Anthological

First, an update on the pastel piece in progress.

Getting further along with it, and finally starting to detail the tower. That tower has been my bane for a while, as I am continually afraid of messing it up and since it’s a focal point it would really be an obvious screw up. Facing up to fear is a bigger part of art than people think, imho. Fear of failure, fear that you aren’t skilled enough, fear that someone might not like your work… all are impediments to progress, and must be tamed

In other news, I finally heard back from my sleep doctor about my sleep study. I have chronic sleep apnea! YAY ME! This means that during the night while sleeping, I cease to breath, or slide into very labored breathing. For me the count was 12… that is, every hour I’m asleep I stop breathing 12 times. Anything over 5 is abnormal and requires treatment of one sort or another.

I’ve got three options:

1. Surgery. It’s called Uvulopalatopharyngoplasty They go in, remove anything in your throat you don’t need.. tonsils, the little dangly thing at the back of your throat, any excess tissue they can, and in some cases even take part of your tongue. Yes, this sounds exciting! Your voice can even change as a result.. and the procedure is only 40-60% successful. On top of that, in most cases the patient has to go on CPAP therapy REGARDLESS, which brings me to option 2..

2. CPAP Therapy This is where you get to sleep hooked up to a Darth Vader machine every night that keeps your breathing regular and makes sure you don’t STOP breathing. It’s guaranteed to attract the opposite sex in much the same way as do artificial limbs. Good thing I’m married.

3. Dental appliance. This would mean getting a custom fit dental piece to wear at night that somehow keeps the airway open. Don’t know how… Anyway using this would most likely lead to a disorder of the jaw called TMJ. Not sure the cure is really a cure in this case, more of an addition to the malady family.

4. Yes, I know there aren’t 4 options, but really there are. Four, I can do nothing, and continue to sleep poorly, slowly gain wait (Sleep apnea causes obesity in 75% of patients), and snore increasingly until I have to sleep alone in a hammock in the woods, in which case no one will be around to hear me sawing logs.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 23rd, 2005 at 8:37 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.