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Day Surgery on Monday - told to take my PAP machine?
#1
Day Surgery on Monday - told to take my PAP machine?
I had an MRI taken to diagnose pain behind my right eye and weeks of vertigo. It transpires that the r/h sinus has a chronic fungal infection filling up the space, but there's also "something" in there, alongside the optic nerve. ENT guy says he has no idea what the small mass is, so he will perform endoscopic day surgery on Monday to clear out the infection, identify the 'thing' and possibly remove it. Fingers crossed.

But I was intrigued to receive instruction to take my APAP along with me. They say I will be fitted up with it while the general anaesthetic wears off. I assume this is because I might suffer apneas as I wake up?

Anybody else been told to do this? I can't imagine another person being able to attach my FF mask without serious leaks. As you all know, it's a bit of an art ...
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#2
RE: Day Surgery on Monday - told to take my PAP machine?
I have had numerous surgeries and was told to bring my cpap . They have never used it.
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#3
RE: Day Surgery on Monday - told to take my PAP machine?
Maybe just in case you have to stay longed then a day???
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#4
RE: Day Surgery on Monday - told to take my PAP machine?
Hospitals are busy places.  Then it gets crazy. I had pulmonary vein catheter ablation to stop AFib a week ago.  I had my kit with me.  It was still in the closet when I was discharged later that day. 

If you have to be left alone for any length of time, say during recovery, and the person above has it correct about something else going wrong and you have to stay...a week...sumbuddy's gotta go get your machine, pack it up, and haul it back to you.

Or, you could have it handy.  Thumbs-up-2
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#5
RE: Day Surgery on Monday - told to take my PAP machine?
The 'just in case' scenario was my first thought too, but the admission advice specifically said that I MIGHT be fitted up with the machine during my recovery from anaesthesia. I have never heard of that before, but I see where they are coming from.

Like I said though, putting CPAP on a sleeping patient would be very difficult to do. I have to firkle my mask for a little while after putting it on in order to avoid leaks.

Or maybe it's just more legal a*se covering. Let's face it, hospitals are run by lawyers theae days.

I must say the pre-admission questionnaire I had to complete was ridiculously detailed. I really don't know how some old folks would manage it.
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#6
RE: Day Surgery on Monday - told to take my PAP machine?
Hi Steve, yep gotta love those self-registration online forms: estimated time 4 or 5 minutes. An hour later... it's like the self service checkouts, no discounts for doing their work for them LOL!

I recently had day surgery booked for prostate biopsy (too much information) but landed up having to stay overnight. Had to get my wife to rush home and collect whole CPAP rigmarole. Next time I will just pack my spare unit with me. Amazing how vulnerable you can feel when told you better stay overnight and your first thought is oh no, I won't have my CPAP with me. All worked out fine in the end.

I doubt they will use your CPAP in recovery, knowing OHS and infection control nazis in hospitals.
Before my CPAP I also had some day surgery procedures and was told I gave them a 'rough time' in recovery. That was before my OSA diagnosis. In retrospect this was obviously airways management issues. These days now that they know I have Sleep Apnea they pay more attention to airways management in recovery. Either way they will have you monitored prior to allow you to take care of your own breathing.

Good luck with the surgery, hopefully just an polyp or benign issue.
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#7
RE: Day Surgery on Monday - told to take my PAP machine?
Well the surgery went well, insofar as removing the infection and opening up the sinus was concerned. I was greatly relieved to hear that the unidentified foreign body was nothing sinister but 'just' a dense clump of infected gunk.

As some of you suggested, the CPAP wasn't used during recovery. I must say how impressed I was overall with the treatment, but especially the anaesthetist, who was very diligent indeed, taking every possible precaution because of my heart disease. 10/10

I am however coming to realise that recovery from sinus surgery isn't a trivial or short process though. I'm rather glad I didn't know in advance, but full recovery can take weeks or even months. The problems I was having haven't yet gone away, the worst of which is throbbing pain around and behind my right eye. I'm still experiencing minor bleeding though, so it's clear that the damaged tissue is still to heal up. Fingers crossed on that.

One aspect of recovery that's frustrating me at present is significant discomfort due to excessive dryness in my nasal passages and sinus while using my APAP. I haven't been able to alleviate this through humidity settings but I guess the tissue and membranes will be unusually sensitive till they're all healed up. More fingers crossed!
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#8
RE: Day Surgery on Monday - told to take my PAP machine?
Hi Steve, that's good news that the surgery and recovery went well. 

I think we can sometimes underestimate recovery times, for any kind of surgery or injury, eps as we get on in years.

At the moment I can't remember which part of Oz you are in but only want to share this: in summer here in Perth with A/C the bedroom relative humidity drops to around 30 - 40% and I get dry eyes and nose: the way I deal with that is a room humidifier which lifts the RH somewhat and helps a bit. At the moment here in winter my room RH is 50 - 60% and so I currently don't need that. Seasonal variations needed with CPAP/APAP!  It may not help in your case of course, there are bound to be crusts and scars up there that will need some time to heal. We would be interested in your progress in a few weeks'/months' time, hoping the pain goes away soon.
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