New Tablet!

  I've been stuck in bed the past two weeks (aside from a day here or there when I felt well enough to get up for a while). To some people, that might sound ideal--you get to sleep as much as you want! You don't have to move! You can laze around in bed like you haven't a care in the world.

  Too bad it's not like that.

  After a day or so in bed, you start to get bored. Even if you're asleep 20 out of 24 hours of the day, that's still 4 hours a day where you're stuck in bed. Then there are the cramps. Laying in bed may sound great, except that you aren't moving. And if you aren't moving, you start to cramp up. Positions that used to be comfortable cause various joints to ache and muscles to twinge. Even if you get up every so often to move around, it's not enough to combat those 20 hours you're asleep.

  But that's not why I'm writing this! No more moping and whining, because I have a new tablet!

  For me, when I'm dealing with being stuck in bed, my tablet is a necessary object. Always within reach while I'm in bed are three things: my phone, my bottles of water, and my tablet. Before electronic gizmos were so readily available, it would have been a stack of books. However, I've been beaned in the face enough times by teetering stacks of books that the tablet is by far the better choice. Not only can I read my entire library without stumbling out of bed, but I can play mindless portable games to get my brain off the pain. Tablets, unlike computers, don't require you to sit upright. The screen is a lot dimmer, which makes it easier on eyes that send stabbing pain through the brain when exposed to too much light. I can watch movies, listen to music, and talk to people, all from the (dis)comfort of flat on my back in bed!

  Yeah, tablets are great, and mine is practically a medical device. I've had the Galaxy Note 10.1 since a few months after the tablet was released. I love it. Nice, big screen. The stylus is wonderful for sketching, drawing, or writing, if I feel like writing instead of typing. Unfortunately, a) it's heavy--size means weight. And b) it's only the 16gig version. When I bought it, I didn't think that was a problem. I grabbed a 64gig microSD card to go along with it and figured that by the time I filled 80gigs, my tablet would probably be on its last legs.

  However, that didn't take into account the fact that with the original Note 10.1, you can't save apps to the external microSD card. You can save files, but most apps that can be installed on the Note 10.1 don't allow you to specify the save locations for their data. That means manually hunting down and moving files around.

  And as Android app games have gotten more complex, they've also gotten larger. My poor Note 10.1 ran out of space a couple of months ago, and no matter how many apps I removed or disabled, and no matter how many files I shifted around, I couldn't seem to clear more than half a gig of space. And then the frame cracked.

  I could have lived with all of that, using it as an ebook reader while treating it like it was made of spun glass to avoid cracking it further. But the Note 10.1 is heavy. Add all those little problems together, and I decided it was time to get a new--smaller--tablet.

  Just in time, the Memorial Day sales hit Amazon! I've had my eye on the Samsung Galaxy Tab S2 8.0" (yes, I'm a bit of a Samsung fangirl--every Samsung device I've had has performed admirably) for months now. I did my research, and everything I could find about the Tab S2 indicated that it was one of the best tablets on the market right now. Not only would it be considerably faster than my Note 10.1, the screen resolution is much larger, despite being 8.0" to the Note's 10.1". The 32gig internal storage is double my poor Note's 16gigs, and that took me over 4 years to fill! I imagine it'll take me closer to 8 to fill the Tab S2. On the one hand, it allows you to install most apps to the microSD card, and can hold up to a 128gig microSD card. On the other hand, apps will keep getting bigger as they become more complex, especially games.

  Via the wonder of Amazon Prime, I ordered my Tab S2 yesterday evening, and have already spent the last couple of hours playing with it as the pain lets me. Next day delivery, woo!

  It's practically half the weight of the Note 10.1, which makes reading easier. After two weeks of reading/playing Android games in bed, my right wrist hates me since it bears most of the weight of the tablet. There are so many lovely things about my new toy! I even took pictures of the unboxing, but since I typed this up in bed on the brand new tablet, I can't attach the photos right now. They're on my phone and I'm not feeling well enough to go through the effort of download-insert-format necessary to add the photos to the Blogger app.

  Aaaaanyway, just had to share my excitement with my new tablet! I'm going to go back to sleep now. Good afternoon!

Sleep Apnea, Oh My!

  In addition to my myriad of other health problems, I have sleep apnea. It's not a surprise--it's a common health concern, and most people are undiagnosed. Which makes sense. It happens when you're asleep. You aren't going to know you stop breathing if you're asleep when it happens. I'm "lucky" in that I woke up several times when I stopped breathing, and was actually alert enough to realize I'd stopped breathing.

  Sleep apnea is one of two things. The muscles in your throat relax so much that your airways become blocked (obstructive sleep apnea). This can also occur if there are physical problems with your airways, like a deviated septum. Or your brain stops sending the signal to your body to breathe, which is central sleep apnea. I suffer from both.

  Sleep apnea is categorized as needing treatment if it occurs more than 5 times in one hour. Everyone stops breathing while they sleep sometimes. But past that 5 times threshold, you're categorized as having mild sleep apnea.

  I stop breathing over 30 times an hour, which is categorized as severe sleep apnea. Considering that means I stop breathing every 2 minutes at a minimum, I can see why it's considered severe! As far as central sleep apnea goes, I only stopped breathing completely five times during the night due to my brain forgetting to tell my body to breathe. Not bad, considering.

  Sleep apnea means that I don't sleep as deeply as my body needs--I transition from deep sleep to light sleep. It explains why I always feel so tired, no matter how long I'm in bed. With the migraines, that can be up to 20+ hours a day, depending on how bad the migraine is.

  I did a home sleep study (horrible way to try and get a night's sleep, by the way. I was attached to a nasal measurer thingy, a blood oxygen thingy on my finger, a positional thingy around my chest, and a breathing thingy around my lower chest. Lotta thingies), which is what determined how many times a night I suffer sleep apnea. It was rather surprising to me, as I only woke up a couple of times a night not breathing. Over 30 times an hour?! Apparently that's common. You wake up so briefly that you don't even remember waking up in the morning.

  When I did the sleep study test of the APAP machine (the child of the CPAP, apparently it's the new thing in sleep apnea machinery), I had the best nights of sleep ever. I don't think I've felt that refreshed in years.

  An APAP machine blows a stream of air into your nose to keep your airways from closing. When it detects that your airways are closing, it increases the pressure of the air until the airways reopen. When you breathe out, it stops blowing air so that you can actually breathe out. It's pretty neat, even if it's anything but sexy.

  My APAP came today. I swear, there are no less than ten booklets included with the machine! I feel like this is rocket science or something. There's a booklet for how to put together the face mask. A booklet for plugging in and turning on the APAP machine (my doctor already programmed it, from what they're telling me). An instructional DVD for the APAP, in addition to a user manual. It has a humidifier, so there's an instruction  booklet for that, as well as a DVD. There's an instruction booklet on how often to replace your APAP supplies. There's an information booklet on sleep apnea. There are several warranty booklets for the various pieces of equipment. There's a general information and instruction booklet. And there are pamphlets and advertisements scattered throughout. There's also a couple of papers I'm supposed to sign, but I'm not sure where to turn them in...

  I'm amazingly excited to have the machine--I've missed those few nights of decent sleep. However, the booklets are intimidating! I've gone through the mask booklet, the humidifier booklet, the general information and instruction booklet, and the APAP machine usage instructions. I haven't looked at a single DVD yet.

  That reminds me. I need to get a note from my doctor to take it on the airplane. I'm sure it'll be fine, but I prefer to cover all bases.

  Go go being an adult, and being excited for medical equipment! ...I miss childhood...