A Study in Snoozin’ - Part Deux

(Note: The following was actually written post sleep study, but due to being tired, busy, and the return of Jack Bauer and Lost, I only just now got around to downloading the pics Saturday. So enjoy.)

Last night was my sleep study. I was excited and nervous and about an hour before I was to leave for the hospital, I came down with a horrible headache. After downing some 5 year old Naprosin and a couple of Benadryls and sitting under a hot shower until the water ran cold, it eased enough that I could function and I drove off into the night for my study, leaving the livestock staring at me from the window as if to question my sanity (it being below zero outside).

I arrived at the sleep center about 7 pm and sat in the waiting room with a cute little boy named Keegan and his mother. Keegan has spina bifida (and I keep thinking I need to Google that and see what that entails) and even though he’s only 4 he’s had this done several times and he got to tell me all about what to expect, as translated from kid-speak to English by his mother! It mostly involved “Goop!”

My room was a very nice room, could’ve been a hotel room but for the bedside table with a bunch of electronic equipment on it. I got in my pj’s and watched some Food Network until Bob came in to hook me up. Keegan was right, there was a lot of Goop involved. Mostly in sticking electrodes to my scalp and face, and then there were EKG thingees stuck to my chest, and electrodes stuck to my shins. So by the time he had me all hooked up, there had to be at least 25 different wires plugged into the blue box that connected me to Mission Control.

Once I was all hooked up, I could just hang and be comfy, if that were possible, until I was ready to go to sleep. Well, not having had a nap either Saturday or Sunday afternoons, and having taken those Benedryl, I was tired so I told Bob I was ready to go to sleep about 9.

Before actually going to sleep, I had to run thru a bunch of motions at Bob’s direction, so he could get control levels for later on when I did them for real in my sleep. I had to do about everything but juggle. Then finally, on came the (not one, but TWO) breathing thingees that had to go in my nose. Sigh. As you can imagine I was exhausted. But could I roll over onto my tum and go to sleep? NO. Bob told me I had to sleep on my back. I told Bob that I can’t sleep on my back. He told me to try and if it didn’t look like I could sleep on my back, I could turn on my side. Well, as I TOLD Bob, I couldn’t sleep on my back, so after what seemed like hours, he beeped in and told me I could turn onto my side.

Oh, did I mention that there was video and noise activated sound monitoring? All I can say is that if that video ends up on You Tube, me and Bob’s gonna have some words! Where was I? Oh, yeah, so each time Bob would speak to me, like the disembodied, mighty and powerful OZ, it would scare me to death. But I did manage to get to sleep. Unfortunately, this lovely room I was sleeping in had a Memory Foam mattress. Now, I’m very warm natured and sleeping on foam didn’t help. So along about 1am, I wake up, burning up, and Bob announces that some of my electrodes have come off. Well, I can tell you it was because I sweated the goop off. After reapplying new goop and electrodes, Bob cranked the AC, found me a fan, and left me to go back to sleep… on my back. Sigh. Again, after a long time, Bob beeped in and told me I could turn. So I felt like I tossed and turned and couldn’t quite get comfy – another side effect of the Memory Foam mattress – it’s almost impossible to turn over or move in general while on it. But finally, I managed to get to sleep and the next thing I know, Bob was at my side waking me up. The study was over.

It must be noted that it took almost just as long to remove all those electrodes as it took to put them on! But once I was electricity free, I was able to hop in the shower where miraculously, the goop disintegrated and my head was once again goop free. I must admit that I was concerned because about 20 years ago, I had an EEG done, and that involved a bunch of electrodes glued to my head with stuff that was supposed to wash out, but in fact took about a week to pick off my head because it felt like they’d affixed the things to my head with cement!

Anyway, I left the sleep center to find about an inch of snow on the ground and the world looked lovely. I hit a Micky D’s for some breakfast and sweet tea and then went to work. I’m not sure I remember much of the day, but I got home with myself and the car both intact, so nothing too bad couldn’t happened, right? I still need to download my pics, but for now, I’m going to hop into bed and watch Days of Our Lives then go to sleep. I know, Jack Bauer is on tonight, but I’d hate to fall asleep while he’s on, so my new best friend, Tivo, will cover for me tonight.