Sleep Study: The Next Chapter

I've just spent the night at the Sleep Center, once again.  The first time around was to see how I am breathing when I am sleeping.  This time was to titrate me on a C-PAP.


I had a super sweet girl taking care of me.  When we walked into room she asked if they had explained what I was there for this time.  I said yes, and told her I had been told my results for the sleep study were really bad.


With big eyes, she shook her head yes, and told me my numbers were the worst any of them have ever seen.  The worst they had seen was 117 and his O2 sats only dropped in the lower 80's.  Mine was 153 and my sats dropped in the lower 60's.


Nathan has always said I was a person of extremes.


She explained the type of mask she would try first.  She was going to start out with just the nasal mask because I am severely claustrophobic.


There is the "extreme" coming out again.


She wasn't sure if it would work because I was going to require so much pressure, and she might have to switch it to the mask that covers my nose and my mouth.


I just kept praying, "Please, Lord, no.  Please let this be easy."


She hooked me up and turned on the air.  She wasn't kidding ... it was some heavy pressure coming for that mask.  If I opened my mouth I felt like I was smothering.  Dr. Keith had warned me I might require pressure so high it would do that.


Talking with that thing on is not an option.


She finished up, it was lights out and time to go nite, nite.


So, I laid there thinking I was never going to be able to go to sleep with that contraption on my face.  Plus, I was hooked up to all those wires for them to be able to monitor me.  Comfortable I was not.  The more I breathed, the tighter the mask felt around my nose.  I laid there for what seemed like an hour solving the world's problems in my head, but she told me it actually only took me about 20 mins to fall asleep.  It might not have taken me that long if I didn't have this head cold and had a coughing fit a few minutes after I laid my head down.


I woke up in a lot of pain.  A LOT.  I asked to go to the bathroom (You just speak out into the air that you have to go potty and suddenly she appears.  Weird), and when she came in to unhook me she told me I had been sleeping for almost 3 1/2 hours.


That explains the horrible pain.  If I stay in the same position for very long it causes a lot of pain.  Normally I can only lay in the same position for about an hour without the pain increasing to levels I would rather not go.


After I went to the bathroom and got a drink, she hooked me back up, and I settled back in to go back to sleep.


It wasn't happening.  I was in too much pain, and I had started having some terrible muscle spasms in my feet and legs.  She had to come back and unhook me so I could take my meds.  Once I finally got settled back in the bed again, my mind went back to trying to solve the world's problems.


I woke up to air blowing hard into my eyes.  I had moved around in my sleep and somehow knocked the mask off.  I barely remember her adjusting things.  Then next think I knew she was waking me up.


It was 6:30 a.m.  She first settled me into to bed around 11:00 p.m.  It's been a long time since I've gone to bed that early.  It's been years since I've slept that much.


Years.  No joke.  Probably not since I was getting IVIG, and I had to have so much medication for the chemical meningitis I got with each treatment.


I can't say I feel wonderful today.  My body hurts from being in the same position too long and having air swiftly pushed into my nose didn't help this head cold any.


But I am hopeful.  I need to figure out a better way to deal with the pain.  Maybe a med adjustment will help.  I still can't believe I slept that many hours.


And in case you missed it, the Lord answered my prayer.  This could have been a complicated process.  The technician was expecting it to be.  It wasn't.  I was able to keep the nasal mask, and she said I didn't require as much pressure as they thought I would need.  She was actually able to lower it some from where she started.


I went to Dr. Keith for a knot behind my ear, and I ended up finding out I wasn't breathing half of the time I'm sleeping.


Like Mary said, the knot is what He used to get me to go to see Dr. Keith, but ultimately that's not why He sent me there.  Yes, I probably should have listened to Darryl for the past several years as he has tried to get me to have a study done, but the Lord's timing is perfect.  This was the time.


I am still in shock at the results of my study.  I never imagined it would be that bad.  But I know the Lord will take care of me.  It's probably not going to be in the way I want it to be, but it's going to be in the way that's best for me.