Sleep Study

Last night was my sleep study. I was required to show up at 8PM, so my husband picked me up after work at 6:00 and we went out to dinner. After that we browsed around Barnes and Noble until time to arrive. The sleep study techs names was Erin. She was very friendly and tried to make the experience a little more "normal" than it actually was, because there was nothing normal about this night. Erin hooked me up with little gizmo electrode things that adhered to my skin with something that resembled sticky toothpaste. She attached these wires to my shins, chest, behind me ears, on top of my head and all over my face. All these many wires she plugged into some funky contraption and placed the whole deal around my neck and told me she'd be back in an hour to tuck/plug me in.

I tried to make myself as comfortable as I could for the next hour, watching videos on my iPad and looking at facebook. Eventually she came back in and plugged all the kazillion of wires up and then stuck a monitor on the 3rd finger of my left hand, hooked a nasal cannula in my nostrils and told me she was going to run some tests to make sure everything was working right.

From a speaker system she directed me to close my eyes, look in different directions, blink my eyes, move my feet, grind my teeth, etc. it was strange and awkward. She then told me to settle in and get some sleep, but that all light are out by 11PM. By this time it was 9:45PM, so I "tried" to get comfortable and continued to watch some videos until about 10:30PM. I actually was feeling a little drowsy so I decided to turn the lights out and try to fall asleep.

No such luck. I was miserably uncomfortable and self conscious about every movement I made as well as the way I breathed. You know how it is when you concentrate on your breathing and then it starts to become less natural and more forced and out of sync? That was me. I tried to make myself relax, tried self hypnosis tricks, until I finally began to doze a little bit. Of course, as soon as I would realize, "hey, I'm falling asleep"...boing! My eyes would pop open and back awake I was. It was torture. The entire night was torture. I was uncomfortable in my wire spaghetti, the cannula in my nose was irritating and the monitor on my finger felt like it weighed 5 pounds. I had a few moments of panicked feelings where I thought I would go a little bonkers. I did sleep some but woke up many times. I also had some very disturbing, stress filled dreams. Every time I woke up I prayed it was 6:00AM, but also didn't want to reach over and check the time because I didn't want to be disappointed. Eventually I had to look because my bladder was telling me it was either time to get her back in here to unplug me so I could relieve the pressure or it was hopefully 6:00AM. It was 6:01!!

She must have seen my phone light up because she spoke over the intercom that she'd be in to unhook me in a few minutes after she took care of the other person there that night. Finally she came in and unhooked me and set me free.

Sweet freedom!!

I got dressed as fast as I could. I had the gummy dried gunk all over me and my hair had big globs of putty in it, but I was glad to get out of there. My husband was waiting for me and that was a relief!

I don't see Dr. Sadaj again until the 24th to see the results of my test and where we go from here. I really have no idea what to expect. I would guess I do have sleep apnea and if so its easily another month from that appointment until he could clear me. Maybe more. Or, should he say all is fine then I am cleared for surgery. The only consolation I have is...this should be the last hoop to jump.