Last night was the BIG night. I arrived at the sleep study place (which was actually here in our fair little town) at 8:30. I felt like I was going to a slumber party. I had my PJ's, my pillow, and my favorite action figure. I was pleasantly surprised when I got there. I ride by this place all the time and never knew what it was. It's basically a small cabin that is wonderfully decorated on the inside. Really nice bathroom with slate floors.
This was my room for the night. The pictures are horrible because of the lighting. This was basically set up like a hotel room. After a bit of education on sleep studies and sleep disorders, I got settled in my room and suited up in my Underoos and the technician came in to start hooking up the 20 leads to various points on my body. Most of them went on my head and chest but there were some on my stomach, legs, hands, and butt. Actually there were none on my butt I just added that.
Here I am all hooked up. I was gonna read for a bit before turning off the lights but a second patient arrived just after this photo and she was a talker. I couldn't help but here the conversation and it was interesting. She was talking about how she sleeps and the fact that she has dreams that are in 3D. She loves to go to sleep because it's like going to the movies. Then she went on to talk about some of the meds she was taking and it all started to make sense.
I finally decided to try and fall asleep but it is incredibly hard to be natural and get comfy with all this hooked up to you and knowing that big brother is watching the camera just outside the door. I tossed and turned for a while. I actually felt like I was up all night long. At 5 this morning, they saw that I was awake and came in to tell me it was over. Now I won't know exactly what the results are for a week or so but they said I did have some apnea issues (particularly when sleeping on my back). It's winter up here but my snores would have kept the largest of bears at bay. I still find this odd. I've stayed in hotels with other dudes all the time when going to races. Were they really pissed off at me the next day for keeping them up all night and just never said anything about it? I always thought Heather was full of crap when she said I snored. The average person has about 5 apneas each hour in their sleep. For a while, I averaged 9 until I rolled to my back and then that number jumped to 17. I turned in at 10 and woke up at 5 and only 65% of that time was spent in good sleep. I guess all this stuff gets sent off to someone that analyzes these things all day long. I'll be interested to hear what they have to say. I have a horrible pain in the neck today from probably being stiff and trying not to knock off any leads through the night. Did I mention that this little trip costed $860? I'm so glad I have a decent sense of humor or I do think my wife would leave me with all of the medical bills we've induced lately. She's surely not with me for my good looks.
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