Thank God for CPAP!!!

My dear husband has suffered with sleep apnea for quite some time now. His symptoms have continued to worsen though. Last month I put him on Ali's oximeter during the night.  I finally turned it off around 2 am. It was constantly alarming because his oxygen saturation was plummeting to 60 during every apnea!!!

When I went to our family doctor last month for my ruptured eardrum, I asked Al if it was ok to get the doctor's advice on his sleep apnea. Al agreed. After telling the doctor all I had observed, he agreed Al definitely had sleep apnea. The doctor said if Al wanted to start feeling better he needed to go through a split night sleep study and get a CPAP machine.

I was so thankful my husband agreed to pursue treatment!!!  Since we do not have insurance, I was still concerned as to how we would afford it. I wasn't sure that health care ministry to which we belong would cover any of the equipment, so I called Samaritan. They told me the sleep study and all the equipment setup costs would be covered!!!! I was ecstatic!

I called around to find the best and cheapest place to get a sleep study done. They averaged between $3000-$5000! I finally called the hospital in Ft. Wayne where we had always taken Ali. I talked to our favorite financial counselor. And she gave me a GREAT discount!

We setup Al's sleep study for the week after vacation. It did confirm his apnea and recommended CPAP.

I started researching what machine to get. I found another great forum (cpaptalk.com) and I read everything I could about CPAP.

Al and I agreed on a couple features we really thought would be beneficial and then I looked at what machines had those features. I finally narrowed it down and chose a ResMed S9 Autoset.

I found the best price online and then called all the local DMEs to see if anyone would come close to matching the price. I was shocked that one small local family-owned c company not only matched the online price but actually significantly beat it!  (I would HIGHLY recommend Alick's Home Medical to any local friends!!! )

So Tuesday we picked up Al's equipment. It felt like Christmas to me finally being able to get my dh the treatment he needs!!! :-D

At the sleep study his AHI, the avg number of respiratory events per hour) was 20... One every 3 minutes.  The first night with the CPAP it dropped to 3.4. The second night it dropped to 1.0!!! Yesterday morning I asked Al how he slept the night before, and for the first time in years he answered an enthusiastic GREAT!!!!

I have ALWAYS loved medicine. When I was a young child I would check out the PDR from the library and study the symptoms from different sicknesses. I was convinced I wanted to be a doctor when I grew up. About 10 years ago now, I went to what seemed like the completely opposite extreme.  I became very disillusioned with the current medical culture and I wanted NOTHING to do with it.  I tried to absolutely avoid modern medicine and instead treat everything with solely natural remedies. After having Ali, I began to once again truly appreciate the technology God has given us in modern medicine. Don't get me wrong I still appreciate the natural remedies too, I just also realize there is a time and place for both now.  Funny how God has a way of showing us the error in our thinking.  I am so thankful for modern medicine!!!! Praise God for once again providing for our every need!!!