Life changes

[heyzeus]

Sorry to hear that update, Lombard. I hope you get it sorted out.

[Jocephus]

Yep, good luck Lombard. Hoping for the best.

[thrill]

I know a few truckers who love it. They all eventually bought their own trucks and built their own businesses and are doing quite well.

[AWvsCBsteeeerike3]

Day one went great for the most part but of course in the end, I found out that tomorrow might be a problem. I'm not worried about the physical in general, or at least I wasn't. I have learned in the past couple of hours that most likely the nurse practitioner is going to say I need a sleep study and can't be cleared until I have a CPAP or the results of that say I don't need one. That is going to delay everything by weeks. I could possibly claim that I already have one and hope he doesn't call me on it and demand proof but if he does and I can't provide proof, I'm toast and might as well not even bother trying to come back to this school and everything goes to sh!t. I guess I'm going to have to order a home study kit and take that. I could have that done and the results back within a week. Then it just comes down to actually getting the machine. I'm probably looking at nearly a month delay now. A month where I have no income other than trying to bust my a$$ on Doordash deliveries and have given up my apartment so I would even have to find a place to stay which I wasn't counting on at all. This is not good.

I found all this out about the sleep study because we have roommates while down here for training and that's what happened to the guy I'm paired up with. He tried starting the second week of July and got sent home and is just now getting back. He got lucky that his grandpa had a spare machine that he was able to give him so that he didn't have to wait three weeks which he was told it would take to get a new one.

Sounds like you have three separate issues.

The first is a physical, which may require a sleep study.

The second is a sleep study, which as you note, can be done relatively quickly - within a week.

The third is based on the results of step two, you may need a cpap - which possibly takes up to 3 weeks to get.

So, you're looking at a monthish delay.

It might behoove you to call around to sleep study places that do it professionally (despite the cost) and see if they have inroads to getting a cpap quicker? I don't know, it sounds like a kick in the nuts, but hopefully there are things you can do to expedite the process. It seems like the company would have a process as well to help get drivers on the road quicker if this is a common problem...

Hopefully either step one or two is favorable and a cpap isn't required circumventing the entire situation. No need to fret until it's at that point since it's where you are right now regardless. Good luck, homie.

[G. Keenan]

If they accept the results of a self sleep study, try calling around to local dentists. Dentists here lately have been pushing these sleep study gadgets when you come in for a cleaning. They cost $150 and that includes the "sleep doctor" to provide an analysis of the data the gadget gathers. It's pretty easy to use and you might get results back faster and cheaper than going to a sleep study lab.

[tlombard]

Well, I kind of found a way around things and get the immediate benefit of the CPAP. I was talking to a friend who lives about an hour away from here and mentioned my problem. He called me back about 20 minutes later and had managed to track down a CPAP for me to borrow until I can get my own. I just had to drive about 20 minutes each way to pick it up. This morning when it came time for the physical, I was able to say that I have a CPAP with me and use it nightly. With that the nurse practitioner signed off on my physical pending me bringing in a log from the machine showing that it is being used. I can do that now!

So I've ordered a home sleep test which will allow me to get a proper prescription and be legit within the next week to ten days and not have to miss any training. I do want to get the machine set just right, but at the same time, I also can't afford to delay my training by weeks or a month or more. I can get the proper prescription for the settings in a week or so now and then keep using this machine until I can get one of my own. Overall, it is a HUGE relief both professionally with being able to continue the training and personally knowing that I'll not only sleep better but also not be at such a big risk of dying in my sleep now.

Just to see what they are like, I talked to the roommate about his settings and such last night and sat around watching TV and reading for about half an hour with the mask on. His pressure is at 20 which seems really high to me but the machine was already set on 12 so I tried that for a bit and then upped it to 13 or so. I didn't have any issues with that so I decided to see what happened if I slept with it. I actually slept better than normal and learned this morning that when the roommate woke up in the middle of the night because he was having an issue with his mask, he said I was sleeping comfortably and couldn't hear any snoring unlike the first night. I looked at the overnight log this morning and it still showed that my AHI was 6.1 and the preferred range is less than 5 on the machines so I'm going to adjust the pressure up a hair tonight and see how that goes. I could definitely tell a difference this morning though and after sitting around with it on for half an hour or so before even thinking about sleeping, it was comfortable and I had no issues with leaking or anything else. Without the machine my AHI is probably more around 50-100 based on what I've heard from people who've seen me sleep recently so there was a definite, measurable improvement by the machine measurement, eye witness and how I felt this morning.

[CardsofSTL]

Good news tl

[tlombard]

Well, it's official. I'm not getting sent home early! I pulled it off and got my medical card. Then I went and nailed the air brake, general knowledge, combination and tanker tests for my permits. Went upstairs, paid my $41 for the permit and was done. Now that I have that, I don't have to worry about being sent home until the end of the program. For those who don't pass the tests and get it all done before the end of Friday, there just isn't really enough time for them to get it done and catch up so they get sent home until whatever kept them from getting the documents is fixed and then they can come back and start over. Next week we start getting behind the wheel of the trucks and you can't do that without the medical and permit and then week three we start hitting the roads in the area before testing at the end of week 4. There really isn't any time to catch up because things move fast.

But, I somehow pulled it all together and got the stuff done thanks to a friend coming through and saving my butt. I was stressed out and nervous as heck all the way until they took my cash for the permit to say the least.

[CardsofSTL]

Way to go @tlombard

Post pics of all the exotic trucker places you visit!

Except for the truck stop toilets.

[tlombard]

Way to go @tlombard

Post pics of all the exotic trucker places you visit!

Except for the truck stop toilets.

Don't expect many pictures then! What is driving a truck other than truck stop toilets and lot lizards?