pap pillow

Hi Everybody--I have been lurking here for a couple of weeks. I started CPAP therapy two and a half weeks ago. In that time, I spent two weeks with my mom as my grandma(mom's mom) was dying at the age of 95 years old and a 4 month battle with lymphoma. My mom and i took turns sleeping at the nursing home so that my grandma would never be alone--that was alot of fun with just starting CPAP--I had literally gotten my machine two days before I got the call that I needed to drive to Illinois to be with my family--I stayed awake for the whole drive without fighting constant drowsiness--what a DIFFERENCE!! however--I was 500 miles from my RT if I would have had any issues with my therapy...thank goodness-things went ok. then while there-i got a major bad cold--so have not had a smooth start to the start of my therapy. Well-grandma passed away and two days after the funeral we drove home--again--made the whole drive with NO drowsiness--so in spite of the rough start--CPAP has totally improved my quality of life!! The only issues I had to begin with were mask leaks with the comfortgel mask. After coming home I changed to the Activa, and have had no issues and love the mask.
Well--I read somewhere on here about the pap pillow, so checked it out online. The pillow is $59.99--but being a side sleeper--I was considering purchasing the pillow. however--today I went to "Bed, Bath and Beyond" to see what kind of pillows they had--I thought if any store would have something similar-it would be there--and alas--they did. It is a pillow by Sealy caled the Sweet Pea Maternity Contour Pillow. It is horseshoe shaped, and works great for sleeping on the side--and it was only $19.99. I tried it out with my mask on and found it is very comfortable, and works in the same way as the pap pillow, in that the mask can kind of hang over the side, and not get pushed out of place by the pillow. Just wanted to tell everybody about it, in case the price of the pap pillow seemed a bit much to any of you. I just can't see paying $60.00 for a pillow myself.
Anyway--just wanted to introduce myself, and share about the pillow.
Cindy

Hi Cindy-
My condolences to you on the death of your Grandma. I'm thinking that she must not have had sleep apnea to live to be 95!! Unless of course, she was a dedicated Pap-er. Thanks for the info on the Sweet Pea pillow...I will check it out this week.
Thanks,
Barb

For those interested, the Sweet Pea pillow can also be found at Tuesday Morning. Much cheaper too! (less than $10.00)

I LOVE Tuesday Morning stores! Usually, I cannot affort to save that much money.

I wondered if the Sweet Pea pillow is similar to the Boppy, used for nursing support of a baby? It is horseshoe shaped, too. And, I have seen them at more than one garage sale for, say, $3? Just a thought.

preemiern, it is so sad to lose a grandmother. It brings tears to my eyes just to think of when I lost mine. It just made me feel, "Why did MY grandma have to die?" even though I knew that the answer was, "Why not your grandma? Everyone has to die at some time.." I hope that you are doing well in spite of this, and feel certain that she is watching over you and enjoying your progress with the CPAP.

Best wishes and condolences.

The Boppy pillow is quite abit bigger than the Sweet Pea. I don't think it would be comfortable to use as a sleeping pillow. But check out Tueday Morning--I wish I would have thought of that...oh well--I can at least sleep comfortably again on my side, and have a solution that seems compatible with my CPAP.

Thank you all for your condolences. My grandma went very peacefully, and we were all with her when she passed away. In fact, I had just told her how much I love her just before she took her last breath. I am 43 years old--so I had this beautiful lady as part of my life for 43 wonderful years--and I do feel blessed for that.