07-11-2021, 08:05 AM
The final days of my AirSense 10
(or how I got an early AirSense 11)
I had a colonoscopy on 5/28/2021 -- my second, ever. I knew from the first time that the anesthesiologists seem not-very-interested in letting the patient actually use PAP during the procedure, despite the patient instructions being YES, BRING YOUR PAP, but this time, the anesthesiologist was adamant. "I'll take care of you."
"Well, what does that mean? Will you have to wake me, mid-procedure, like last time?"
"Yes, but I can start an airway..."
"Whoa, whoa. Like, intubation? Why would you do that, when the PAP will make that unnecessary?"
"That's just how we do it."
After not eating for a day, and two previous preps that led nowhere due to COVID-19, there's only so far you want to push things. Of course, the anesthesiologist had to wake me just long enough to get my O2 sats up, then, back to sleep. No airway was started, and my AirSense 10 sat right there in its travel bag, unopened, unused.
That afternoon, I slept poorly. The machine didn't seem to be delivering enough pressure. My roommate said she heard me snoring. I checked the date I received the A10. It was exactly five years and two weeks. Sure enough, ResMed says the expected useful life of the product is five years. Huh, imagine that. The insurance company will also pay for a new machine once every five years. Surely, this is merely coincidental.
So, weeks of fighting every bureaucratic functionary I encountered (a topic I'm sure has been covered, and we should organize some lobbying efforts to FIX THIS), I finally got the AirSense 11. That's a harangue for another thread that hopefully some of you have already started, but look at the OSCAR data for the period of time before and after the colonoscopy, which was the first time in several years that the A10 was unplugged for several hours (attached).
Comments?
I had a colonoscopy on 5/28/2021 -- my second, ever. I knew from the first time that the anesthesiologists seem not-very-interested in letting the patient actually use PAP during the procedure, despite the patient instructions being YES, BRING YOUR PAP, but this time, the anesthesiologist was adamant. "I'll take care of you."
"Well, what does that mean? Will you have to wake me, mid-procedure, like last time?"
"Yes, but I can start an airway..."
"Whoa, whoa. Like, intubation? Why would you do that, when the PAP will make that unnecessary?"
"That's just how we do it."
After not eating for a day, and two previous preps that led nowhere due to COVID-19, there's only so far you want to push things. Of course, the anesthesiologist had to wake me just long enough to get my O2 sats up, then, back to sleep. No airway was started, and my AirSense 10 sat right there in its travel bag, unopened, unused.
That afternoon, I slept poorly. The machine didn't seem to be delivering enough pressure. My roommate said she heard me snoring. I checked the date I received the A10. It was exactly five years and two weeks. Sure enough, ResMed says the expected useful life of the product is five years. Huh, imagine that. The insurance company will also pay for a new machine once every five years. Surely, this is merely coincidental.
So, weeks of fighting every bureaucratic functionary I encountered (a topic I'm sure has been covered, and we should organize some lobbying efforts to FIX THIS), I finally got the AirSense 11. That's a harangue for another thread that hopefully some of you have already started, but look at the OSCAR data for the period of time before and after the colonoscopy, which was the first time in several years that the A10 was unplugged for several hours (attached).
Comments?
