I am a middle aged Italian woman. I know myself.
I make meatballs.
I serve chicken soup to kids with colds.
I have dark brown eyes, I used to have dark brown hair, and I have a big nose.
Yes. I do. I have grown up with the realization that I have a lovely, prominent Roman nose.
This is my identity. Italian woman, big nose, big heart, big piles of pasta. It all goes together.
Because this has been my image of myself for some 60 years, you can understand how upsetting it would be to be informed that this is not actually the real me. You can imagine my moment of disorientation when the very core of my personal belief was shaken.
Holy panic attack, Batman. It was terrifying.
This is what happened.
I went to have my CPap fitted this morning. I talked to the lovely, intelligent, articulate cPap using woman at the home care facility. She fitted me with just the right hose to force my throat open and thereby stop my snoring, snorting, gasping, death inducing nighttime routine.
I have been reading about the incidence of sleep apnea in women, and have come to feel pretty much at ease with the realization that a whole lot of us women suffer from this disorder.
I am OK with that. Sorta. I am accepting of the fact that the sleep issue does not mean that I am old and fat. I am accepting of the idea that I just need some help to keep myself breathing while I sleep. It’s just a little medical issue.
All of that is cool.
But.
While i was meeting with the lovely woman who introduced me to my machine, something happened that has shaken my entire belief in myself and who I am.
Part of the fitting today included taking a measurement of my nose.
My big old, honkin’ Roman Italian schnozzola. I needed to be measured so that the nasal mask would fit me.
I sat back for the measurement. I breathed out. I was sure that the measurement would come out as “big” or “huge” or “Italian” or “Holy shit”.
When the friendly woman held up the measurement and said, “You have a small nose”, my entire world came unglued.
What?????
WHAT??!
I mean. OK. I gasp and choke and have a fat neck and can’t sleep and I need a stupid giant machine…..but my NOSE IS SMALL???????
That was the moment when I realized that I no longer have any idea of who I am.
In all of my most fragile moments, it has never occurred to me that I might have a small nose.
Never. Ever.
Look at this picture.
Do you see a small nose????
I don’t either.
So….who am I? What has become of my entire view of myself?
If in fact I am a woman with a small nose, might I not also be a woman with a boatload of patience? (Nope.) Or a woman who struggles to put a decent meal on the table? (Nopie, nope, nope).
I am my nose.
I am my internal view of myself.
OK, fine. I’ll give the stupid CPap a chance. But seriously?
A SMALL nose??????
These medical people have no idea what they’re doing.
Empty Nest, Full Life 
Yes I do!
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Good luck with the friggin cpap machine. I hated mine, never used it, sent it back, lost weight (but never gave up wine) and got over my sleep apnea 😴😴
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Nancye, I gotta say, it was amazing. Totally comfortable and soft, and for the first time in as long as I can remember, I didn’t feel like I couldn’t breathe. My jaw feels better, my neck feels better, and I didn’t wake up parched. Huzzah!
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Hilarious
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I would be thrilled if someone said I have a small nose (although I would know they were either blind or crazy).
Good luck with the thing. I have a friend whose husband uses one. She still sleeps in the master bedroom, and he has been banished to their grown son’s old room. I hope Paul is more understanding…
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Yup, the whole CPAP thing is enough to unglue everything you thought you knew.
Just wait – it gets weirder…
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When she put the thing on my yesterday at the fitting, all I could think of was you and your reference to sleeping like a fighter pilot! Hahahahahahaha!
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We see ourselves so differently than the world does. I would never say I have a big nose, until I see a profile picture of myself and I want to fall to the floor laughing at the downhill ski slope I see. No matter what the CPap lady says, or the fact that your nose really doesn’t look big, you can choose how you want to see yourself. It just seems totally inappropriate to turn your world upside down at this point 😉
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Once when I was pregnant with my second child, I was going through a lot of nausea. The doctor told me, “I need to see you gain at least 5 pounds in the next month. You’re too thin.” I thought that was the one comment I would NEVER hear about myself! Now I have two of these, ‘say, what?’ moments!
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I love the way you can turn almost anything into a funny story!
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BEST compliment ever!!!!! Thank you so much, Ann!!!! My husband is thoroughly enjoying this whole thing. “Do you smell something funny? Oh, nevermind. I forgot you only have that tiny nose…..”!
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I totally sympathize with the whole nose identification thing. I’m half-Filipino — my mom has the traditional Filipino nose: the flat, pancake-looking nose. My dad has the usual, more pointy, white-guy nose. All my brothers ended up with the Filipino nose, but me? I ended up with this weird hybrid that’s not-a-pancake-but-not-really-that-pointy itty-bitty nose that looks like it had an identity crisis and couldn’t make up its mind between the two.
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Hey, I see a future for us!!!! Identity through nose shape…..!!! Sort of like the old “phrenology” phase of psychology. We can just explain everyone’s inner struggles based on nose shape! You in?
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We could do a whole research paper and everything! Of course, it would need some kind of clever, punny title. “The Nose Knows” gets overused, I think, but I’m sure we could come up with something original.
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You know what I see? a beautiful lady!
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See? This is why I love you! I see a gray and wrinkly old lady with a giant nose!
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I’m sorry you see that…you need a new mirror♥
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Your nose looks to be in perfect roman proportions- maybe you have a small head?…
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Hahahahahaha!!!!! I don’t know why exactly, but that comment made me absolutely laugh out loud! A small head….I’m gonna use that from now on. “My nose isn’t big, my head is small!”
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🤗
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