Inspire Surgery? in 2020s

I’m allowing comments for this entry because if anyone’s had experience or knows someone who’s had experience with the Inspire implant for sleep apnea, I would like to hear about how it turned out!

First, my Temu package arrived. The auspicious incense is much smaller than I thought it would be. I’m not sure I really like it much anyway.

The cleaning sheets are great for the toilets. It’s amazing how these flimsy little sheets dissolve instantly and become so soapy once you swish them around with the toilet brush. I haven’t used them on the floors or the shower stall yet.

I’ll be setting up a “sleep” group so two Alexa devices can play sounds in different parts of the bedroom, hopefully letting me sleep through the mower tomorrow. If they use the loud one again, though, I doubt it’ll do me much good since it runs around two sides of the bedroom and isn’t across the street. Sound permeates manufactured homes so easily! It bleeds through every inch of the windows, walls, ceilings, and floors.

It wasn’t overly humid today, but it was still hot.

My pulmonologist appointment went better than I thought it would…I think. We didn’t have to wait too long, but damn, did I have a ton of paperwork to go through. I had to answer the same questions multiple times. Even the doctor asked me the same things. The waiting room sucked; the TV was blasting, and the office was close to a busy street. Some of the traffic noise was a bit annoying as well.

The doctor’s accent was also a little annoying, but I think I’m getting better at understanding foreign accents. I don’t have much choice when every other person isn’t from here anymore—or so it seems.

We discussed both of my sleep disorders, and he asked questions about when they were diagnosed, how they were diagnosed, etc.

Help with the N24 is hopeless, as I figured. But if I can get my energy back, it won’t matter as much. Yes, it will still be a pain in the ass, but I do enjoy the quiet and having some alone time since I like a mix of time with him and time alone. He mostly asked about my sleeping habits, then he looked in my nose and mouth. He said I definitely had sleep apnea from the looks of it, and that home tests often underestimate the severity of it. He also noticed the collapsed septum and agreed I have quite a bit of congestion in my nose.

Turns out I was wrong to cut back on the nasal spray. In addition to restarting that, he recommended a better nasal dilator than the one I’ve got and gave me a sample of a nasal rinse to help clear out my nose.

He also gave me a sleep diary to complete over the next couple of months before I see him again. The diary is to record when I get into bed, when I fall asleep, when I get up, if I’ve had any alcohol or medication, how long I slept, my level of fatigue, and if I napped.

He said one to two hours before bed, I should avoid computers, and three or four hours before bed, avoid alcohol and exercise.

Now here’s where it gets interesting. I told him I couldn’t tolerate the CPAP and asked about a mouthguard. Because of my nasal issues, mostly caused by allergies, he doesn’t think I would benefit from a mouthguard. Therefore, he’s sending me to see an ENT to see about qualifying for the Inspire, which I would love to have as an option. I mean, I would prefer not to have any problems at all, but if I’ve got to have this and something to remedy it, that would be my first choice.

The only negative is that this doctor is part of the ENT group I hate. Another negative is that we would have to go all the way to Clearwater. As usual, it would be multiple trips. I don’t have a problem with making a day of it, as it’s good to get out, but it means dealing with the stress of finding available and working chargers, even though he’s got a service that would tow us if we were to run out of juice. The assholes also got rid of most of the fast chargers, so it would be slow chargers only.

The doctor he referred me to would knock me out, much like I was for the endoscopy, to see how my throat functioned while I slept, which would be way better than having to do an out-of-home sleep study. Propofol is great, LOL.

Anyway, I’m overwhelmed but hopeful.

The redneck’s mutt is getting annoying again. Two barking fits today, one lasting more than just a few barks.