So my theater peeps will know what I'm talking about here. You're in a show, and one cast member gets sick with some icky upper respiratory crud. And then said icky respiratory crud starts making its way around the cast, especially among those who share a dressing room with the aforementioned "Patient Zero". So you start popping Airborne, and washing your hands more often, and pray this one will pass you by. But of course, it doesn't. And you find yourself in the throes of said nasty viral illness during the next weekend of the show. A show for which there are no understudies and no "backup plan".
So you soldier on and give it 100% of the 40% or so you have left in you, meanwhile feeling guilty as hell because you are only working 9-10 hour work days in your day job (in addition to performances) because the rest of your team is working crazy stupid around-the-clock hours and you don't feel like you are justified in taking a sick day when you already work from home. And you try to ignore the fact that you are asthmatic and have a propensity to develop bronchitis at the drop of a hat, and definitely as a result of any "common cold" that isn't immediately taken care of. Thereby ending up completely useless and feeling like death after said weekend of performances.
Okay, maybe that last part only applies to me ...
Anyway ... You may be wondering what that has to do with my experiences with sleep apnea and CPAP therapy. Well, honestly, nothing much except that I wanted to vent my frustrations about how much more using the CPAP makes being sick SUCK MAJOR DONKEY BALLS.
First of all, it is much more difficult to catch a quick nap, which is something I not only like to do but pretty much NEED to do when I'm fighting off a cold. I can't just grab 30 minutes on the sofa, I have to go into the bedroom and hook myself up to the machine, and let myself get comfortable, etc, etc, etc. I actually ended up giving up several naps for this reason, which was definitely to my detriment.
Secondly, even with a full face mask, trying to breathe through one of those things with a stuffed up nose and major sinus pressure is pretty unpleasant. Just makes all the pressure feel that much more enhanced when you have pressurized air blowing into your face every couple seconds. Coughing into the mask is equally unpleasant. And the feeling when you wake up and your ears are totally plugged up because of all that extra pressure and stuff, oh yeah, that's just tons of fun.
Then you get to add the extra special feeling of claustrophobia induced by having to wear a full face mask when you are struggling enough to breathe due to a full blown bronchial infection. And again, waking up every few hours with a coughing fit into said mask, thereby further enhancing said claustrophobic feeling.
I can only hope that the drug combination the doctor prescribed (antibiotic for the infection, prednisone for the inflammation, and codeine cough syrup to help me sleep) will kick this to the curb so that I don't have to keep on feeling like something that came oozing out of a dog's rectum, and I can resume my more loving relationship with my CPAP machine.
Okay, end whining ranting uber discontented and rather emo blog post.
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