Sleep

Since coming out of coma in late July 1993 after my May 22, 1993 accident, I have not slept the night through. I long ago made peace with this situation, believing that the brain injury I suffered was to blame. But early in 2012, a friend suggested a sleep study, and my doctor agreed that, although I had had one in 1994 that found nothing, after so long an interval a repeat might be warranted. So, last October, I had a sleep study done through the University of Michigan.

This led to the diagnosis of sleep apnea, and the prescription of a CPAP (Constant Positive Airway Pressure) machine for me - a small box connected to a humidifier that pumps humidified air through a flexible tube into a full-face mask that I wear while in bed. (Less intrusive nose pillows are an option for some people, rather than the full face mask, but they proved ineffective for me when tried in the sleep study.) I got the machine on December 28, and by now, in early April, I have gotten fairly used to it, and, although not experiencing any dramatic changes (yet), have noticed improvement. I still wake in the night most nights, but for less time, and my sleep is better and more sustained while I am in bed. I hope for continued improvement as I continue with it.

Ongoing fitness battle

Though I ran fairly diligently and regularly between the beginning of 2006 and the end of 2011 (as I had done semi-regularly prior to my 1993 accident), I have not been able to run since December 7, 2011, due to pain in both my back and my left knee. When the doctor delivered the verdict of arthritis last year, and said I needed to make up my mind that running was now finished for me, I was outraged. However, my good friend Doug Tidd has been working for some years to convert me to bicycling, and since the doctor thoroughly approved of this non-impact activity, I made the switch, beginning on an elliptical machine throughout the last half of 2012, and riding outdoors in the early part of this year (when the weather made this feasible - which was very seldom). I now also have a blog about my biking - http://ride-ab-ride.blogspot.com/