It all began on a cold winter morning back in February of 1953....hmmm sounds like an "OLD" story. Anyway, I was born in Kokomo,Indiana and was brought up in a normal home. My Dad passed away in 1989. Mom is retired. I have been married/divorced twice. I have 3 children. I have an older brother.

My childhood was a normal one, school, homework, basketball, baseball,football, band, scouting, bicycling, you know all the kid stuff, bumps, bruises, cuts & scrapes and my share of stitches too.

"Band on the Run"

It was always my dream to become a police officer. I became interested in Law Enforcement in 1974 when I joined the Greentown Special Police. I then was attending Indiana University taking Criminal Law. I had an offer to become a full time police officer at Swayzee in the fall of 1975. Got married in July of 76. I graduated from the Indiana Law Enforcement Academy in 1976 and worked another year at Swayzee. I then had a chance to better myself. I applied for a dispatch/turnkey (jail officer) at the Wabash County Sheriff Dept. I was hired and started working 3rd shift(11pm-8am).I went on to be the first full time civil process server in Wabash County. In Jan of 1979 I was promoted to full time road deputy and went back to working 3rd shift. After working my way up to day shift and the #4 position (Senior Patrolman), I left the department for personal reasons (Well you know,POLITICS) in Dec.1988. Took a short break. Lost my Dad in Jan.1989. Located a new type of job, one that I had never tried, Factory Work! I went to work in a factory, also worked for a local ambulance service, and a small detail car shop plus filling in at a Funeral home. And to top it all off, I started divorce proceedings which ended in Jan.1991. I met this wonderful gal (Karen) and have been with her since June 91. Came back to the Sheriff's Dept. in 1991 as 3rd shift dispatcher, as a request of the new Sheriff until Nov 1995...Thats when things started happening to my health...

Anyway, the reason I am writing this page is to share with you my recent experience. I had been working 3rds (11pm-7am) for a while and getting around 6 hrs. sleep before my son got home from school. Course I had to be awake with him to keep him safe and out of trouble. We had a sitter come at 10pm so I could go to work. I put him to bed around 8:30pm everynight so I could catch about an hour and a half more rest. That worked for a while, but I was noticing that my concentration was not sharp. I was told that I would slip off into short "nap" of a minute or less. I didnt think this was uncommon for the sleep schedule I had.

The dozing was getting worse.... My sleep patterns were getting worse, less sleep, irritability, headaches, and it all seemed to lead up to this big problem. Well I crossed the safety line at work, I either passed out or fell asleep for a couple of minutes. It was addressed and I had to quit. I was really hurt.I felt like my life was comming to an end. So I went into seclusion, did'nt want to do anything, go anywhere, talk to people, nothing made me happy. I was very short with my loved ones and friends.

"Halloween Theme"

My sleep was down to 2 hrs. a day now and when I got sleep, it was restless. I would be up until the wee hours of the morning (2,3,4AM) on my nights off. I started a major weight gain. My tailbone started giving me fits (from an earlier accident),and I felt like I was not feeling like I was "all there". I was extremely depressed, and the only thing that kept me going was the LOVE I got from my girlfriend (Karen),son (Michael Jr.), mom, and brother. My friends more or less just accepted me. I was now falling asleep while eating, talking on the phone, watching the TV, and in conversations. There were several times I would fall asleep while smoking a cigarette and it would drop to the floor, or on my shirt or pants and I would'nt even know it. Driving long distances was also difficult staying alert.

"Garth"

Well..... On November 7,1996 it all came to abrupt stop. I passed out in the bathroom while washing my hands. I awoke with a possible broken right ankle. Lucky for me, Karen was home, and she called for help. I was taken to the hospital and placed in ICU. My oxygen level was down to 75%. It was supposed to be 95-100%. I was in trouble. I went into surgery the next morning and after 4 hours of major reconstruction of my ankle, I was taken off of the breathing tube. Bad news!!! My body was NOT responding by itself, I had stopped breathing. So when they tried to put the tube back in me, of course I was very combative (I did not know what I was doing). These healthcare people were told of the suspected Sleep Apnea. Well needless to say I was in real deep trouble. I was stablized and taken to Parkview Hospital in Ft. Wayne,IN.

I woke up 2 days later in strange room at Fort Wayne Parkview Hospital(ICCU)and scared. The nurses then explained the previous events at Wabash Hospital. I was confused. Could'nt speak. My doctor explained what had happened. He said "As of now you are a

"NON-SMOKER"

And "You will loose a lot of weight or YOU will die".

That was scary and a close call to death. He said I had Sleep Apnea. Now I have it under control with the help of a BiPap machine. I wear a nasal mask during sleep. The machine forces air into my lungs, and I wake up refreshed and ready for the day. I don't fall asleep anymore during the day, and while eating. I am also a nice person to be around now. Not doing much now. Ive helped in designing some web sites, and maintaining them also off and on and Karen & I have started working with Quixtar. We also have 6 birds that keep me going too. 1 Quaker Parrot, 1 Love Bird, 4 Cockatiels and a cat(Molly).....Now I spend most of my time surfing the web.

You can visit David R.Michael's Web Page For more info..

I hope this has not bored you too much, but I thought my story should be told in hopes that others may read this, understnad what I went thru and get some help. If you have any questions please feel free to contact me.