Wednesday, July 12, 2006

He knows when you are sleeping...


So, since the Pappy trip came up kind of quick and last minute I had to reschedule my sleep study. I had it done last Thursday. I was told to bring my pillow and pjs with a top and bottom. My mom took me up to the hospital and stayed with me til around 10pm. We kept forgetting my room was miked and on camera. At one point Mom leans over and says "Try not to fart in your sleep." Thanks Mom. After I filled out some forms and changed into my pjs then Sam the sleep man took me to a control room where he hooked me up to around 138,965 wires and probey things. All the wires went into this box I had to sleep with and even carry to the bathroom with me. We went back to my room and he had me try out the air mask just in case I'd need it later. The deal is you sleep for 2 hours then if you have apnea they put the mask on you and you go back to sleep. At about 10:30 Sam tucked me in and turned off the light then went to the control room. He called me on the intercom and made me do some things like blink my eyes and take deep breaths so he'd know if everything was working right. Then he said "Go to sleep now." Oh, ok. Normally I could fall asleep on a dime, but when someone orders you to it is quite different.
I layed there trying to sleep for over an hour but all I could think was what if I knock the box off and all that tape rips off my face? Or what if I don't sleep right and they don't realize I have apnea- I need that mask! Then around midnight there was a big crash with glass breaking, then some yelling, then some lady banged on my door yelling Hello! Hello! I had almost fallen asleep. I jumped up yelling Hello! back then Sam was in my room. Apparently a nurse pushing a cart got run into by someone running around the corner- hence the crash. And the other sleep patient next door had a hard time with his mask so instead of hitting the call button he just started screaming so the nurse thought it was me and tried to get in my room. OY.
I finally fell asleep I guess cause the next thing I remember Sam was putting the mask on me. He said I had stopped breathing a ton of times while sleeping so I definitely have apnea. I thought for sure there's no way I could sleep all hooked up on that mask but I did. I slept better than I have in years.
My Mom was late picking me up of course and I fell asleep in the hospital lobby since Sam kicked me out of my room. When she got there, to the very large lobby outfitted with at least 20 other sofas and recliners, some strange man had sat down right next to me and gone to sleep! Then Mom made me go out to breakfast and run errands with her before she'd take me home. I had glue all over my face and in my crack head hair! We saw Morgan's dad at one point and he was so distracted by my appearance that at one point during our conversation about something totally unrelated he said "Don't you have a hat or something? My God."
This Friday I go to get fitted for my very own Darth mask.
Click here to check out pics of my sleep adventure!