I slept well enough two nights ago with no breathing strips or anything, or at least as well as a 60-year-old can sleep. Due to there still being swelling and scarring in my nose that's going to take weeks to heal, I had a little bit of buildup interfering with my sleep last time around, so I don't quite have as much energy as yesterday, but I still have enough to function. I haven't decided yet if I'm going to put gauze tape over my nose to force myself to breathe through my mouth the next time I sleep, but I'm definitely going to put the humidifier on. The CPAP has its own humidifier, but since I can't use that until the 12th, I'll humidify the room.

I've been throwing saline up there a lot. I don't want to be too forceful trying to get boogers out because I don't want to cause any bleeding.

This ordeal has taught me a valuable lesson, and that's that having to temporarily go without the CPAP isn't the crisis I thought it would be. I may have to elevate myself, which I don't prefer, and block my nose so I subconsciously breathe out of my mouth instead of my nose, but it can be done.

According to my research, losing 30 to 35 pounds might get me off CPAP therapy altogether. There are no guarantees, but I think there might be a good chance. The problem is the Hashimoto's and my age. I would have to be hungry every single day of my life. There's no taking a day off, even if it was just once a week, because that's all it would take in my case to undo all my hard work. Aside from the fear of how they affect my levo, I would have to have 1200 calories a day every day for the better part of a year or longer to get my weight down to 125ish. Then I could jump to 1400 calories a day, but even that, on a day when I happen to be hungrier than usual or I'm craving some serious variety, could be a challenge to sustain every single day for the rest of my life. Therefore, I decided to do an experiment before and if I invest so much time and discomfort into this. I agree that if I could do it, the health benefits would be great. Not only might I get out of CPAP therapy, but it would help my blood pressure, cholesterol, A1C, mobility, etc., so rather than jump in with 125 lb in mind, I thought I would see if I could bring it to 155 (I'm 162). Then what I would do would be to jump up to 1400 calories if I could get my weight down there and see if it really stays down or not. Again, no sense in slaving through dieting if it's not going to get me anywhere. I just don't know when to start.

Yesterday was the last day of eye drops. My eye infection, along with my yeast infection, seems to be all cleared up.

Anyway, I still don't want to get my hopes up where sleep is concerned until I know if I can go one solid week sleeping well. That doesn't mean I'm not still older and won't wake up here and there, but I want to go that long without breathing issues before I really start getting overly excited. It was funny, though, because preparing for bed was so easy the last couple of nights. I brushed my teeth and asked myself, is that it? Normally I have to brush my teeth, give my nose an extra washing to strip it of oils, put my nose strip on, take a steroid spray, take an antihistamine, prepare the CPAP, etc. It was like preparing for a battle I knew I wasn't going to win.

It's been so wonderful not having to worry about my schedule or appointments in the immediate future! I was starting to feel like I was at the doctor's more than I was at home.

Tomorrow will be the first fun day since surgery, and I'm looking forward to spoiling myself and being really bad, lol. I've got some coffee-flavored ice cream coming, some white zinfandel wine, and a couple of candles that were on sale—Spring Honeysuckle and Tropical Serenade.