Tuesday 18 June 2013

Sleep Lab

As I have mentioned before, I have severe sleep problems. No sleeping medication works so I knew I needed some more help. I asked my family doctor to refer me to a sleep disorder's clinic. He did so immediately and I was told I would have to wait 3-4 weeks for an appointment. Not enjoying my sleep at the moment, I was prepared to stick it out a little longer.

Miracle upon miracle, yesterday afternoon I received a call from the sleep disorder's clinic asking me if I could attend at the hospital that night for a sleep lab which involved staying overnight at the hospital while being monitored. Of course, I jumped at the chance.

So, last night, I slept at the hospital wired up like an octupus. I arrived at the clinic at 9:00 pm and by 9:30 pm, a technician put around 20 wires on my head, face, chest, stomach and legs. I also had one thing over my nose and another in my nose. All the wires led to a box that was put on a rope around my neck until I went to bed. Before I was ordered to sleep at 11:00 pm, the technician attached the box to what looked like a computer cord that was attached to a panel on the wall. Once I was all hooked up, I was allowed to go to sleep but I didn't think I'd sleep all trustled up like that.

Amazingly enough, I did sleep and I was told there was 800 pages of data for them to go through. I will get the report in two weeks. It was an incredible night. I didn't feel like I slept that much but the technician said I did. At one point, he came into my room in the early morning hours and shocked the hell out of me. I think I shocked him more with my scream.

Wifi is one the greatest inventions. It was so wonderful being able to watch the Boston/Chicago playoffs online at the CBC Sports site while in the hospital. I didn't like the thought of missing the game and the hospital offered free wifi. So I was able to watch the game and even chat a bit.

No, I didn't have a nap today even though I was woken up at 5:30 am and even though I didn't have a good night's sleep. I would rather wait and go to bed at a decent hour and sleep the night. I'm not always guaranteed sleep if I take a nap during the day. So, it was an uneventful day. I'm glad I got through it.

have fun,
patty
www.pattylesser.com

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