Hijinks With a CPAP

I’ve been using a CPAP at night for some time now, and it has helped a lot. Nights are MUCH quieter without all the snoring. And I don’t have to worry about stroking out from lack of oxygen. That was beginning to bother me more than somewhat…

The hose that leads from the mask to the machine is long enough that I can change position in bed without too much trouble. I became accustomed to it and adjusted quite quickly. However, there are times when I’ve moved without enough caution and have almost dragged the machine off the nightstand. And I’ve knocked my water bottle off the stand as well. I used to be able to have the lid on the bottle and take a drink whenever I needed during the night with no trouble. Since having the mask, though, I either have to take the mask completely off or use a straw, which negates the lid. Now when it happens, I just get up, get a towel to lay on the floor over the puddle, put more water in the bottle if needed and go back to bed.

A few nights ago when I put my mask on and hooked up the hose (in the dark, mind you, since I do this EVERY NIGHT) I didn’t realize that I accidentally looped the hose over the bedpost by the head of the bed. It made the available length of the hose quite a bit shorter, but I didn’t know it right then. Somewhere along the line in the middle of the night I shifted in bed, yanking on the hose. The resulting noise woke me and the first thing I thought was that I had dragged the unit off the nightstand. I swung my arm over, knocking over the water bottle. I said something not quite lady-like and leaped from the bed. It woke Marv immediately and he said “Turn on the light!”

Thankfully the unit was still on the stand, but when I bent over to pick up the water bottle, I did it endo and soaked the entire right pajama leg. So I got a towel, picked up the bottle, changed my pajamas and climbed back in bed. Wide awake. As I tried to settle down, Harper decided to come up from the foot of the bed because clearly he wasn’t the focus of all the action and was offended. Not caring about all the TRAUMA I had suffered, he came up to me and lovingly bent over my head, grabbed a mouthful of hair and YANKED to get my attention and give him some love pats.

Kitties are wonderful.