couple of sociapathic assholes.  The way I was treated back then holds a strong bearing on the way I get along with my dad now.  I don't want to talk to him or associate with him because now it is just HIM and ME and there has never been just a HIM and ME.  He has always had to share the love with a bunch of ingrates and family suck-offs that hover around him like mosquitos.  I never had any one on one time with him.  The fact that he lives in Tennessee makes it easier to avoid him, yet there is always that compassionate side of me that keeps on nagging me that what I am doing is not right.  
    I think my Dad used to suffer from sleep apnea during my program and that may explain why he slept so much on days off, or whenever he could.  Other days he seemed full of energy, yet spent most of his time catching up on personal stuff.  I am gonna write him about this shit and see if he ever got treatment for his sleeplessness.  If he never really did, that would help to explain alot.

[Anonymous]

::flipflop::

[85 Day Jerk]

I got the bill from my doctor and it was all messed up.  I went down and showed it to them and also asked why I was'nt given the results of my damn RASP test.  It was a clerical error.  They had screwed up and put my allergy results in the wrong place.  

It turns out that I am allergic to cockroaches.  That really tripped me out because the last place I lived was infested with them, and there is no telling how much roach chitin is embedded in the carpet in my bedroom.  No wonder I sleep better in the living room which has a tile floor.

A memory that brings me back to Straight is a time in Morgan Yacht when I was still being a jerk along with Curtis Murry and Jeff Greenblum.  
We all found roaches in the carpet room during one rap because they sat us by the back wall.  We put them in our pockets and brought them back into group.  Now these were them big ass Florida Palmetto Bugs that actually fly!  They were dead of course, but we would take them out of our pockets and pet them and kiss them and shit to freak people out.  We even took them through the chow line, and I pretended that mine could talk.  It was pretty funny.  After dinner Mike Murphy decided that he had had enough of our clowning around and demanded our roaches.  Me and Jeff had a wild game of keep away with about 3 fifth phasers and then we both on cue pretended to pop them in our mouths.  That is when the sadistic bastard told us to eat them.  We went through the motions and Jeff pretended to choke on his so they brought him a cup of water.  He threw it in the guys face and yelled Suck-er!!
The next day I raised my hand and said that I had some feelings.  I cranked up some fake tears and then screamed out, "They made me kill my best friend!!" Then I pulled my Palmetto Bug out and flung it at the girls side.  I think I was in the green room for two days for that one.

Well anyway, I am so damn allergic to roaches now, that the waxy crap on their skin causes my sinuses to close up.  I am gonna request that the landlord put some new carpet in or maybe even just tile the rest of the apartment.  It is amazing how easy it is to overlook shit that you would usually put up with and dismiss as nothing, when all along it has been the source of all of your discomfort.