Geri Paul of Lufkin figures having a permanent hole cut in her neck would
have ended her career of teaching mentally and physically challenged
children and helping them learn to speak.
"It would have ended my life as I know
it," Mrs. Paul said. "I wouldn't have been able to do the
job that I do. And teaching is not just my job, it's who I am."
For 21 years now, Mrs. Paul has been working with
challenged children at Hackney School in the Lufkin Independent School
District. She sings to them, teaches some of them to talk and does
her best to equip each student to reach a better quality of life.
Her own quality of life, however, has long been
grim. Earlier this year, she was about three days away from a
tracheostomy, which is a surgical opening to allow air into her trachea,
or windpipe. But then came the series of interventions by a Lufkin
doctor and a Lufkin dentist that have combined to keep her out of the
operating room and moved her into what she terms "a new life".
Mrs. Paul's story has many elements to which
other people may be able to relate. If she can provide information
or encouragement for others, or speak to a group, she said she would be
happy to do so. She may be reached at 936-853-2059.
Actually, the life she has back could be
described as a new and improved version, because her struggles with sleep
apnea (periods of not breathing) and obesity go back to childhood.
"I've known I have sleep apnea since I was 6
or 7 years old," she said. "My father snored horribly.
He would stop breathing, and we (family members) did that in turn.
As we went to camps and stuff, people would say, "Do you know you
stop breathing when you're asleep?" And we would say,
"Yes."
Her snoring was so disruptive to others that it
inhibited her acceptance of overnight invitations and caused people to
avoid her at bedtime.
When her oxygen deprivation was diagnosed, Mrs.
Paul said she realized the main problem was the limited oxygen her body
was getting. She had started counting the cost of every activity in
terms of the physical exertion and oxygen demand it would involve.
For all but the bare minimum of activities, the price was too high.
A near-miss behind the wheel finally drove
her to her doctor. Mrs. Paul said she was driving and remembers
looking at a horse trailer. The next thing she knew, she was close
enough to it to touch it. She had fallen asleep and changed lanes.
"I pulled over, got something to eat, called
my doctor and said, 'My sleep apnea is about to kill me.'"
Her doctor, family practitioner C. H. McClure,
took her seriously.
He sent a respiratory therapist to check her
oxygen saturation levels.
She underwent the first of two sleep studies,
with medical measuring of many bodily functions and her oxygen levels.
"I had 400 episodes of approximately 12
seconds of apnea," she said.
McClure said she had nine 30-second episodes
where her oxygen level had fell close to 45 percent. The normally
acceptable range for oxygen levels is 75 to 100, he said, with 95 to 100
percent being ideal. During 12 episodes, Mrs. Paul's oxygen level
was falling for more than three minutes, he said.
She was fitted with a machine designed to keep
the airway open with air pressure during both inhalations and exhalations,
but the machine couldn't blow hard enough to force its way past her
obstructions, she said. As it was, the air pressure was blowing the
mask off her face.
And she still wasn't getting enough oxygen.
"C. H. called me at home and said we were
going to do a tracheostomy," Mrs. Paul said. "I started
crying. It was bad enough being a fat person carrying an oxygen tank
without also having a hole cut in my throat . . . I would still be able to
speak but it would sound different. I would have to keep my hand
over it and it would sound weird. If I am trying to teach children
who don't know how to speak to speak . . . It would have ended my life as
I know it."
Desperate, Mrs. Paul asked about laser surgery or
other options, only to be told that she wasn't a safe candidate for
surgical procedures.
"So here we are, three days away from
getting this tracheostomy, and Dr. McClure said, 'You've got one chance.
Go see Dr. Blevins.'"
Dr. Bryan O. Blevins of Lufkin is a dentist whose
practice is limited to the treatment of TMJ joint disorders
and obstructive sleep disorders, with medical consultation.
Blevins said he has had great success with
fitting patients with obstructive sleep apnea with an oral appliance that
helps relieve the problem.
"It is a small comfortable, easy-to-wear
device that provides airway support at night without surgery,"
Blevins said.
Blevins fitted Mrs. Paul with a diagnostic
version of the device, and she went for a second sleep study.
"After that first night with the Bi-Pap (the
machine to assist inhalations and exhalations) and the temporary
appliance, I woke up more rested than I had been in years," she said.
Blevins said the device works well with machines
that provide air pressure to keep the airway open, and with supplemental
oxygen, if those additional measures are indicated.
For Mrs. Paul, they are. After wearing a
diagnostic version of the oral appliance for a time, she has now been
fitted with the therapeutic version, which should last from two to five
years. Along with the therapeutic device, she sleeps with a Bi-Pap
machine and supplemental oxygen. (She said Vicki Fincher of Respiratory
Solutions worked closely with her to get everything adjusted just right,
and she had high praise for McClure, Blevins and the oral appliance.)
"To think that such a simple, non-surgical
device that I can afford can make such a difference in my life," she
said.
The day of the second sleep study, she weighed.
(Previous weigh-ins, such as at the eating disorder clinic, had had to be
done in the laundry room in order to have a sufficient scale.)
Blevins recommended a book to her that detailed
an eating plan that limits sugar intake and outlines a balanced diet.
Mrs. Paul began to follow its advice, coupled with her exercise program.
At presstime, she said she has lost 103 pounds
since May 8 of this year.
Dr. Bryan O. Blevins |