02-19-2019, 11:43 AM
HELP !
My son will be in Seattle next week and I wonder if he could buy a new CPAP machine for me while there . . . I'll explain.
I've had my CPAP for many years now and it is - not unlike me - rather decrepit with age. Where I live - in Ontario, Canada - apnea sufferers must jump through iron-clad hoops to get a new machine because the government subsidizes the purchase. I don't know if these rules apply across the border as well, but here, we are 'forbidden' to buy a new machine, using our own money, when our old one is no longer fully functional. We must, instead, see our GP and undergo a new overnight sleep test at a sleep clinic - which I consider a great way for the elderly to pick up any stray germs that might be hanging around those places.
We are told that millions of Canadians have sleep apnea but are not being tested. I'd prefer the money be spent on testing them so that industrial and domestic accidents might be prevented, rather than wasting tax dollars testing people who already know they have apnea, however . . .
My original experience of a sleep clinic was nothing short of appalling and cost me, and my husband and my new baby grand-daughter, six years of putting up with my increasing lack of sleep which made me cross, dull and impatient. I was told, as a result of the answers on a clipboard questionnaire, that I didn't have apnea and was refused an overnight sleep test.
When I positively insisted six years later, when all I wanted to do every morning was stay in bed for the day and try to get some decent sleep, that my GP arrange for an overnight test, the result was 'astonishing' to the 'expert' - although not to me. I had 498 'events' during an 8-hour period - was told that I have 'severe apnea' and was finally given 'permission' to buy a machine. The government did subsidise the purchase.
The 'expert' who had originally told me I didn't have apnea, didn't apologize for wrecking six years of our lives but simply said 'we all make mistakes' - which is the main reason I choose not to waste time at a sleep clinic again.
So, my question is, does anyone know - here in Ontario or in the States - if my son could buy a new machine for me in Seattle and get it back across the border absolutely legally? I'm not about to start breaking the law at my age !
I do find it rather odd - but all of a piece with usual political idiocy - that I can now buy marijuana legally in Canada but I can't buy such an innocuous and truly useful piece of equipment that is designed to prevent me dying my sleep! It is indeed a mad, mad, mad, mad world!
I've had my CPAP for many years now and it is - not unlike me - rather decrepit with age. Where I live - in Ontario, Canada - apnea sufferers must jump through iron-clad hoops to get a new machine because the government subsidizes the purchase. I don't know if these rules apply across the border as well, but here, we are 'forbidden' to buy a new machine, using our own money, when our old one is no longer fully functional. We must, instead, see our GP and undergo a new overnight sleep test at a sleep clinic - which I consider a great way for the elderly to pick up any stray germs that might be hanging around those places.
We are told that millions of Canadians have sleep apnea but are not being tested. I'd prefer the money be spent on testing them so that industrial and domestic accidents might be prevented, rather than wasting tax dollars testing people who already know they have apnea, however . . .
My original experience of a sleep clinic was nothing short of appalling and cost me, and my husband and my new baby grand-daughter, six years of putting up with my increasing lack of sleep which made me cross, dull and impatient. I was told, as a result of the answers on a clipboard questionnaire, that I didn't have apnea and was refused an overnight sleep test.
When I positively insisted six years later, when all I wanted to do every morning was stay in bed for the day and try to get some decent sleep, that my GP arrange for an overnight test, the result was 'astonishing' to the 'expert' - although not to me. I had 498 'events' during an 8-hour period - was told that I have 'severe apnea' and was finally given 'permission' to buy a machine. The government did subsidise the purchase.
The 'expert' who had originally told me I didn't have apnea, didn't apologize for wrecking six years of our lives but simply said 'we all make mistakes' - which is the main reason I choose not to waste time at a sleep clinic again.
So, my question is, does anyone know - here in Ontario or in the States - if my son could buy a new machine for me in Seattle and get it back across the border absolutely legally? I'm not about to start breaking the law at my age !
I do find it rather odd - but all of a piece with usual political idiocy - that I can now buy marijuana legally in Canada but I can't buy such an innocuous and truly useful piece of equipment that is designed to prevent me dying my sleep! It is indeed a mad, mad, mad, mad world!
