Today, I Scored 100 Points on My ResMed CPAP Machine - A Perfect Score

Wednesday, January 1st, 2024 at 5:24 PM

Northeast Corner of Mack & Moross

Grosse Pointe Woods, Michigan

Walking through a cancer journey has given me much more awareness of my health. Even now, I draw away from opportunities to see specialists who can help. Yet, my gratitude to my oncologists has improved my attitude.

I messed up an opportunity to get a CPAP machine when I was working in Syracuse. I just had a hard time scheduling the appointment with a respiratory therapist. I was prescribed a CPAP machine but I couldn't take it home with a meeting with the therapist. And I didn't want to take off time from my fast paced job.

And that meant I could have been using a CPAP to sleep better since 2018. Live and learn, is what I say.

So in 2024, I finally jumped through all the hoops to get a CPAP. First one had to sleep with that at-home kit and send it in. Then one needed to sleep all night in a bedroom at Henry Ford Hospital while a technician monitored your sleep. It was a comfortable room in one of the older buildings behind the original Henry Ford Hospital. Then one had to meet with a sleep specialist. My brother Matt coined the tern, “Doctor Go Round”, and I thought this statement a few times. But I stayed on the ride.

At last, I went to a class to learn how to use the equipment in an office park of Southfield. After pushing through all the obstacles, one has to patiently learn how to use it. In fact, one has to load a ResMed app on the phone. The app sends data to the specialist and the insurance company. After twenty nights of four hours of usage a night, one gets to keep the machine.

I was unsuccessful with the first mask I was given. I reached out to the sleep doctor and the doctor granted me a one-on-one with a respiratory therapist who helped me fit a better mask.

That improved my score by about 10 points. And I bought some online teeth guards to keep me from grinding my molars. That seemed to help. I really hope to have better guards made by a professional dentist.

After learning to adjust the bands and learned to sleep entirely on my back, I managed to get scores in the 90s. I'm glad I stuck with it because I require less coffee in the morning. And I have been fairly wakeful all day long with only five hours of sleep. I was drowsy at my desk before I got the machine.

Don't miss the takeaway. Sleeping better leads to a better defense against cancer. I can't give you chapter and verse from the research. Cancer grows in conditions of low oxygen. And better oxygenation leads to an alert immune system, a force that can stop mutating cells in their tracks. I checked these statements. My source said, “The relationship between oxygenation and cancer is nuanced.”

Fight cancer while you dream.