At the age of 67 in 2012, I have always had my health as my top priority...and it will remain the same until I die.  Because of this, I have always gotten a physical exam. and blood tests, shots  every year for early detection (if any) and prevention, etc.   

For about five years, I kept tract of my glucose (blood sugar), as it was elevated, and I was worried about going over the line and having diabetes.  One day, in 2008, I got a letter from my doctor, informing me that my glucose had, indeed, gone over the line, and now I had diabetes. 

Over a period of a decade or so, I have had six job lay-offs, and needless to say, I have had many sleepless nights during that time...so I know what the people feel like in 2012...I've been there...and I've done that...

In 2008, I was told by my doctor, that my glucose  had gone over the line, and now I had diabetes.  I wasn't surprised, because I had been watching my elevated glucose for years.  But, what would I do about it?  I had no idea!

Then, one day in 2009, I watched an episode of 60 Minutes on CBS, and the story was about the corrulation between diabetes (Type 2) and sleep dis-orders.  Well, I sat up straight and listened with intent.  I was amazed at what I heard.  I had been having sleep problems for over two years now, and I thought that sleep problems be tied to the diabetes. 

I was amazed at what I saw and heard on 60 Minutes, and so much so, that I quickly went out on the Internet to do research, and I wrote the following article;

Sleep Deprivation and Diabetes (Type 2)

I felt quite convinced about what I saw on 60 Minutes was the truth, and now the answer to my diabetes, was to get my own sleep drepivation under control.  I started out, by taking a couple of sleep tests at the local hospital and under my HMO.  I would sleep at the hospital for one night, and I was wired up by the nurses on the head and body, and observed and taped all night at my sleep habits. 

The diagnosis was to take two sleep tests, about two months apart, and then the answer to my sleep problems should be known.  I took my first sleep test in June, 2009, and I was wired up the night before, and it was pretty much uneventful. 

During this time, and for about two years, I had sinus problems...which was on and off, and I continued to try to find a cure for it. 

Because of the sinus problems, the second sleep test was different.  The sinuses usually just bothered my in the daytime hours, and never affected my at night, and my breathing was never affected.  Except for the night of the second sleep test.  I went to bed, as usual, about 9:00 that evening, and during the sleep, as with the first sleep test, the patient has to wear a CPAP mask (Continuous Positive Airway Pressure).

During the first sleep test, the wearing of the mask, didn't bother me and I slep all night, and left the hospital in the early morning.  But, during the second sleep test was different.  About 5:00 in the morning, my sinuses started bothering me, and this was unusual for me, and I ripped off the breathing mask, so I could breath. 

Noticing this on the computer, the nurse came bursting into the room, and tried to find out why the mask had come off.  I told the nurse that I had ripped off the mask so I could breath...that my sinuses were bothering me, and I was having trouble breathing.  It was so close to quitting time, that the nurse declared that the test was over, and told me to prepare to leave the hospital. 

A doctor's visit about two weeks later, and I would find out what happened as a result of the two sleep tests.  Sleep apnea, I was told, and prescribed a CPAP machine to sleep with at night.  My co-payment on the machine was about $60 and I paid it when the salesperson came over and showed my how to use it. 

The problems with the sinuses continued, and I told myself that I would not this CPAP machine, until I solved the sinus problem.  I was familiar with the CPAP machine, because I had used it on both sleep tests at the hospital.  So, the CPAP sat there unused, for several months.  I would not use this machine until I got the answer to the sinus problem...and that point probably turned out to be one of the best things that ever happened to me. 

At the age of 67, I have never liked cops and robbers and crime mysteries as a source of entertainment on television.  I always found something else to entertain myslef. 

But, one day, the television was left of, and there was an episode of Dateline on NBC.  It was about a father whose daughter was murdered in their own house...in the bedroom...just a few feet from where the father slept.  But, how could someone be murdered in the bedroom, and nobody hears what is going on?  I got interested in the story, and watched and listened. 

As the Dateline cameras slowly scanned the bedroom, where the father slept...and then on the father himself...guess what he was wearing to sleep...a CPAP mask! 

I jumped out of my chair..."That's it," I said to myself!  The CPAP mask is a safety hazard and a danger to me if I wear it.  The father in the Dateline episode couldn't hear his daughter getting murdered...that's why it happened, and nobody knew about it, not even the father.  I was amazed...and it was like a 'silver lining'...it was to be...I would NOT wear that mask.  The next morning, I threw a new CPAP machine away in the dumpster! 

In 2009, I moved into a senior apartment complex, where there are about 175 residents.  You talk about feeling out of place...that was when I was about 63 years of age.  I felt like a teeny-bopper, because all the residents on my floor are over 80 years old, and a couple of them, are on wheelchairs and a couple of them are pushing walkers around.  Ruthie down the hall is 94 years of age...and you know what that means?  I'm on my own here...half of the people are deaf...or going deaf...and I don't think there is anyone on my floor, that could come to my rescue, if something awful happened! 

I could knock on somebody's door here...and I could wait 30 years for an answer!  Two people have died on my floor...and two were taken to a nursing home...I'm on my own here for sure...

It's true ...our senses help to keep us all safe...especially at night when we're all asleep...

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Copyright; 2012; Jerry Aragon; The Humor Doctor;