8-Track Mind

The cafeteria in my office building is random. Some specials are good (their roast beef is awesome) and some not so good (the mushroom bacon burger that contains neither mushrooms or bacon). Their soups are generally on the bad side. Last month they served me a cream of mushroom soup whose mushrooms had been somehow chopped into a fine mist, rather than any size large enough to actually chew.

So I stopped getting their soups. But today was beef barley, and how can you screw up beef barley?

It's like eating a big bowl of beef gravy with barley in it.

Posted by Shuffledog to Me, Myself, And Stuff at 12:26 PM
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Better than last night, that's for sure.

I sat and watched Battlestar Galactica DVDs for an hour before bed with the CPAP machine on, just to acclimatize a bit more to it before sleep. The idea being that I could get used to it quicker with a distraction, rather than sit there and focus on my breathing in the dark all night.

Seems to have worked. I still needed an hour to fall asleep, but this was an hour of "hm, relax" than "BREATHE. BREATHE. BREATHE."

I woke up once in the middle of the night and I was breathing normally into the mask. What a big relief. Went back to sleep.

Still not exactly the Waters Of The Ganges cure that CPAP enthusiasts make it out to be yet, but at least I can sleep with it. Everything else comes from there.

Oh, and I had a Lung Function Test yesterday just to make sure there wasn't anything else causing the apnea. That was fun.

"Okay, breathe normal into the tube. Breathe normal.... normal... BIG BREATH IN! BIGGER! BIGGER! NOW OUT! FAST! MORE! MORE! MORE! MORE! ARE YOU FAINTING YET? MORE! MORE!"

My lungs are just fine. I have a reduced 'expiratory reserve volume', which is the amount left in your lungs after a normal exhale, likely due to my size. Eh.

And the little tiny waif of a technician who took the test kept remarking how normally it takes someone of twice my girth to have my level of apnea. Well, I guess it's good to be an overachiever in some areas.

Posted by Shuffledog to Me, Myself, And Stuff at 08:41 AM
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Last night was my first night with a CPAP machine

It was awful.

Okay, so how it works is it continually pumps air into your nose, keeping all the air passages open. The feeling is like blowing up a well-stretched balloon. Breathing in is fine, but I had to consciously push against the air pressure to breathe out.

So I put the thing on just past 11, and spent the next hour or so trying to get used to it. It's physical presence wasn't too bad -- there were some problems with it leaking if I lay on my side, but that was about it. (They gave me a 'hose cozy', a felt cover for the air hose, so it was more comfortable to sleep with.)

But I spent the whole time focusing on my breathing. Breathe in. Breathe out. Breathe in. Breathe out. Every time I started to nod off, I'd catch myself suddenly taking in a huge gasp of air, like I had been breathing too shallow.

I think I finally fell asleep around 12:30 or so, and work up around 1 o'clock, clawing the mask off my face. I think (it's all jumbled) that I felt I was suffocating. I tried to put it back on but I was so tired and, honestly, freaked out that I just couldn't.

I've already spoken with the sleep therapist. He wants me to try it again tonight, maybe try to watch a bit of TV while wearing it to help get accustomed to it. He's booked me an appointment tomorrow afternoon just in case, where he can adjust the machine if it isn't much better tonight.

I'm disillusioned and a little afraid about trying it again. There's not a lot of solutions left if this doesn't work.

Posted by Shuffledog to Me, Myself, And Stuff at 08:41 AM
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Posted by Shuffledog to at 06:58 PM
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Discovered a new warning light on the dashboard this morning. To the best I can figure, it's designed to come on and warn you that your tires currently have no traction and you are sliding.

Gosh, thanks.

Posted by Shuffledog to Me, Myself, And Stuff at 10:37 AM
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A special zefrank episode, just for you Scrabble lovers out there.

You know who you are.

Posted by Shuffledog to Seen By My Eyes at 03:40 PM
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Exciting! The results of my sleep study are in!

Ugh.

Posted by Shuffledog to What I Saw Entries at 01:03 PM
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I knew there was something odd about this movie...

Posted by Shuffledog to Seen By My Eyes at 03:06 PM
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I want THIS.

Buy it for me!

Posted by Shuffledog to Me Wantee at 02:42 PM
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Cool, and yet, so creepy.

Posted by Shuffledog to Seen By My Eyes at 12:54 PM
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The parking lot right beside where I work has no convenient gate to my building. You can either go the long way around to a break in the fence, or you can step up and through a railing to a driveway that's about two feet higher than the parking lot. Like this:

I didn't duck low enough today and my basckpack caught on the upper bar of the railing. I stumbled, cracking my left ankle against the lower bar, scraping my right knee and landing on my hands.

But I somehow managed to set my Tim Horton's coffee down without spilling any.

I know what's important.

Posted by Shuffledog to Me, Myself, And Stuff at 09:14 AM
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