There is no end to what makes me shake my head and think “Seriously?” We had a trip to Mankato yesterday and pretty much thought that would be the end of our out of town trips before Thanksgiving. Not! There was a message on the answering machine from the Pulmonary Department of the Mayo clinic in Mankato . . . we needed to contact them as soon as possible.
As luck would have it I called in immediately. The Pulmonary department had been tracking Dennis’ usage of CPAP machine over a period of time. There was a problem. Now how the hell they can track high nightly usage beats me. There is a computer card in the machine, but I had no idea there was a sensor in it that linked it to the clinic. Truth to be told, I haven’t asked that specific question yet. It was indicating that Dennis was having a sleep apnea episode as high as 20 per hour. That means: his heart has stopped it’s normal beat and the CPAP machine should at that time put a burst of air via his mouth to get him breathing. Something was definitely amiss. The max that can be overlooked is 5 per hour.
We were in Mankato at one this afternoon. His face mask that is hooked to the CPAP machine does receive new gaskets every so often. The head gear had not been reviewed since Dennis started using the machine ten years ago. Dennis came away with a new unit that is the latest and should offer him a better fit. The old one had elastic up the wha-zo that needed to be released each morning and then re-attached at night. In ten years I know how much my range of motion in my arms has changed and I know Dennis at 82 may have experience some of the same lack of ability to get those arms up and around his neck to attach the elastic as several points.
This head gear was put on Dennis and the straps going over his head and the straps going around his neck were set where it would allow the mask to sit where it was needed. These would not need nightly and morning releasing. At that point, a strap, one on each side of his face, is simply picked up by his hands and place the ends of those with magnets attached, allowing the attachment of the head gear to the mask that also has magnets.
Time will tell how things go this evening. No doubt those in the know will be able to tell how this new up to date mask will work for Dennis. Dennis has been enjoying such a renewed life since the carotid surgeries, this could have gone so wrong so fast if not for the watchful ones on the other end of this CPAP computer card. I still need a bit more information as to how this was caught here on Stauffer Avenue from Mankato, Minnesota.