My Steps To Healing From Sleep Apnea, Part 3

The next surgery was on the nose. No, it was not to change the shape of my large schnozz, although I wish it could have been done. It was all internal parts cut away and moved around. Sounds gruesome, doesn't it?

It was a littler easier... less pain and sacrifice. It resulted in opening up the sinus area. A few days later, a few snips and stitches were taken out. Very little pain, no blood, no eating problems. Aaaahhhh, feels good, yes.

I decided to then start exercising. I had that extra time in the day that I wasn't spending trying to sleep. I would walk a block, then two, then half a mile, and more each week. Soon I started running a mile at a time. Nothing too difficult, just exercise that was good for me and I hadn't had in a long time.

I started losing weight too. That I would say was the best part of the whole experience. I also gained muscles in areas I never knew could get them. I then had to buy clothes in much smaller sizes, as well as new tennis shoes every so often. I really racked the miles on those shoes. It was a blessing to have a neighborhood where I could run around a set group of houses and it would be an exact mile. Also, there were no dogs to worry about. I built a little track around my house so that I could run at night without waking the neighbors. About 20 times around my small yard would make a mile. I worked nights at my job then too, so when I was off I would run, and run and run.

Amanda tells me she remembers those days well. When she heard the soft pounding of my shoes on the grass and dirt outside at night, it comforted her. She also knew I was doing something I really enjoyed, and could not do before because of my condition. I would return home with excitement about a new time I had made, or
the number of laps I had run.
As I lost weight, the need for the C-pap machine grew less and less. It seems the machine gave me the edge to catch up on sleep, it gave me an hour less of sleep so that I could exercise. The exercise helped even more, along with the surgeries so that I should not have to go back, or even look back.

One caveat though. The doctor said it is possible to backtrack. You can gain weight and your body can start regrowing tissue in those areas that will get in the way again. The key is to stay healthy, keep watching my weight, and keep exercising.

I learned later that this condition is common with large people. Many don't know they have it. A study was done of NFL football players and found that a large percentage of them have sleep apnea. They are people who are paid to be be big, and yet many suffer from it.

If you or someone you may know has trouble with sleep, staying asleep, staying awake, or is overweight and tired all the time, maybe you or they should speak with a doctor about this condition. I did, and I believe it saved my life!