Monday, Mar 28
For Mar 27 CPAP. Reported figures, were horrible, because of the inappropriateness of wearing the CPAP so soon after the surgery, while not yet healed. Time on 7 hrs 30 min with AHI=14.67. Events: 108 H, 35 CSR, 3 CA, 4 PP, 92 PC, 8 RERA. No major mask leaks (max=16 L/min); oximeter on entire time with SpO2 dipping a few times slightly below 85, but most above 90 with some variations in pulse (nothing out of the ordinary, as my defibrillator corrects it if it goes below 50 bpm). I imagine the blood was being sent down my throat and causing the wild parameters.
Stayed home today to try to figure out what happened and rest and put ice on my swelling.
I took a selfie and contacted all doctors—sleep, cardiologist, and oral surgeon.
I created the selfie above 3 days after the removal of a decayed root canal and double implant bone-graft surgery, with the swelling down a little.
I had a telephone call from the oral surgeon, with a few questions and comments, but he honestly did not think it was related to the use of my CPAP machine. He seemed to be more concerned about the bruising or mask being hurtful on my cheek, rather than my concern that the forced pressure restarted the bleeding from the sutured two sockets. He thanked me for calling and mentioned I should call again if I had further questions. He wanted to know what the sleep doctor told me, and I had already told them I only spoke to the medical assistant and they did not think I should resume wearing it until I felt better. (The implication was that it did affect it.).
On a lighter note, I posted the hens & chicks 2016 offering from John to the Buy Nothing Ellensburg (BNE) site, where we gave away a bunch last year:
These will all be given away. Another double-hen with many little ones has been dispersed to about a dozen 4-inch square pots. They will get to stay on the Naneum Fan for another year. Another gardening note: Asparagus thinks spring has come.
Tuesday, Mar 29
For Mar 28 CPAP. CPAP not worn; however, oximetry checked.
I stayed home today from exercise to recuperate.
Just got off the phone with the medical assistant of my sleep doctor, Dr. Kumar, who returned yesterday’s call to tell me I should not have put on the CPAP machine so soon after the oral surgery (I left it off the first two nights, but not because I was told anything about doing so in post-operative procedures).
I went for an INR today after 1:00. It was 1.8, so I have to return next Tuesday, probably because I left off a pill Friday night, but also, the added Amoxicillin should have increased the INR, not decreased the value.
I set up my meds for the week, and realized I was out of one that cost me $14 in December. I was surprised to find out it has decreased to $5 this year for the same amount.
Too many people are interested in the offering of Hens & Chicks on the BNE site. I guess I cannot easily give to all, so I will have to figure how to randomly choose, or see if people will share some of the larger containers. (Update, another person on the group has volunteered to share some and we will likely meet in a park in Ellensburg to distribute.) We both are recovering from surgeries, so we will postpone this effort another week at least.
I took care of Simone, the cat, at Anne’s. Actually, I believe she is a ghost. I clean up, give her water, and check her food, but she never lets me see her.
I went by Grocery Outlet and succeeded in finding a Key Lime Pie to cheer me up for dessert tonight. In addition, I got Vanilla ice cream, fresh salsa for my omelets, and sharp Cheddar cheese (named after the town in Somerset. Probably should have gotten some sour cream to go with it, as the Cottage Cafe serves with their egg creations.
Wednesday, Mar 30
For Mar 29 CPAP. No CPAP used. Oximeter recorded the entire time.
I am not playing fiddle at the Food Bank or attending SAIL today, but instead am staying home to recuperate. I have been washing dishes and dealing with medical appointments and feedback.
I just was on the phone with RCI about our combined timeshares that end tomorrow – and now I have paid a fee to extend all the ones left appropriately for use by March of 2018. I added those expiring this year so they will expire with the others. We now have a total trading power of 183, which we can offer to anyone who can plan a trip (especially an advanced trip to a special place in the world) early as 2 years in advance (the earlier the better for known dates of travel). Please contact me NOW for any such upcoming trips, and when the power drops to 4 points, I will notify folks to take from that combined week to set up your vacation, and we can provide chances for more folks. You can get a week anywhere in the world for the current week’s trading cost ($229) to remove from the space-banking system, and also you will need to pay the guest certificate fee ($69) to allow your use of it as a nonmember. IF you choose a place that I can get to and spend the first night or 2, I will drive there and check us in for no guest fee (but I need to work with you in advance so I put the reservation in our name, and no payment happens up front. Again, if you know you have a trip coming up, plan NOW, using our trading power and don’t wait for an email. I think tonight at midnight starts a new offering of reduced vacation costs. If you want on my list of notification, please jot me an email and I will add you to the list. I will give you my password access so you can search the hundreds (thousands) of opportunities. I do not wish to act as your travel agent.
I sent the following message to my oral surgeon’s office this morning, and had a thank you acknowledgment response come by phone from the surgical team later today.
Shannon, Lisa, Shawn, and members of the team at SunRidge Oral Surgery.
I talked with the representative (medical assistant) of my sleep doctor, Dr. Kumar, and Memorial Sleep Center.
With the bone grafting, I should not have resumed my CPAP machine until more time had passed for healing. That length of time is not specified, more than when I feel better, but could be at least a week.The pressurized forced air into my nasal passage, throat, and mouth likely caused the bleeding that occurred Sunday night, when I wore it 2 nights after the procedure.
I think you should follow-up on this and change your medical data collection form to ask if a patient uses a CPAP machine, and you definitely should add that information to your Post-Operative Instructions for Bone Grafting, which is verbally explained after the treatment and given to the patient to take home.Thank you for changing your data collection to insure knowledge for the future. I wish I had not had the experience. I also have previously described my pain, bleeding the night after the treatment, and I submitted a selfie of my swelling (had gone down some) and the bruising. It is now 5 days later, and I continue on the pain reliever (it very much is needed), and the Amoxicillin.
That antibiotic will affect my INR most likely, but I did skip a Coumadin (2.5mg) Friday night, because of the bleeding, and I had an INR drawn yesterday that was 1.8. I have to have another draw in a week to see if it has changed. Supposedly, the antibiotic will raise it.I hope you take my comments positively and discuss them with Dr. Tew.
Sincerely,
Nancy Hultquist
P.S., I am on a CPAP machine because of its ability to control and prevent my SpO2 (blood oxygen saturation percentage) from decreasing, as it will, when I sleep.
Shannon, the Implant Treatment Coordinator, also requested my sending any proofing comments of the post-operative instructions to the oral surgery’s office.
I continued with my notification of the Fiddlers & Friends playing Apr 2 of the upcoming event, location, and timing.
John and I drove by Jack in the Box for Jumbo Jacks, taking along a drink, to be on the front row at the Ice Age Floods (IAF) lecture tonight on Glacial Lake Columbia. It was a different presentation from the usual. The fellow seems fixated on several sand & gravel features near Spokane formed about 16,000 years ago and ignores all else about the Ice Age. He thinks geologists and glaciologists don’t understand how ice-dams fail and seems not to realize we’ve had ice-age action for the last 2.5 million years. There were several geologists in the room, one being a friend that sat beside John, and they were not an accepting bunch. John managed to remain silent.
On our way back home tonight via Bar 14 Road a little over a mile south of us, we saw a black bear running down the road and off north into the woods, toward Dr. Dave Lundy’s house. That’s the only bear we have seen locally, although years ago our nearest neighbor saw a small cinnamon colored one about 50 yards from our house. In 2009, John encountered (first name basis) and photographed a Cinnamon Black Bear two canyons east from us, at a higher elevation. Linda Lundy got back to me with this statement, “We have heard there is a bear nearby from several neighbors…also wolf tracks…must be careful…thanks for the update. Linda” John says he doubts they are wolf tracks; I wonder if they are mountain lion /cougar, which we do know are in the area. Wolves have been viewed in the Teanaway valley 25 miles northwest of us, but not here (to our knowledge). A big wolf can travel miles, and will, in a few hours – so it is possible.
I wrote Jack Powell to ask him about how the speaker at the ice age talk responded to his and other’s questions after we left. Seems just about everyone thought his presentation was confusing.
This morning, I called and talked with Jackie at Dr. Kumar’s office asking them specifically to tell me why I should not wear a CPAP machine after oral surgery, because my oral surgeon does not think it matters and wants to hear from the sleep doctor. Latest, I came home to a call from my sleep doctor’s assistant (Jessica) that did not answer the question I asked, but told me I needed not to put the CPAP back on until I was healed from the surgery, and I needed to ask my dentist when that would be {usually it was a week}.
If you think I feel I’m getting the run-around or that doctors are passing the buck, you would be correct. [John says: I don’t think they know much about this issue and don’t want to say so. Seems to me it is an irritation that is magnified for the user because of the soreness. Like the dentist, I don’t know how the air flow could cause any problem.]
Thursday, Mar 31
For Mar 30 CPAP. No CPAP used. Oximeter recorded the entire time.
This is a bye date for our music group because only 4 assisted living homes remain in town. We take the 5th Thursday of the month off for a break. I needed it this week for sure.
Below are my corrections to their post-operative procedures (minus any message about the use of a CPAP).
I spent time this morning redoing the song, “Side By Side” to a more readable and more easily followed copy so that it all fits on one page. It will be in our next 3-month music packet.
Friday, Apr 1 HAPPY APRIL FOOL’S Day
For Mar 31 CPAP. CPAP off; oximeter on entire time with results graphed.
I talked with Dr. Tew (oral surgeon) this morning. He called to tell me I should try putting the CPAP back on this weekend. He mentioned that they told people not to blow on wind instruments creating pressure in the mouth, such as trumpets and tubas. Flutes should be okay, and fiddles fine. I never received that information, so I do not know how they know to tell certain patients. Nothing on the medical registration information included a question about playing a musical instrument. The information was more about medical history and insurance coverage. Because of the anesthesia required, they contacted my cardiologist and family physician, but never was a sleep doctor mentioned or was I asked for any other medical connections.
The doctor also told me they did recommend people on CPAPs who had upper mouth work done that might interfere with the sinuses, not to use their CPAP. My point again – how did they know that patient used a CPAP ?
I worked on music for tomorrow night with one of the players who hasn’t made it to practices but is able to run off her own copies I send her through email. I sent 6 that have changed from last year’s selections. She was there last year.
John worked behind the house cutting previously downed trees into firewood pieces, all dressed up in his protective gear. The orange hat is Stihl brand and the blue Kevlar “apron chaps” are Husqvarna.
The chain sawing on 4-1-16 is found here. Link
I worked inside on dishes and assembling music for four of us to use that I carry along with me. One to share (mine with Joanie) and one to be shared between two guitarists who are longest with the group, Charlie and Gerald. The oldest, Gerald Gordon, has been with the group since the 1950s – started by is father-in-law, a blind fiddler. I didn’t join until the early 1990s.
John came in and thawed some pork & bacon chili with grated sharp cheddar and a sliced Honeycrisp apple for lunch.
After that, I cut John’s hair to make him more presentable. It looks good — except for his cowlick, which I cannot control in the upper right back.
Experts explain.
He is back out stacking wood, and then will be loading planks and pallets to go to town for moving the heavy straw bales (compressed and soaked from an over-flowing creek) into the back of our truck.
My next chore continues with sorting and filing receipts, while trying to get to the boxes beneath to locate my external back up disk to use it for that needed reason. Then, I will be switching to finishing the master copy of the music for the next 3 months for the Kittitas Valley Fiddlers & Friends. I cut my workload amazingly by using as a base the happy songs I put together to play for the Memorial last Saturday, and adding a few other songs. Come July, we switch to Patriotic tunes, for the majority, and then August and September, we switch to a different playlist; likewise for October, November, and then December is all Christmas songs.
I found lots of receipts and stuff to sort, enter, and pack away, but I did not locate my external drive, so I need to check another 2 boxes, currently out of reach in the stack. May wait for John to get home to help me retrieve it. (He came in and we realized they only had old newspapers and magazines and not what I was looking for.)
Saturday, Apr 2
For Apr 1 CPAP. CPAP off; oximeter on entire time with results graphed. It stays in the 90s most of the time but occasionally pops down toward 85 or so not more than 3 times per night.
John unloaded the wet compressed straw bales he picked up yesterday afternoon, and we just had a small lunch made from last night’s leftovers.
I downloaded Little Brown Jug and Hello! Ma Baby from Musicnotes, for free. Eventually, we can add that to our repertoire, but not until after I have caught up with taxes and other clean-up chores at home.
Today after 1:00, we are going to celebrate the 80th birthday of a friend, Walt Farrar, whom we have known for many years in the valley, through our involvement in the Kittitas Valley Trail Riders club. I am going to wear my tee shirt with the KVTR logo on it. We are no longer members because I am no longer allowed to ride a horse.
Welcome to Walt’s Birthday Party 4/2/16
We came home by way of Grocery Outlet to claim our pie paid for yesterday (accidentally charged), but not delivered. Yesterday, the acclaimed 99 cents for a pound of Campari tomatoes didn’t materialize because the warehouse did not send the right amount to the store for the sale that started yesterday. When I walked in, the gal that adjusted my receipt told me they had more tomatoes, so I bought some more for my neighbor and one for us. We delivered them on the way home.
Late afternoon we went to the fairgrounds to play music at the dinner of the Anniversary Dance of the Blue Agates Square & Round Dance club, as some of us have done for several years, starting at the Swauk-Teanaway Grange but the increased regional attendance now has too many people coming to fit there. We provide music as people are arriving and then during their meal. After they are done eating, we are invited to go through the buffet. They are “round dancing” while we eat.
We encountered horses in the parking lot but did not learn the nature of that event. We were surprised to arrive at the fairgrounds and find all the parking lot and adjacent grassy area filled with RVs and horse trailers, cars, and 3 events going on simultaneously, with a major Gun Show in the other (larger) end of the building. The normal front door entrance lead several of our group astray because they were following directions I gave them to get to the front door of the Teanaway room. So much for planning. There was a sign for Blue Agates, but you had to see it on the west side of the building, as well as recognize the name. It didn’t mention “Dance.”
We all eventually made it and had to set up on the floor because the raised stage (for dance caller) was too small to accommodate all of us, even with two on the floor.
The buffet was full of many salads and the main course was tri-tip BBQ (slow roasted). As a fundraiser for the club at the end, they auctioned off the remaining beef in packages said to be about a pound – for $5.00. We got two, but only received a pound and a half of meat, so $6.67/lb. It was, however, nicely prepared, and the 10 Bucks went to a good cause.
The Round Dancing started as we were eating. Most of us knew and had experienced a simple form of square dancing growing up, but this dance many of us were not familiar with.
One Minute Round Dancing 4-2-16
We got home late but the horses were happy to be fed, and one of the ferals, Woody, was waiting for us half way in the drive. After we parked and were near the front door, she got up on the cable-table eating station – her favorite.
Sunday, Apr 3
For Apr 2 CPAP. CPAP off; oximeter on entire time with results graphed.
Another nice sunny day, with temperatures reaching 73. Maybe spring has finally sprung. John brought me a bouquet of 3 Daffodils a couple days ago. They cheered me.
Received a thank you note, via Facebook, from a former student, now in France, for a birthday card (Jacquie Lawson sent from the UK) we sent today. Lori worked for the National Park Service for years. We’ve got to catch up.
From: Lori Rome
Nancy and John, thank you so much for the lovely National Geographic digital card. That was very sweet of you. How are you guys doing? Any chance you might be interested in a visit to France? I’ll be here until January next year. How are all the animals doing? You really made my day. Lots of love.
John has been doing many yard chores today – moving firewood, tree trimming, feeding the animals, feeding us a brunch, and emptying 300 pounds of sandy soil from the back of a pickup.
John Using Black+Decker Pole Saw for De-Limbing
Several limbs from a Ponderosa 4-3-16 came down in this video.
Little branches and gravity
I checked through more boxes of materials, washed a load of dishes, worked on finalizing the details of the blog, and John went out back to transport the cut firewood around to a stack under the soffits of the barn.
Hope your week was fine.
Nancy and John
Still on the Naneum Fan