I had mentioned at a time earlier that Dennis’ CPAP machine for his sleep apnea had quit working after the nine years of use. Dennis did get a loner and had to be scheduled for a new sleep study to be taken. I just patted him on the head and one pat on the butt as he is off to have that study done this evening in Mankato. He will be hooked up to many, many sensors as he snoozes during the night. The study will be able to allow him to know if his new machine will need to be adjusted either to the positive or the negative. Most telling will be how many times during an hour he stops breathing, aka: sleep apnea.
In the nine years, Dennis had not missed a single night of using the CPAP. I truly believe in years gone by that when people died during their sleep it was automatically ruled as dying from natural causes. It may very well have been that they suffered from undiagnosed sleep apnea. During an episode of the breathing ceasing for an extended period, the heart may very well have not been able to kick in. The CPAP machine detects that pause in breathing and a shot of forced air is engaged via the face mask.
I am thrilled and proud that Dennis has been diligent in his use of the CPAP. A check to see if the prescription needs to be altered is a very good thing.