AWAKE meeting - Portsmouth, NH June 25

guess what I got in the mail today??

any of you NH/ME Seacoast folks want to join me?

A.W.A.K.E. Network Sleep Apnea Support Group Meeting
June 25
6-8 PM

Portsmouth Regional Hospital
Shoals Building

RSVP to Linda Carlsen
Portsmouth Regional Hospital Sleep Diagnostic Center
603-334-2012


Agenda includes:

the Medical Director of the Center

A DME group VP

and topics :
the right mask for you
your options
new designs
care and cleaning of equipment

floor is open to any topic

I'm looking forward to attending

so I went to the meeting tonight the director of the sleep center and one of the DME's were there. Great presentation by the DME (got to see that new FF mask in person - reminds me of the headgear you see on one of the NBA basketball players)

they did a review of the various types of masks and I was really impressed by the DME for the most part. There were about 12 of us there with some folks who brought their masks in since they were struggling. One lady had been given an older model mask (from one of the big-box DMEs) that even I could see was a bad fit - even though the guy was not her DME, he helped her out. He really emphasized that no one should have to put up with an ill-fitting mask. The majority of the folks had no clue what their machines were or their pressures - they would ask a question or voice a concern and when they were asked by the DME or doctor what their pressure was, they didn't know - I find that behavior fascinating.

I brought up the question of why many professionals seem reluctant to allow us to keep track of our own data much like diabetics do and why aren't all machines truly data-capable. Got the usual run around but I think I made my point when I said I look at my data everyday - eyebrows were raised by a couple of people as in "you can do that?". I also confessed to not cleaning my hose every week - horrors!!!

I walked away feeling very, very lucky to have discovered cpaptalk.com when I started my CPAP journey and blessed to have the success with my therapy that I am able to get with everyone's help, advice and encouragement here.

Anyway I guess I will go back to the next meeting (if I'm not blacklisted) and maybe try to make a few friends and help them along. My one wish for the next meeting would be sharing our experiences a bit more in a roundtable-like discussion.

Its like pulling people out of 'The Matrix', except this is the 'Sleep Apneia Matrix'-- one at a time!

Keep up the good work!

I hope they have an AWAKE meeting here in Reno so i can 'crash' it

I think I am very fortunate. My sleep doctor is fully behind what I am doing-- and so is my PCP.