Right. I will continue the story of the sleep lab now.
After showering and going about my normal morning routine, a nurse came in and showed me to the kitchen so I could have breakfast. There were cupboards full of different cereals and a freezer full of Jimmy Dean sausage biscuits. I tried to stick close to my normal routine and had a bowl of Cheerios. Eating Cheerios still seems like a novelty to me- when I was little, Tug would only let me eat Cheerios if I sat on the floor of the laundry room, because he didn't like the smell of them. I know I'm an adult now, and can eat Cheerios whenever I want, but that rule stuck with me.
Breakfast taken care of, I went back to my room to get wired again. The technician came in with another huge cart of wires and proceeded to stick more electrodes to my head. I got two on my forehead, two on my temples, and two on my jaw line. Then she got out a tape measure and started measuring my skull, marking spots with a red pencil. Yeah, that was kind of weird. Then she took out some more paste and put that in my hair to secure the skull electrodes. I started to doze off at this point, as I often do after having to be awake for an ENTIRE HOUR, but she told me I had to stay up for another half hour before I could nap.
So at 10:00, she told me over the intercom that it was time for my first nap. Awesome. To check the equipment she had me open and close my eyes, look at different walls in the rooms, grind my teeth, and blink a lot. All was satisfactory, and I crashed. I love naps. And this one was going to be fabulous....
....except that the game is to wait until I'm going into deep sleep, and wake me abruptly. I swore. I had no idea how I was going to stay up for two more hours, I was so groggy.
The night before, they had made me turn off my cell phone, so it wouldn't have a chance to wake me, but now I asked if I could turn it back on. They said it was alright, but I wouldn't be able to get a signal unless I went outside. So I walked outside with my phone- through the lobby of the doctor's office and into the parking lot of this large medical complex. With wires sticking out of my head and electodes on my face. And a large black box hanging around my neck where all the wires connected. In my pajamas.
If I had seen me, I would have called the police. I made a couple calls sitting on the trunk of my car, and people actually circled the parking lot twice, slowing down near me, so they could get a better look. An older woman just walked up within inches of me and stared at me while I was talking on the phone.
So that just repeated throughout the whole day- they would let me sleep, rip me from my peaceful slumber, send me outside to let people gawk, repeat, repeat, repeat... I took four naps up until 5:00, then they sent me home, with the paste still in my hair. They'll go over my scans and give me the results in two weeks.
Overall, it wasn't too bad- I did get to sit around in my pajamas all day eating other people's food. I would prefer not to have wires all over me again anytime soon, but I think it's probably best to get to the bottom of my sleep issue- because if I keep falling asleep during the day, I won't have anything to do but sit around in my pajamas.
I hope you all had good weekends and that you're enjoying Columbus day. Columbus is buried in Seville if you're interested in paying respects. |
