BPAP

At my most recent appointment Amanda pointed out that my arms felt noticeably sweaty. The real issue was that I was getting sweaty while I was doing mundane things.

The folks at Hopkins sent us home with a pulse oximeter; a small device that clips on your finger. I wore it overnight, and sent it back to Hopkins so they could examine the recording.

I forgot all about it until Hopkins called me on Wednesday, and explained that the oxygen levels in my blood seemed to fluctuate during the night.

Their recommendation? That  I get a BPAP device.

The first version of the BPAP was taken off
the market due to the unpopularity of polka. 

Your next question is probably, "what is a BPAP device?" I'll do the easy thing and copy and paste from Wikipedia: Bilevel positive airway pressure (BPAP) is a continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) mode used during noninvasive positive pressure ventilation.

The easiest way to explain it is to think of it as a machine that aids me in taking full, deep breaths while I sleep.

My BPAP machine

I think if I had more time to think about it the prospect of being hooked up to a breathing machine would have been very challenging to process. As it happened, things moved so quickly I didn't have time to think about it; A local medical supply company came and installed the BPAP about an hour later.