A month or so ago I noticed that I wasn't sleeping through the night anymore. I was tossing and turning a bit and I began to suspect that it had something to do with my CPAP mask. I've had it for quite some time and lately it has been getting closer to total structural failure - there's a hole in the cushion where the gel is leaking (now held in with cloth tape), the gel has begun to break down so a tight seal is no longer created, and the housing cracked around the hose joint. I called my friends at Austin Wheelchair & Oxygen, hoping to just get a replacement mask. I should bottle that optimism, because I could probably make a million bucks. Too bad it was all for naught (at the time).
Turns out that I could have been getting replacement hoses and masks every three or six months (respectively) for this entire time - but I didn't know that. Additionally, because I didn't know that, it had been long enough since I had been there that I needed to get a new prescription from my doctor for "lifetime CPAP supplies" due to some changes in the insurance regulations. So, before I could just get the replacement supplies I needed, I had to go back to the doctor to have him write a prescription. And, of course, he wouldn't write it without seeing me. And of course of course, their office moved way up into Round Rock, which was a bit further away from me where I now live. This meant that I had to wait an additional week and a half until I could see my doctor, get my scrip, and then go get my replacement parts.
I was worried about going to the doctor because they kept asking me for a copy of the sleep study that they prescribed for me, and I don't believe that I even ever saw the results of the sleep study, much less have retained a copy of them. The worrisome thing to me was that they don't have a copy of it and couldn't seem to remember where they sent me to have it done. As it turns out, the reason they don't have that information is because while the doctor has moved to the Round Rock office, apparently my records didn't come with him from the old office - which is about the dumbest thing I've ever heard. Fortunately, the doc didn't make me get another sleep study and we just talked for like ten minutes about whether or not the CPAP was still working and such. He ended up writing me the appropriate prescription as specified by the AW&O people and I was outta there.
Once I got to AW&O, the process moved much more smoothly. I got new filters, hoses, and a new mask that's silicon instead of gel (which will hopefully last longer and means I won't have to worry about it breaking down and leaking out). The best part was that my insurance paid for 100% of the equipment, which is a big deal because apparently many insurance companies consider that "disposable" equipment for which the individual is responsible. I was able to get out of there with a completely new set of paraphernalia at zero cost to me which is a boon to someone unemployed (such as myself). I just hope that my next insurance company at whatever job I land in has the same mindset. It's not like I'm going to grow out of my need for this machine.
So, I have high hopes for my sleep this evening. Hopefully there won't be too much getting used to the new mask such that my sleep is disrupted for a short time but in any case, now that I know the frequency of replacement, I have set up my Centro to alert me every three and six months to check my equipment and see if replacement is warranted.
For once, the medical insurance system worked like it should. Mark it down, baby.
