It’s hard to believe I’ve been struggling with fatigue for so long. It was Intelli Cup two years ago where I had a difficult time recovering from that humongous effort. 10 straight days of racing does require a significant recovery period, but that came and went. And I was still tired. I started drinking (and enjoying!) coffee because of the need to fight this extreme fatigue.
It took almost a year for the diagnosis and sleep study. I tried the CPAP. I tried to make it work. While it slightly improved my AHI (apnea / hypopnea index) it wasn’t effective at making me feel more rested. I was woken up by the air blowing on exit ports on the mask. Woken by the noise. I would wake up with my mouth open, which makes wearing the damn thing pointless and ineffective. Dry mouth. Irritated skin. It just really sucked. And I tried. I really wanted to see results and feel better. Feel more rested.
So I did some research and looked into an alternative solution. I got the referral from my doc to see the ENT surgeon at Northwestern who just started implanting an upper airway stimulation device. I went in this winter for a minor procedure to see if my airway collapses the “right” way for the device to work properly. After a few more boxes checked, I was approved. And my insurance covered it! (The implant itself is around $24,000.)
Recovery time post surgery is significant, so I asked for the first available after June 1 aka Kanza. Four days after battling the flint hills gravel, I was on a table in the OR, getting gently cut open in three areas. Crazy technology was inserted into my body. And I became officially bionic.
I was {supposed to be} off the bike for a month waiting for my wounds to heal and my leads to stay in place. The first few days were pretty terrible and I found the pain meds to be necessary. The three incisions were swollen and painful and the lead wire “track” from my neck to the device was very annoyed and bruised. I couldn’t say “ch” for a week {aka my name was very mumbled answering the phone at work} as my tongue was swollen and pissed off. Kyle was there for the first few days before heading into his final push, so that was very helpful. Super Sherpa really stepped up with DK support and post surgery nurse work. {In 2012 I did a half Ironman and 3 days later got my tonsils out – theming here.}
Sleeping was made even more tough my the wounds and foreign bits in my body. But I started feeling better two weeks after the surgery and each day after that had marked improvements. I rode the trainer twice before waiting another week to ride outside. And I missed it so much I rode twice on Tuesday and twice on Wednesday. Coffee rides, donuts, and ice cream stops were all a part of the plan. Rapha was putting on an event in the Driftless area of IL and I had that as a healing goal to look forward too. I knew I needed to get back on gravel, not racing, just riding with friends. 4 weeks post DK and 3.5 weeks post surgery I did it.
It’s hard to explain what that day did for me. I found an unsuspecting friend who did more to help me heal than she’ll ever know. Getting back on Miss Vivian on some of my favorite gravel brought a warmth to my heart that I won’t soon forget. And not just warmth from the insane summer heat + humidity.
Last Tuesday I got the remote. The docs turned it on at the office and it’s much less sharp and less intense of an impulse than what I was expecting. I’ve had it for a week and it hasn’t woken me up yet. They give you three months to use it, and I’ll slowly increase the intensity on the remote. In October I’ll go back for a sleep study to actually measure how much stimulation is required to keep my airway open.
I can’t say I feel more or less rested at this point. I know it’s not a miracle device, but I’m really hoping this improves my quality of life and allows me to have more restful sleep.
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