Hospitals are woefully unprepared to deal with Cpap machines. They tell you to bring your machine with you AND THEN THEY DON'T USE IT.
Recently, I had to have two surgeries with general anesthesia, about a month apart.
The first time around I realized -- several hours after the surgery -- that they hadn't set up my machine. I was having a hard time breathing, probably because of irritation after extubation, and I was very sleepy. I kept waking up feeling panicky, which is what my body does when I stop breathing!
So I asked for the Cpap, and the nurse said the doctor wanted me to have the oxygen with the nose prongs. I objected that I HAD to have the Cpap (I was on morphine and always sleepy) and the nurse admitted she didn't know how to set it up. (Because there are so many kinds of machines.) So my husband set it up, and I pulled the oxygen prongs off and put the Cpap mask on. They finally did what they should have done AHEAD OF TIME: they called in a Respiratory Therapist who connected it with an adaptor that plugged my Cpap into the oxygen supply.
So before my next surgery, when the nurse called for the pre-op, I explained to her what had happened and told her I needed to have the Cpap as soon as I was out of surgery, and that they needed to have the adaptor already there. On the day of surgery, that was the first thing I asked about -- and of course no one had arranged for the adaptor. But they were very apologetic -- they could see from my records that I'd had breathing issues -- and promised they wouldn't start the surgery till they had it. Then the Respiratory Therapist arrived and he put the machine together and added the connector for an oxygen machine. After he left the nurse wanted to take it apart and pack it up again! I insisted they leave my Cpap the way it was, out on the table, ready to put on me post-surgery. It went against all the poor nurses's instincts, but she finally agreed.
And then they still didn't put it on until I asked for it in recovery . . . .but at least it was ready for me then.
P.S. When I talked to the pre-op nurse on the phone, she said that some of the doctors didn't think the Cpap machines were important in recovery. So there is a lot more educating that needs to be done. When I told my sleep clinic doctor about my experience he was horrified, and said he was going to speak to a friend of his at the hospital. Maybe it will help the next person. . .
IF YOU'RE PLANNING A SURGERY: make sure to tell the pre-op nurse when she calls you that you have a Cpap and need to use it while in recovery. And that they need to have an adaptor on-hand so they can connect your machine to the oxygen supply, if necessary. And then when you arrive for surgery, make sure they know about this and that they are ready to use your machine, with an oxygen adaptor, if necessary.
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