Sunamoon
The Sleep Study Experience
May 22, 2014
So Wednesday night there was a cancellation at the Sleep Center so they called me in. I was glad to get it out of the way instead of waiting until June 4th. It certainly was an experience I will never forget. In some ways it was fun, in others it was weird and I felt very much like a science project. But all in all it was an ok experience. I was lucky they didn’t mind the fact that I couldn’t get there til 9pm since I work until 8 pm and have a 45 minute drive home. Luckily the sleep center is only a couple blocks from my house! I dropped my sweet wife off at home and headed over to the center loaded with my pj’s and my favorite pillow!
What made it fun was the sleep tech that was assigned to me. Her name was Michelle and she was Awesome in helping me to understand what happens when you have sleep apnea and making me feel so comfortable in a strange bedroom. The bedroom itself was lovely, very clean and nicely presented. The bathroom was large and very comfortable to move around in. The bed itself was so comfy, Queen sized with memory foam over the main mattress. It even had a lift mechanism that made it easy to watch TV til I started to get drowsy! There was a great ceiling fan in the room just like in my own room so that was a great help to knock out any outside extra noises going on. (their was an elderly gentleman in the next room that couldn’t sleep so he talked a lot to Michelle) The fan really helped drown him out.
Michelle had me fill out some paperwork and then said I could change into my pj’s, then she would come back and get started on getting me hooked up to all her little wires. I don’t think I have ever seen so many wires as she had lain out across the bed. She wrapped a couple of elastic belts around my mid section and above my breast area. I was stunned they fit since I’m such a large woman. LOL Then she attached some down to my lower legs and taped those in place. She told me this would let her know if I had restless leg syndrome. I was worried that if I rolled around in my sleep that they would come off and she stated that’s why she taped them on my leg and to the top of my pajama leg. (Sure enough, they stayed put!) She placed two more across my chest on each side and clipped on those wires to all the area’s she had set already. Her attention then changed to my head and oh my goodness it was a wild process. It never hurt, it was just awkward. There were 8 electrodes on my face. 2 by each eye and 2 down by my jaw on each side. Then she started the process of placing the electrodes in my hair. She scrubbed my scalp in each position with a q tip with alcohol on it to make sure it was clean and the adhesive would attach firmly. Then placed this glue like substance in the spot and added the electrode and covered it with plastic like rubber plate. (The only way I know to describe it.) By the time she was done all around my head, I had two behind each ear, 3 across the top of my forehead , 1 on each side of my neck and 1 in the middle of my neck in back, and 1 on each side of the middle of my head on top. The wires were hanging down all over my head and gave me a vision of “Pinhead” in my mind, or the thought of They can just ship me off into outer space now with this entire hook up? I’m sure they could see me from space with all the brainy waves going on. When she got everything finished I made a point not to look in the mirror, I was afraid I would frighten myself!
I kept thinking how on earth am I supposed to be able to go to sleep and sleep for 6 hours so that she can get all the recordings she needs as required by my insurance? I just knew that I would be wrapped and tangled from hell during the night cause I roll from side to side all night long as my hips and legs begin to hurt while I sleep. I don’t sleep well to begin with. I’m a very light sleeper and pretty much know when any little thing is going on near by. The ceiling fan was a Godsend!
Michelle settled me in and turned down the air conditioning for me. I’m middle aged and of course the raving night sweats happen a lot even with the hormones I’m on. So I knew I was in for a warm night. I turned off the TV at 10:20 and told myself in order to get back home to my own bed and my cuddly wife I needed to relax and go to sleep. It was hard getting settled and trying to find a comfortable position with all those electrodes hanging off my face and head, more so than the ones on the lower half of my body. I sleep on my side most of the time and have a long pillow that I sorta lean on from my head down to my belly. Trying to get in that position with all those wires was wild. I finally just let myself wrap up in the wires since Michelle assured me it would not affect her readings. Once I realized the wires were firmly attached enough I did finally get to sleep.
The hardest part of it all was trying to sleep without my wife next to me. I’m so used to her being near that it truly felt strange to sleep alone. Her nick name is blanket girl. LOL which secretly I love calling her that. Although I do get hot flashes and night sweats I am mostly cold natured. Once I’m cold it takes a long while for me to get warmed up. My blanket girl is always extra warm and is very hot natured so it works out great for us both. She likes the feel of my cool skin to cool her off and I like that she is cuddly warm to warm me up. Blanket Girl to the rescue! After this surgery I am sure I will truly be grateful even more for Blanket girl from what I understand… I love her so much and her support in this endeavor means everything. When I crawled into bed this morning at 4 30 am it was a truly welcomed sleep cause I was right where I was supposed to be. As I was drifting off I heard her say Now I can sleep…
Be Well All, til next time ~Suna
