Snore, Take 2

Sometimes the cure is worse than the disease.

That was what I found to be the case with my CPAP machine... I finally got used to it after a whole month, but then a month or so after that I realized that not only was the CPAP machine not helping me to sleep better... on a good night it was not making a difference, and on a bad night it was waking me up in the middle. Eventually I realized that every single night I was taking it off in my sleep (or sometimes even in my awake, if it was bad), so I just quit bothering with it. I figured if it wasn't going to make things better, why make thing worse by strapping that thing to my face?

Our understanding had been that the next line of defense for sleep apnea was to actually widen the airway with surgery. The ENT doctor told us straight up: painful surgery, long recovery time. It didn't sound like something I particularly wanted to do, but if that was what it took, I was willing to do it. Cathy wasn't as willing. She started doing some reading on the Internet, and concluded that not only was it an expensive and painful surgery, but that the chances of it being successful were slim and the chance of relapse if it was successful were uncomfortably high. So she started looking for alternatives.

There is really only one other alternative to surgery or a breathing machine like the CPAP: an oral appliance. The idea is that you put something that looks like a retainer on your teeth at bedtime, and it actually forces your lower jaw forward as you sleep; this helps the airway to stay open and the apnea is hopefully eliminated. Cathy only found one place that deals with these appliances in the Tulsa area: RiverWalk Dental Spa. She made an appointment for me, I went in one month ago yesterday, and then yesterday I went back in and walked out with my new oral appliance (someone please think up a nickname for those, quick! Five syllables is TOO MUCH!)

The appliance is custom-manufactured to an impression they take of your teeth at the dentist's office, so when you put it in, it is very snug. If you can think of how your hands feel when you put on tight rubber gloves, that's how it makes your teeth feel. It's a weird feeling, and at first I almost felt a little bit panicky; the top and bottom halves are hooked together, so not only was there an uncomfortable pressure on all of my teeth at once, but I couldn't spread my teeth apart more than a millimeter or two. Bu tthe snug fit is what you've got to have; once you're asleep you can't keep your teeth together any more. The appliance has to hang on. This also means that getting it off your teeth takes a little bit of practice, so we tried it several times at the office until I was comfortable that I could handle it. Oddly, I was so excited to have the thing in hand that I wanted to put it in and wear it while I drove back from the dentist's office to work for the afternoon! I didn't do that, though... I couldn't think of any reason that would have been helpful. If I'm having sleep apnea episodes when I drive, then I've got problems that the oral appliance won't solve!

Last night I put it on at bedtime. The first thing I noticed was that my tongue didn't know what to do with itself. I wanted to wet my lips, but that's not possible with the appliance on (I'm going to get some chapstick or at least a cup of water to keep on the bedside table). And then my tongue started trying to figure out where it belonged, and that just was no use. Finally I did manage to go to sleep, but something woke me up an hour or so later... I'm not sure if I had a startling dream, or if I pulled the upper part loose in my sleep (which would mean I didn't put it on securely enough in the first place), or if there was a noise in the house (Cathy was still up and on the telephone), but I remember waking up and taking the appliance off. When I tried to put it back on, it put a pressure on part of my bottom teeth that turned quickly into a dull pain, and I knew I would never get back to sleep with that, so I took it out entirely and decided to wait for another night.

I woke up later to a sound. It sounded to me like a toilet seat or lid being dropped; I don't know if Mikey had gotten up and accidentally did that, or if something fell in the bathroom in our bedroom, but whatever it was, it woke me up. Cathy was awake too, but she was in bed... probably she had been in bed awake anyway. She wanted to know if I had the appliance in; I told her no but I also told her I wasn't going to try to explain why in the middle of the night; I needed to get some sleep. But since it had been some time since I took it off and I was awake anyway, I decided to put it back in and give it another go. I got it in and it didn't cause any pain this time, so I got back into bed with it.

And I laid there.

And laid there.

And laid there.

It seems like once I wake up after getting a certain amount of sleep, I can't get back to sleep with one of these therapy devices on me. That's what happened with the CPAP machine, which was why I wound up taking it off every night if it woke me up. And that's what happened last night. I wasn't particularly uncomfortable with the appliance in, but there was no going to sleep. So after vainly trying to go back to sleep for a good hour or hour and a half at least, I gave up, took it out, and decided to give it a try again the next night.

It's not a surprise that I had trouble with it. The lady at RiverWalk Dental Spa had told me straight up that the first week, I might or might not see any improvement (particularly the first night) and that at this point we were just mainly getting used to wearing the thing. I certainly would have preferred an uninterrupted night of sleep with it in, even if the therapy wasn't really kicking in... but that apparently just wasn't to be. Maybe tonight will be better.

"Bless The Broken Road"

Here's the full-length video of us singing at Justin & Melinda's wedding:



There is another partial video of it (with less-shaky camera work) here. If you enjoy our work and you're on Facebook, please join our fan page!

Having a family

Can I just say something? Having a family is the hardest and best thing I've ever done.

A Wedding, A Firehouse, A Victory, and A Crown

Ever have a weekend where you don't realize how much has happened until you sit down and think about it? MAN, was this one of those weekends... and it's not even dinnertime on Saturday yet!

Last night, October 2nd, was the Dave Matthews Band concert. We were thrilled to NOT be there. Instead, we were at the wedding Cathy's second cousin Melinda to a great guy named Justin! When Cathy and Melinda were teenagers, Cathy had promised to sing at Melinda's wedding, so for over a month Cathy and I have been practicing "Bless the Broken Road" to get ready to sing it last night. I think Cathy's been killing two birds with one stone... I'm pretty sure she was looking for an excuse to sing it with me anyway. :) We got it all worked up, and we were ready to give it our best. Hannah didn't go to the wedding with us; she stayed with Meme (we didn't think Hannah was up to a wedding quite yet). Mikey came along... he's known Melinda since he was a baby (she tried to teach him karate or something on her once... I was afraid she was going to teach him that it was OK to hit girls!) and he wanted to come. He brought his video camera to record our performance (we have the video, such that it is... sound quality is far from pristine, but we have it and we'll get it posted if we can make it presentable).

The wedding was quite beautiful. Melinda was stunning. Her parents looked slightly uncomfortable but excited... just as parents should look at the wedding of their only daughter! The minister looked and sounded just a tiny bit like Ben Stein to me, and if Melinda sees this I feel pretty sure she'll laugh her rear off. I mean absolutely no disrespect to him; his message and ceremony were meaningful and beautiful. I kept explaining things about the ceremony to Mikey (everybody stands up when the bride comes in, they'll use the two candles on the side to light the one in the middle because the two of them are becoming one, etc.) so he would understand what was going on. And speaking of the candles... they took on a little bit of a life of their own. When the two cousins came in to light them with their long lighting sticks (which probably have a name, but I don't know it), apparently the lighters went out too early and neither of them could light all of their candles. Finally the girl took one of the candles that they did get lit and lit the others with that. Later in the ceremony, Melinda and Justin tried to light the Unity Candle with the candles on the sides of it... but they were all the thick kind (they must have been three inches thick!) and there was no way they were going to get the middle one lit with the others! Finally they got some of the narrow ones from the other candlesticks at the edges of the stage, did their lighting, and then Justin blew his out as people usually do when the unity candle is lit. Melinda forgot and gave hers back to her matron of honor! She tried to get Melinda's attention so Melinda could blow it out, but then she gave up and blew it out herself. :)

Originally Melinda wanted us to sing during the ceremony itself, but Cathy had mentioned that sometimes people have a live song at their reception, so that's how it was arranged. We almost decided to leave before we got to sing because it was getting late, but we were able to stay long enough and we got to sing. Justin and Melinda danced as we sang about the long, tough road that people sometimes travel until they find their soulmate... by the time we were finished, Melinda was crying so hard. She let go of Justin and started hugging Cathy... and hugged her and hugged her and hugged her. Then Melinda came over and gave me a hug too. I think the song meant a lot to her, and it also meant a lot to her that Cathy, who also traveled a long road before she finally found me, was singing it for her. It was worth every minute of the extra wait to be able to provide that moment for our friends.

Mikey just now told me that he was sad the night didn't last longer.:)

This morning at 9, Mikey, Papaw and I went out to Home Depot to this month's Kids Workshop. The project today was a bank in the shape of a fire station (it's safety month) and Mikey did a great job on it. We've been doing these things for several years, and it's great to see how independent he is now with the work. Seems like the Home Depot projects make him grumpier than the Lowe's projects... the Home Depot ones are a little harder. :) He was done inside of an hour, and we were off to get Papaw home and pick up Mama and Hannah for the first soccer game of the fall season for Mikey's soccer team, the Outlaws!

The Outlaws are awesome. Mikey is so privileged to have gotten involved with Coach White and his team... many of the kids had been on the team for a year or two before Mikey, and he has grown so much being around more experienced players and learning from them and from the coach's excellent training skills. Justin (Melinda's new husband) is actually a soccer player himself, and hopefully he'll be able to be in town sometime for a practice or even a game! The Outlaws beat their opponent handily, and Mikey definitely did his part. He kept his head in the game, snagged the ball and got it going where it needed to go, and one time I saw him make a terrific pass to a teammate that got the ball out of traffic and headed toward the goal. It was AWESOME! If these kids keep working hard and learning, I don't see how they could avoid winning their division. I know, I say that after one game and without ever seeing their other opponents play, but I sincerely believe it. Those kids are GOOD!

After the game we went out with some friends of ours that we met through our boys both being on the Outlaws team... they are missionaries, and also music lovers like we are, so we had a lot to talk about over lunch at Monterey's (oddly enough, my whole plate of food, including a taco, was cool, like it had come out of a refrigerator... it tasted good, but it would have tasted better hot!) By the time we finished with the 11:00 game and then lunch, it was almost 1:30, so we headed right off to our neighborhood library, Martin Regional, for the annual Renaissance Faire (which had already started at 1!)

The Martin Regional Ren Faire isn't a hard-core Ren Faire like, say, the one that happens every year in Muskogee. It's definitely a "for the kids" thing, but they do have mock battles, costumed characters, dancers, people talking about life in the Middle Ages, and they even always have a guy with a real live hawk (Hannah LOVED that... she's a big animal fan!) On top of the regular Ren Faire stuff, they have crafts for the kids, puppet shows, and people who do things like tapestry weaving, wood carving, and doll making. Hannah is a year or two from being able to participate fully, but she and Mikey had a great time anyway! If you are in Tulsa and have kids or grandkids, I highly recommend looking it up next year around this time. It has a distinct "home-grown" feel, so don't expect glitz and flash, but it's a great time anyway. Many thanks to Martin Regional Library for hosting such a great event every year!

So now we're home. Hannah went straight to bed... then so did Cathy. So Mikey and I are batchin' it for a while until the ladies return to consciousness. Tomorrow we have church in Bixby in the morning, a Dallas Cowboys game that we may or may not watch in the afternoon, and then a fellowship back at the church in the evening. Alternately, we could go hear Jesse Duplantis at Grace Sunday night, but I think we may just stick with The Bridge this time. We love Jesse, but we want to get our feet wetter at The Bridge before we start going elsewhere for a service. :)

Monday night: Mercy Me at the Tulsa State Fair! And then Tuesday is Cathy's dad's birthday. This weekend is going to last all the way to WEDNESDAY!


Update: We did not go to the Mercy Me concert; it was chilly and drizzly and Mikey went to his Webelos meeting instead. I just realized that I never explained what the "crown" in the title of this post was! Mikey made a paper crown at the Ren Faire... Cathy made a little tiara for Hannah, too.

Rest In Peace, Lava Rock

Mikey's pet toad Lava Rock has passed away. This was his first pet that he took care of all by himself; Fire-Bellied Toads aren't known for having incredibly long lifespans, so we think Lava Rock probably died of natural causes rather than foul play or neglect. Mikey got Lava Rock for Mikey's birthday last April, and he's done a good job of taking care of him, reading up on toads and learning what he could in order to make Lava Rock's life happy and comfortable. Services are planned in the back yard for 5:30pm today (or whenever I make it home from work) and interment will likely be under the big tree in the middle of the yard.


Good-bye, Lava Rock... we'll miss you.

Rock 'N' Ribfest

Last Saturday we all went out to Rock 'N' Ribfest downtown by the BOK Center. It was also the 1-year anniversary of the BOK Center opening, so they were having a little open house where you could go in for free and see the arena. Here's a pic of Mikey eating some nachos... you can see some more pictures right here!

Da Ma Pa Buh Ye...

Hannah has been getting better and better at talking in recent weeks. She's 21 months old now, but maybe a month or two ago she really started naming people. Don't get me wrong... before that she had been saying some words... "Ap-pool" is her favorite fruit, for example, and has been for some time. She knows the names of a lot of animals and what "sounds" they make (a favorite: any ferocious cat, be it lion or tiger or puma or leopard or whatever, says "RAAAAAR!"). But it made our hearts glad when she finally started saying "Da-da" and "Ma-ma." The next name she started saying was "Pa-pa" which warmed the hearts of both my dad and Cathy's! Now every time we pull up to one of their houses, Hannah says "Pa-pa YAAAY!" To my mom's dismay, however, Hannah always clammed up whenever she tried to get Hannah to say "Me-me." Mikey was working hard on "Mikey," too, with similar lack of success. But finally, at long last, Hannah worked out names for both of them: "Ye-ye" for my mom, and "Buh-buh" for her brother.

This week, though, Mikey has gotten an upgrade. Hannah has started calling him "Bikey" instead of "Buh-buh". So he's pretty excited about that! (Of course, he's also been training her to say "Go 'way!" just by being up in her grill all the time... so quite often we hear "Bikey! Go 'way!" ...not quite sure that's the way Mikey wanted his name to be used!)