Life Goes On

A quick update on my condition (cardimyopathy). The drugs are doing their work. I can go for walks, and I have been doing some work at a relaxed pace. I can walk up the stairs without becoming winded. So, life goes on.

In a bid to address any factors that could be contributing to my condition, I spent the night at the sleep lab at the Queensway Carleton Hospital to find out if I suffer from sleep apnea. It turns out that I do suffer from obstructive sleep apnea. The lab tried to fit me with a device called a CPAP, but they found that I continued to experence moments when I did not breath, a condition called central sleep apnea – my brain is failing to send the signal to breath. I was told to return for more tests in November.

My brother told me that if my Central Sleep Apnea is pronounced, I may be a candidate for a BIPAP rather than a CPAP. We’ll see. The important thing is that heart falure (heart weakness) can be caused by sleep apnea; therefore, I should have it treated. Just as importantly, sleep apnea is not good for a person with heart failure or cardiomyopathy. Either way, I should have it treated.

I remain commited to the idea that 33% of people who first hear that they have cardiomyopathy get better and I am going to be one of those people. I can lose weight. I can eat better. When I get the green light from my doctor, I can become active again. I can participate in my recovery, or at least contribute to my own quality of life. Optimism itself is theraputic. I also know that many people in my circle of friends, and at my church, are praying for me. I have reason to be optimistic.

I am able to work again, and I am learning about the Spring Framework. At first, I was intimidated by the terminology: Inversion of Control, and Dependency Injection. Then I had to laugh. Back in the days of VB 5 and 6, that is exactly how I used to write code – VB did not support inheriatance, but it did support interfaces. Therefore, I declared interfaces to enforce contracts, and passed instances of objects to the objects that used them. I currently comparing Spring and Jboss – just having some fun. That’s what nerds do.