Weekend!
That’s not exactly what happened, of course. There was more House discussion. I told her that I had been watching House and I asked if we could test me for radiation poisoning. She told me that people come in and actually say that sort of thing seriously. “A guy made me look at pictures of contrails”, she told me. (The computer version of this is watching television and seeing a guy crack into a “database mainframe” by double-clicking on the word “hack” in a windows gui.)
Next time, I’m going to tell her that I’ve been taping magnets to various body parts and how I’ve been feeling a lot better since I started doing that.
The interesting thing about the doctor’s visit was discussion of The Apnea (I have a sleep study scheduled) and how some people just have small airways. Open wide, she said. “Ahhhhhhhhh.” “Oh, there it is. A tiny little windpipe and giant tonsils and your uvula sitting right on top of it.”
So then I’m thinking about small airways and I ask the doctor “is there any way to widen an airway?” and halfway through the question I realize that if she said “yes, we have an airway widening device”, that I would not want to see it nor would I particularly want it widening my airway. Driving home, I told Maribou that I totally wanted to write that sentence and she told me to try to do it without sounding like I was experiencing gay panic. So there we are. I think I succeeded.
Maybe they have replacement airways.
As such, this weekend will be dedicated to replacement airway research and the usual chores/errands/fasting for a blood draw.
So… what’s on your docket?
This weekend I am neither running a fencing tournament, nor trying to finish software for the running of non-standard-format team fencing tournaments. I was obviously stressing out about the situation — once the tournament was done and in the books, I slept all the way through the night for the first time in weeks :^)Report
I have hypopnea rather than apnea, but the treatment is pretty much the same. I sleep with a CPAP (constant positive air pressure) machine strapped to my nose. It basically blows air into your nose, which keeps the upper airway from collapsing. This could qualify as an “airway widening device”. It seems ridiculous, and is probably just about the least sexy sleep apparel that ever existed.
However, after just one night trying one in my sleep test, I couldn’t wait to have one. I felt so much better and more energetic that next day.Report
The CPAP has been a big boon for me, too. Agreed on the unsexiness of it, but at least it allows a person to actually have the energy for sex again.Report
I have to admit that I find CPAP’s to be simply horrifying. My wife things I might have sleep apnea, but I refuse to even entertain the idea of sleeping with one of those things.
That said, I am glad that they work for you @james-hanley and @doctor-jayReport
It’s changed my wife’s life. She was so bad she’d sleep 12+ hours a day, and still be basically a narcaleptic. She actually dozed off mid-sentence a number of times, and frankly the idea of her driving had become terrifying. She also denied actually falling asleep during those little..interludes.
The sleep study people had to pull out actual video and “We’re looking at your brainwaves. You fell asleep” before she believed it. They didn’t even complete the test — her apnea was that bad they moved into fitting her with a CPAP.
I think she got an hour’s sleep on a CPAP during her sleep study, and she hadn’t been that rested in months.
She even uses it for the occasional nap (she is a night-owl, gets up early and goes late). She fought having the study done for years and now she probably knife someone if they tried to take her CPAP. (And I sleep much better without her snoring so loud, or waking me up a dozen times a night).
If you have sleep problems or even think you MIGHT, have the study done. Nothing — NOTHING — makes your quality of life better than sleeping well.
She was a pretty nasty case — really severe — but the ability to sleep well is priceless.Report
Aaron,
I have a friend who couldn’t get used to it. I had trouble at first as well, and the thought of sleeping with that thing every night for the rest of my life depressed me severely for a while. But I got used to it, and while it’s still a bit of a pain, and I skip it once in a while, it’s made a huge difference in my quality of life.
Being perpetually sleep deprived not only robs you of energy, but is dangerous to your health. I would strongly encourage you to at least entertain the idea.Report
Going to a sleep study and getting fitted for a CPAP was a condition of Mrs.Dwyer marrying me. I fought it for years, wearing it only when forced to. After waking up gasping for air a few times I finally accepted my fate. And yeah, it’s life-changing. I sleep so well now. Amazingly, when I’m off on hunting trips none of my guy friends make fun, knowing they are probably next. Sleep apnea seems to be one of those things you tell people about in a whisper and then they give you that look which says, “I’m in the same club buddy.”
It has the added benefit of eliminating my snoring, which was awesome until my machine literally broke the night before my wife and I went on our honeymoon. I woke up the first night and she was sleeping in the closet of our hotel room. Not the best start one would would hope for a marriage.Report
I don’t hunt, but I imagine I’d want anyone who’s going to be using guns near me to get the best possible sleep the night before.Report
Does CPAP cause nosebleeds?Report
Potentially, but it shouldn’t if done right. A straight CPAP without water can dry out your nasal linings, which could lead to nosebleeds. But normally today they come with a water chamber (distilled water only), and you can adjust the amount of water to avoid overdryness. (Too much water means some collects in the tube, which produces an annoying gurgling sound, which is easily cured by disconnecting the hose from the mask and giving it a good shake to get the water out, but which results in disharmony when one inadvertently (I swear!) shakes cold water on one’s sleeping spouse.)Report
Some CPAP machines have heated tubes, which prevent the condensation that James describes unintentionally shaking on his sleeping spouse.Report
Well, what irritated me was that I wasn’t able to just up’n purchase a CPAP machine. I walked into the CPAP store and said “I would like to talk to someone about the different kind of masks” and they asked “did you have a sleep study?”
Erm. No.
I mean, I just wanted to hook the thing up, set it to “leaf blower”, and try to sleep. BUT NO. They wouldn’t even talk to me.
Which strikes me as a crappy economic model.Report
It would be interesting to see an analysis of this issue. I would think that medical suppliers can charge significantly more per CPAP if the devices must be medically ordered rather than if they were off-the-shelf purchases (because the insurance company typically picks up the tab). So far as I know, the device manufacturers have no particular financial interest in sleep studies.
Maybe an increase in non-prescribed purchases would make up for increased marketing costs and increased price competition among makers?
Aside from the economics, perhaps there are potential downsides to use of a CPAP for individuals who have no medical reason for doing so. I’m not aware of any though.
I could go on about the problems caused by medical gatekeeping on my first CPAP, but that’s likely of limited interest.Report
The folks at the store told me that I could really hurt myself if I didn’t set the CPAP just right. I imagine that setting the CPAP too low (especially on someone who didn’t need a CPAP in the first place) could reproduce Apnea-like circumstances and I could see harm resulting from that…
But I don’t know what harms might come from setting it too high.Report
Thinks might be different if they could make you sign an absolutely inviolate damages waiver.Report
I don’t understand why a CPAP is more analogous to hormonal birth control than, say, a vacuum cleaner.Report
Jaybird,
My understanding is that the settings for the machines are pretty carefully calibrated. Big dudes need more air. I think that’s why the doctor is needed. Of course, I am still using the same settings from 2004 so…Report
Well, the folks that handled my wife’s sleep study went through a whole bunch of masks before settling on one that worked properly AND she wouldn’t yank off in the middle of the night.
The FUN part was I was stuck paying 50 bucks a month for ‘monitoring’ for six months. What were they monitoring? Usage. If my wife didn’t use it enough (it wasn’t high, just like 70% of the nights or something for at least like 4 hours) my insurance wouldn’t pay for it.
Despite the fact that I hadn’t yet met my deductible and my insurance wasn’t going to pay for it, I couldn’t get them to drop the monitoring. It was flat out required by Cigna to cover the actual study itself.
So I paid for six months of monitoring AND the CPAP. Met my deductible for that year. In December.Report
I need to start saying “And not only should you not say what you just said, you ALSO shouldn’t report the conversation where I explained why you shouldn’t say what you just said.” Cause believe me, the original instruction? Really not a non-sequitur.
Anyway, my plans for the weekend involve sleeping as much as possible because student training started today and will continue for the next 6 weeks or so. I’m sure there are other things I am meant to do this weekend (eg deal with transferring files from our computer that is on its last gasp), but right now sleeping is the only one that I am particularly interested in.Report
“A guy made me look at pictures of contrails”
Dude definitely didn’t call them contrails.Report
Saturday night I will be watching Rutgers play its first B1G game against Penn State. It will air on the Big Ten Network.Report
This is how the world ends; Rutgers in the Big 10.
At least it wasn’t Notre Dame, which would have been a sure sign that Satan had at last defeated God for all time.Report
Sports Illustrated has a featured called “Sign of the Apocolypse”.
Rutgers joining the Big Ten might be such a sign. The question is, why would they want Rutgers. It isn’t for academics, even though Rutgers is well-regarded academically. And it certainly isn’t for athletics.
The reason, of course, is money. By allowing Rutgers to join, the Big Ten gets an entrée into the NYC market. This makes the Big Ten Network more valuable. Furthermore, there are numerous Big Ten alumni in NYC.Report
I turn 34 on the 12th.
I am in Boston for a really good friend’s wedding. Friday is the rehearsal dinner and Saturday is the wedding. We met during our first day of college as mere 17-18 year olds. I find this freaky.Report
Happy birthday! And congratulations to your friend.Report
Thanks and Thanks, Gratitude at Law.Report
Happy happy happy. I hope you have an awesome day, and an incredible year.Report
Thank you, @zicReport
Happy Birthday Saul.Report
@james-k
Thank you, good sir.Report
This is the weekend that I really have to get off my ass and do some serious work around the house. Like, if-I-don’t-start-being-productive-my-wife-is going-to-call-a-lawyer stuff (okay, maybe an exaggeration but not much). I’ve been so busy with work and hunting that I have sorely neglected my responsibilities as the only one in the house that can reach the chandelier that needs to be cleaned and the only one that knows how to use a socket wrench to tighten the banister before one of the kids falls to their death. So, I’ll strap on my tool belt and try to be a manly man for the weekend and maybe I’ll be rewarded on Sunday night with a pat on the back.
Somewhere in there I’m supposed to attend a fish fry at a friend’s house and go out to dinner for my father-in-law’s birthday. The rest of the time it’s work, work, work.Report
And teach the kids to use a socket wrench! They’ll thank you. Someday.Report
I will be making the long drive with my son, to drop him off at his school for sophomore year. I already miss him.Report
I will be cruising around in my new car, trusty camera at my side, and visiting with my brother-in-law who’ll be in town for a night.
The White Mountain National Forest’s back roads are calling, the swamp maples are turning (not frost, but they’ve finished making sugar for next summer’s leaf bud), so there’s likely to be some color along Patey Brook or along the Wild River. Or maybe I’ll head out to Riley Plantation and search for the bridge that everyone says is there, and people find once in a while, but nobody ever remembers exactly where. . . Haven’t been panning for gold in the west branch of the Swift River for a while; and there’s Angel Falls and the Bemis Road (old narrow-gauge railroad bed) up to South Arm. Or rock hounding off the Richardson Hollow. So many places I forgot I wanted to go when I purchased that low, two-wheel drive beast I’m happy to sell to an unsuspecting teenager.
Beware the oil pan.Report
So you got the hybrid?Report
Yup. If I’d been in a position to wait for the 2015, I’d probably have gotten the combustion-only; but the sound insulation is much better in the hybrid, the 2015 non-hybrid will be upgraded similarly. According the Subaru’s specs, there’s no difference in mileage; but hybrid owners report getting closer to 40 mpg after the first thousand miles on the hybrid, too.
I went to the drive-through ATM last night, and it’s sort of surprising to pull up, open the window, and no engine noise.
My only complaint is the new-car smell; it’s pretty mild in this compared to some other vehicles I tested, but still there, and migraine inducing. No long drives until that’s gone, and hopefully it’s long gone before cold weather rolls around.Report
I should add a huge pet peeve I developed in car reviews: conflating good sound insulation with solid construction; they are not the same thing.Report
We also lost our desktop/gaming rig over the last couple of days.
This sucks.Report
The legal version of this is telling your lawyer, “I have a Nevada corporation so I’m immune from suit.”Report
@burt-likko
The economics version is pretty much everything you’ve ever heard about economics that wasn’t from an economist.
I’m not bitter.Report
The thing about testing for radiation poisoning is that you want to detect it before you injest it.
Recommend rings.Report
also, not pissing off russia. or the usa.Report
I’m going to try to make an apple crusher this weekend. If I get cracking I could be set with a year’s supply of delicious cider.
There’s an arts festival near us over the weekend, Fledermaus is dancing a couple of times in it.Report
An apple crusher?
A cider press?
Please tell me you’re making one that can be sterilized; I’ve seen some that looked like experiments in evolutionary biology.Report
I made a cider press last year – a basic framework that holds a plastic pail with holes in it and a car jack.
I didn’t have anything for a crusher though, so I couldn’t grind the apples to pomace before pressing. I was breaking the fiber down by putting apples in a big pot in the oven overnight on the lowest setting, which puts a huge limit on capacity. It also has the benefit or drawback, depending on one’s perspective, of pasteurizing the apples.Report
Today my son and I go pick up the flags we delivered last week for his band. It is a fundraiser. People subscribe to the service, and flags are placed in their yards on appropriate holidays. When we signed up, I thought these would be small flags. Turned out they are full-sized flags on 10 foot poles. It was fun fitting them into my Camry last Saturday, and I am sure it will be fun fitting them back in this evening.
Tomorrow is a high school football game. Fortunately my girlfriend is sweet enough to go to these games with me.
That leaves Sunday for any potential fun activities, but I am not sure what those will be.Report
Yesterday was travel. Jonathan McLeod and Chris have me thinking about Stingrays. Lain kissed a boy and sat in the cockpit of a military jet. Now I am comfortably at the beach. Self-promotion: Post here.Report
We used to go to a place on the Gulf side of Florida where in August, which is when we always went, sting rays nested in shallow water near shore. I would snorkel with them for hours, and there were dozens at times. I was never stung, though I had some anxious moments when I accidentally grabbed them (they look like shells in murky water when they bury themselves). They are fun to follow and watch underwater. They’re slow and graceful and always look like they’re watching you because of the way their eyes are situated.
Also, shuffle your feet it the water.Report