TGIF all you idiots. God, today was a long day. But then I got to see this commercial (thanks RoTN) What is the back story here? Did the mattress company see any backlash? Edit: Yeah, people were big mad.
So that place was super local to me. Like, 20 minutes away local. Turns out the bitch in that commercial was the GM, as well as owner's daughter. She filmed it and sent it out without daddy's permission or knowledge. After some damage control, they eventually hired a big PR firm. When that didn't work, they fired her, said she was an idiot, hoped that would stop it. Still, no one ever visited the store so they quickly went out of business anyway, along with a ton of legal and PR fees to boot. Yes people were suing them for emotional trauma, because San Antonio has the largest concentration of military bases in the US. So much so that our nickname is "Military City, USA" (and they're extremely blue, go figure). It remains one of the most tone-deaf marketing attempts I've ever seen, and I have personal knowledge that it is now used as an example in the business/marketing/PR curriculum by professors of many universities, especially locally but some nationally.
Thanks for the pro-sleep-apnea-treatment comments from everyone. It got me thinking. Hubs started getting evaluated last year but they needed him to come in for a second study and it got dropped with other stuff going on. I encouraged him to get evaluated recently because he has zero energy all the time. Hooray, the VA is going to have him do a study on the 19th. The tiredness has worsened over the time we have been together, but looking back, I see the change. Usually he goes to bed later than me but I was awake last night and holy crap, it was uncomfortable to hear how many apnea episodes he was having next to me. No fucking wonder he is tired. I can't wait for him to get some treatment.
Physically I feel a quick improvement in my lack of fatigue. Mentally, I find that I'm still improving. People at work are actually noticing it... I'm not as grumpy or cynical as I was, and seem happier. I never really noticed that aspect before, just figured it was all part of the bullshit that comes with being one of 8k employees in a public company... but now I do seem to have a more positive outlook on things, even things that are fucking retarded. I tend to think that it is, in some major respect, due to the fact that I'm now sleeping properly at night.
Yeah, the shift has been noticeable. It wasn't a boundless leap in energy but going from a baseline of zombie garbage to normal on a consistent day to day basis has been world changing. I still need to adjust to my situation with the unit. They gave me a nose pillow first since Im a side sleeper. I have terrible allergies (and a deviated septum) so Ive been battling a clogged nose waking me up. My brother gave me his extra full nose mask that is hard plastic and that has helped prevent rolling on and closing one side. Ive turned up the humidity on my unit to the point I was getting "rain outs" but that still didn't prevent them. Ive tried a number of nasal sprays, neti pots, and allergy meds. I want to try a full face mask. It was surprising to see that when the pathway is forced open I am not a mouth breather and it is very easy to keep my mouth closed when it is on. Going through insurance has been a pain and convoluted. It's a rent to own situation where you have to wear it 4+ hours a night. It (supposedly) automatically connects to wifi to report your stats to them which is weird and creepy and Im waiting for an email or call that it hasn't been reporting and Im stuck with a huge bill. The final cost is calculated over 12 month's payments, 44$ a month unless Ive hit my insurance deductible then it goes down to 8 bucks a month. So if Id have started payments in January and hit my deductible in January it be 96 bucks. If I never hit my deductible it'd be $528. Kind of twisted you are paying 5 times as much if you stay healthy. They are $1000 dollars off the shelf with no insurance. For what these units are they are MAYBE 150 dollar devices if they weren't part of the healthcare industrial complex racket. Still think they should be non prescription. Magically when hearing aids went off prescription they went from 5k to 800 bucks. Yeah the downstream psychological improvements have been good too. Without the underlying fatigue affecting my mood Im happier and stressful situations aren't as daunting. I just got back from my first ever business trip to a trade show, by myself, with next to zero guidance on what to actually do at the show. Only a single snag shipping our stuff back but everything else about the trip went off without a hitch. My baseline positivity I think played a big roll.
Yeah, I have a ResMed 11, and it reports data back to the docs nightly, as well as reporting usage stats to the app on my phone. It's all paid for by the Ontario government... well, I just pay $125, they pick up the rest, and I own it outright. The 6 month replacement parts are covered by my medical plan. The government doesn't fuck around with this stuff... assuming you can get into a sleep clinic to get a prescription (which they pay for 100%), it's easy/cheap to get set up. They'll pay for a replacement machine every 2 years or if it's damaged/lost.
He is going through the VA and won't see a cost, as far as I know. The sleep studies he did on private insurance last year sure weren't free. I think the copay for just 1 inconclusive sleep study was $100 or something. I think the volume isn't as bad at this VA because he hasn't run into any of the horror stories you hear about at other facilities. It's mostly elderly retirees at his VA hospital location and he has gotten reasonably prompt care. All the patients and staff were all thrilled the last time we visited with our 3 year old, heh.
Family bbq tomorrow for 16 people celebrating a birthday. Drunken beans for 16 just went in the oven. I absolutely love this bean recipe.
For those interested, the ingredients are: boiled a bag of raw pinto beans for about 2 hours to get them soft mixed a bunch of apple cider vinegar, brown sugar, french mustard, medium salsa, cayenne pepper, chopped up chili and jalapeno peppers, garlic powder into a slurry added in the beans until the pan was full (had to throw out a bit of the cooked beans, but they were stupid cheap so not a big deal) topped up the pan with a mexican beer (Modelo). This lasagna pan took 2 bottles. topped with strips of bacon in the oven at 400°F for 90 minutes, or longer if needed. They are great cold or warm. Fantastic spiced flavour. The mix of the salsa, beer, sugar... it's a party in your mouth.
My dad as well. He's 9/11/55, but he's still here with us. Speaking of dad's, mine has really bad sleep apnea and has a machine with him all the time. We are basically clones of one another and I think I have it as well, but it's not as bad. I did a sleep study way back in the day and they said I definitely had moments while sleeping where my 02 levels dropped into the mid to low 90's, but I didn't have very many sleep interruptions so they didn't offer any further info as far as getting a CPAP. I wonder if now that it's been 12 years, it's gotten worse and I should look to get a study done again. I have some other sleep shit going on which doesn't help with being rested during the day, so I don't know if getting a CPAP would be worth it for me, but I guess it's one of those things I should probably seek out another sleep study to find out.
So what time should we all leave so that we can arrive appropriately tomorrow when nobody from your family shows up again?
Starts at 3. If nobody shows, my dog and I will be very gaseous for a few days after we’ve eaten a pan of deliciousness.
Everything Nett and Kubla said. I just got my ResMed 10 two days ago and I already feel a difference in fatigue and a noticeable difference in mental sharpness. After only 2 days. And I’ve adjusted pretty quickly to wearing it. I’ve got the nose piece but I definitely need a full mask. My mouth doesn’t stay closed, even with a chinstrap, and the air then goes in your nostrils and out your mouth- which feels fucking weird and wakes me up. And even with that I’m clearly getting better rest.
My wife’s birthday is 9/10. She’s Mexican, so I treated her with her favorite ethnic dishes for her birthday meal tonight: Chicken wings and sushi. On a different note - my kids are now 12 and (almost) 10. Every time we go out to eat, I have to basically pay for FOUR goddamn adults. Was I forced to order chicken nuggets off the kids menu tonight because that’s the only GD thing I could afford after watching these gluttons get after it? Maybe. Am I even mad since those aforementioned nuggies were GD delightful? Perchance. …. Are all of y’all still a bunch of Canadians? Or have we freed yalll yet?