For years I had snored. As a sufferer of asthma and hayfever I got worse as I aged, to the extent my Jack Russell terrier mimicked me. At the age of 66 my daughter suggested I get a Sleep Aponea test. And lo and behold there was this man in Mansfield who was the guru in this area. I wouldn’t even have to leave town. His name is Andrew Nunn and he is the Sleep Consultant at the Mansfield Medical Clinic.
We made an appointment whereby he would visit me and bring all the equipment for the test. It was kind of a Monty Python moment when he arrived at my home whereby he dropped all his gear and it splattered all over the verandah. ‘I’m having a bad day’ he says drily. I thought then, I like this ‘lad’.
Andrew rings a few weeks later: Do you want to know the good news or the bad news first? Actually there is no good news – your test results mean you are going to die if you don’t get a machine or you could have a stroke and end up in a wheelchair, slobbering and wetting your pants for the rest of your life . . .
He didn’t really say it like that because he is far too professional, but I read between the lines.
OK then, I need a machine. Let’s do it.
It was downhill all the way for the next six months. There was no way I could even contemplate having the mask over my face, so we went for the tubes up the nose one – couldn’t put up with that either. Andrew patiently (most times) kept pointing out the advantages once I got used to it. I yelled at him a lot and swore. He put up with heaps from me but you know what?
He never gave up on me.
I have successfully been using the machine for eighteen months now; I made up my own straps with fine ribbons to attach to the tube and I am the peak of the happiness every morning – no more headaches when I awake, no falling asleep while cutting up vegetables and being able to drive long distances without nodding off are just a few of the wonderful advantages the machine gives you.
But you see the machine would be nothing without the likes of Andrew being involved in so many ways. He is so passionate and good at what he does, it must make his life so frustrating when people like me take so long to be convinced.
Just today Andrew kindly came around to my home and cleaned and polished my machine and pipes and when he removed the filter which resembled a Mongolian Yak who had just gone through a very severe winter he simply said: your dog has either got to stop sleeping on your bed or be put down!
Actually, he didn’t really say it like that – but here again I read between the lines.
Thank you Andrew – and keeping scoring those one hundreds.
