Storytelling Sunday..A Better Night's Sleep

     I had a sleep study done in November. I wanted a solution to my snoring, I can snore like a freight train at times and although the Chosen One rarely complains (he says it's not all the time) I am very self concsious about it. I have anxiety when I have to share a room with friends because it's so unfair to them (I must say all but two have been very gracious about it but of course even two makes you more anxious about it plus I am already sleeping like dog poo because I am so self aware) I went to a certified sleep specialist and assured him (more than once) that I was sure I didn't have sleep apnea but wanted something to do about the snoring.  Well after a night "sleeping" hooked up to a pulse ox meter, 24 brain, eye and leg sensors and a chest and abdomen strap I got the results right after Christmas.  Ummmm yea I was wrong....my snoring was classified as moderate and I have moderate to severe sleep apena with 46 "events' an hour lasting up to 33 seconds each.  36.5 minutes of REM sleep the whole night. Now REM sleep is when your brain renourishes itself. All those things you've put in short term memory during the day are moved into long term during REM, the connections are made ... well!! that explains a lot, like how I was so surprised at every gift unwrapped at Christmas, gifts that I had bought! Seems Level 3 wasn't happening a lot either and that is when the physical body renews itself ...hmmmm.

     I spent another night at the sleep center with a CPAP machine on but the tech was very wary of whether they had gotten enough deep sleep recorded. They talk to you during the night over any intercom and she would say "Mrs E, you're not sleeping, could you try to sleep?" At 5:15 "Mrs E, could you try to sleep on your back?"  Evidently that is when sleep apnea is the worst and if they can calibrate the CPAP  for those "events" they know you are covered for anything. 6:00 "Mrs E, you aren't really sleeping, should we conclude the study?" Conclude?!?! that would mean I might have to come back and do another night. Just telling you, the rooms are lovely, the team super but I don't want to spend the night with them again!  "No, I'm not sleeping because being on my back is killing my knees and my lower back is aching" (I don't think I adjusted the sleep # on that side bec the time before they had me sleep on the other side) "Okay, get in any position."  6:15 "ummm I'm wide awake, there's no chance I'm going back to sleep so I guess we might as well stop." :(  For the next ten days I dreaded getting the call that would say they didn't have enough data and I needed to return for an overnight. Finally, the call came from Erick but no he didn't want me to spend the night, he wanted me to come in for my training session with my machine. I was soooo excited!!!

      On a rainy afternoon I spent 45 minutes with Erick learning all the very, very cool features of my machine. The most important one being that it has a memory stick that is recording all the important stuff while I sleep. When I go in all I do is take the stick for Erick to analyze while I have my exam, by the time the dr and I are sitting in his office we have the data printout. Cool beans! If I say "It's been going well but the other night, Tuesday, I had a rough night sleeping" the doctor can look at the data and say "oh, well that was January 10th and at 2:17, 4:29 and 5:03 you had apena events" Really, isn't that cool?!  I think so!!

      So I have the CPAP and have adjusted to it pretty well. There are a few small issues but nothing major.  It is really quiet, the Chosen One only barely hears it. My  6 month checkup and data report showed marked improvement from pre CPAP. It seems my physical and mental components are reaping the benefits of the Chosen One having this vision of lovliness to say "good night, sleep tight!" to every night.

May I just add that no one can ever say I don't keep this blog real lol Really, what kind of nut willingly post pics of themselves like this @@

     
This story is shared with you as part of Sian's Storytelling Sunday. The first Sunday of the month women from around the world (so far no men) share stories on their blogs and link up over at  from high in the sky Grab a drink, get comfy and read a few or more, they are always a treasure. If you do, consider leaving comments, it's always a bonus to know someone actually enjoyed your tale  :)