Why the Silence?
Comments from the author:
“It's been an awful long time since I've updated this site. There's a simple reason and I'd like to expain. During 2006 and the start of 2007, I felt that I was getting very tired and, although my life was wonderful (disregading the old Bessie's habit of breaking down whenever she was grumpy), I sort of knew that something was wrong. The photo shows that I had been letting myself go a bit and had that haunted/tired look about me.
In June of 2007, I finally plucked up the courage to go to the doctors (I hate all that medical stuff).....”
At first he felt that I had been working too hard (probably true), but tested me for all the horrible things that he could think of.
The five minutes that I had to wait for my lung X-Ray results (all alone in a tiny room), were the longest five minutes of my life - it was enough to make me swear to give up smoking!
Unfortunately, five minutes later, when the X-Ray results came back clear, I was lighting up again!
All the Summer (the Summer of 2007), I was signed off work and being passed from one specialist to another. During that period, I was finding it increasingly difficult to sleep and by September, was only managing 2 hours a night.
Finally, at the end of September, I had a sleep study at the local hosital. I was rigged up to all sorts of sensors and told to go to sleep.
I did and woke up two hours later, as had become the norm, by then. The next morning I told the specialist that I had only managed two hours sleep. "No", he said... "During those two hours you only actually slept for 55 minutes!"
A week later I was being fitted with a mask connected (via a long tube) to a machine that breaths for me, whilst I sleep.
One week later, I went back to work. That was a big mistake! Although I was put on light duties, it is very cold where I work and I immediately came down with a cold.
Breathing through your nose (I wear a nasal mask) when your nose is either blocked up or running, is really rather difficult.
I struggled on for two months but, eventually, my boss couldn't take any more of watching me suffer and I got signed off work, once again!
It took me another three months to get used to wearing the mask, sleeping on my back and breathing through my nose (whilst asleep) - all things that I was not used to doing.
Finally, I was fit enough to go back to work. The Abattoir found me a job that I thought I could do and, for a while, all was well!
“I am going to write something (at a later date) about Central Sleep Apnea.
There was also a discussion on Brittany Friends dealing with the same issues... 
