It's all good so far

Well the wires and electrodes are off and the test has been completed. I am collecting my thoughts at breakfast.

Checked into the lab around 7:30 last night. By 10:00, was equipped with electrodes for the EKG (ankles and clavicles) and the EEG which required many measurements of my skull. The placement with of electrodes was designed to provide coverage in bilateral symmetry. I don’t think they took excessive density into account or the fact that one too many flipturns may have caused some seriously twisted cerebral alignment in addition to twisted thinking. Anyway, I had a number of crosses made on my head. I am very glad that the red ink was water soluble otherwise we would have had some very interesting vacation pictures.

Then came the wiring around the optic nerves, above and below the back corner of eyes. Next was the O2 meter taped to a finger. Then came the air lines up the nose and in the mouth. Watch and fit bit went into the backpack. I wish I could have taken a picture but that might frighten future patients from going through the procedure.

The bed was a queen sized bed with a tempurpedic mattress, unfortunately covered with a heavy plastic mattress cover. You lie there and are directed through a series of exercises to test the wiring and the camera. Then it is off to sleep.

This would be great if you quickly drift off, however, most of us are there because of sleep issues. Tossing and turning is a little more complicated with 47 different wired glued to various parts of your body. Getting a drink of water without electrocution is an accomplishment. And there are a number of instructions to follow in case you have an early morning call of nature,

So you lie there, knowing that your attempts at sleep are being recorded on video tape. I know that I slept some. I woke up a few times to rehydrate, then around 3 am the gmail notifications started on the iPhone. I could have sworn that I had all notifications turned off. And inspire of what the fanboys say, a mechanical mute should rule over all electronic sub-switches. It happened enough that the nurses got curious and came into the room to see what was going bing that should not be binging. I explained that it was apple voodoo and we got the phone turned off.

Tossed, turned, and rehydrated a few more times and was surprised by the 6:00 am wake up. Spent 20 minutes getting detached, then dressed and to the house. As I was leaving, the nurse said the Doctor would contact me and let me know if I needed to repeat the test with the cpac machine or not. I am not worried, I have a week in the wine country to recover.

8:30 pm on a Friday night. I am back in town but on a strange bed.

It’s ok. I have my wife’s permission. I am doing a sleep study. She will attest to the snoring, and more disturbing, the intervals that I stop breathing during the night. Breathing is something important to me, and if I am having to interrupt sleep to continue to do so, there may be something to this apnea stuff.

I have always gotten by with six hours of sleep. From the early am workouts to working 24 hour towers/tours mud logging. Grad school at night, and now time spent commuting. Six hours seemed to be enough. But now inspire of my attempts at diet and exercise, I can’t seem to lose the weight. I am a little more fatigued, but I seem to be functioning. But then there is that breathing thing. Kind of use to inhaling the old O2.

Friends use the machines. I always thought the mask thing was strange as I observed the ritual some of my scouting buddies go through. There is competition with the youth for outlets. But generally the c-pac machine trumps charging a cellphone.

I did mention to a group of scouts watching their scoutmaster going through is ritual, that one could reverse the polarity by changing the plug around and this might cause a vacuum rather than a positive pressure flow, which could effectively suck his brains right out of his nose. His youth appeared to be quite intrigued by this idea. He did not sleep well that night.

Back to this breathing thing. It’s something I would quite like to continue to do. Even to the point of stuffing silly tubes up my nose and mechanically fighting to keep my sinus passages open. So I am sitting here, on a strange bed the night before we pack for our 25th anniversary vacation trip to Napa, waiting to see about getting my own night time mask. I intend to continue to inhale for many more years.

Back in the air. Last trip before taking some time off. I have been writing procedures and a training program. I don’t mind the business travel. The trip provides a short term project. Get in, gather the data, discuss issues and back out. It is much better than sitting in front of the PC trying to get concise instructions written and trying to avoid vacation surfing. It is time to recharge the batteries.

We are taking a vacation sans child, in laws, and dogs. It will be just m wife and I. We are only going to be gone a week but it will be a hedonistic week. The location, the hotel, the planned meals, and the wines are not on a shoestring budget. This one is going to allow us to decompress from all the challenges and stress that the changes we have had to deal with this year.

While there has not be anything that we haven’t been able to handle, it does slowly wear at us. Over the years we have learned how to deal with the stress but we have not had a break like this by ourselves. It has either been traveling with family or having a leadership role on a scout project, or burning time to work on the family accounting. Things that we did not mind doing, but this time it is just for us.

It will be a time to do some couples dreaming. We are middle aged, we have been married 25 years. We have made it this far, rolling with the circumstances. We have a number of years left. At least another decade of employment. Time to sit down and discuss the what now, what next, and what later.