Please say a prayer for me...

[estranged4life]

Originally Posted by Moz

Perhaps she fell asleep or just zoned off and went off the road?

Any way it happened, I am so sorry. At least you have the comfort in knowing you were on good terms with her during her last days. Not many people can say that!

Hang in there!

and he said very, very rarely do accidents occur when one traveling falls asleep and their car goes in a straight path for distances. He said almost every case he has investigated there is some proof of some attempt to rectify going off the road by applying brakes, oversteering, etc.

He said with a distance of 260' in a straight parallel to highway (50MPH - She usually sat cruise control when she drove to 55mph) before impact with the small residential culvert (The part of the highway she was on was a straight area) that she may have suffered a sudden death before impact.

She had started on a CPAP treatment about 2-3 weeks ago, and the M.E. said I should investigate into that:

CPAP

"Fixed-pressure CPAP (Continuous Positive Airway Pressure)
A continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) machine is used mainly by patients for the treatment of sleep apnea at home. Obstructive sleep apnea occurs when the upper airway becomes narrow as the muscles relax naturally during sleep. This reduces oxygen in the blood and causes arousal from sleep. The CPAP machine stops this phenomenon by delivering a stream of compressed air via a hose to a nasal pillow, nose mask or full-face mask, splinting the airway (keeping it open under air pressure) so that unobstructed breathing becomes possible, reducing and/or preventing apneas and hypopneas. This has the additional benefit of reducing or eliminating the extremely loud snoring that sometimes accompanies sleep apnea.

The CPAP machine blows air at a prescribed pressure (also called the titrated pressure). The necessary pressure is usually determined by a sleep physician after review of a study supervised by a sleep technician during an overnight study (polysomnography) in a sleep laboratory. The titrated pressure is the pressure of air at which most (if not all) apneas and hypopneas have been prevented, and it is usually measured in centimetres of water (cm H2O). The pressure required by most patients with sleep apnea ranges between 6 and 14 cm H2O. A typical CPAP machine can deliver pressures between 4 and 20 cm H2O. More specialized units can deliver pressures up to 25 or 30 cm H2O.

CPAP treatment can be highly effective in treatment of obstructive sleep apnea. [1] For some patients, the improvement in the quality of sleep and quality of life due to CPAP treatment will be noticed after a single night's use. Often, the patient's sleep partner also benefits from markedly improved sleep quality, due to the amelioration of the patient's loud snoring.

Given that sleep apnea is a chronic health issue and doesn't go away, ongoing care is needed to maintain CPAP therapy. Based on the study of cognitive behavioral therapy (referenced above), ongoing chronic care management is the best way to help patients continue therapy by educating them on the health risks of sleep apnea and providing motivation and support."

--------------------------------------------

I'm hangin' in there as best I can...The info the M.E. gave me sat me at ease some.

I'd gladly give my life up if God gave her her life back...the world needs more nurses who are dedicated to their occupation of caring for people than caring about $$$$

Here is the link to her myspace page if one wants to leave condelences:

http://profile.myspace.com/177136002