Feeling Like a New Woman

To start at the end, I had a sleep study last night.  This was the result of our sweet son-in-law telling me that my "snoring" was not normal, when I was in their fair town to help with the new baby and big sis last month.

Last night was the Big Night.  I arrived at the hospital early, got signed in, and we waited patiently for Susan, the respiratory therapist in charge, to come for me.  We got to wait in the the emergency room so we we weren't bored while waiting, as you might imagine would be the case.

Susan soon arrived and led sweet Hubby and me to the appointed area, a locked off area all to itself.  She showed us "my" room, explained what happens when folks have sleep apnea, and explained the machine by the bed, and how the bubble monitor in the ceiling would work.  I loved the way that she educated both of us by explaining what happens with the stages of sleep and how the body is affected if it does not get the air that it needs.  It was very interesting.

Then I got to say "goodnight" to dear Hubby, and he left.

At this time, Susan told me that I could get ready for bed.  This is where I showed my continued lack of understanding of the common English language.  "Get ready for bed" to me means "put on your pajamas."  I did that and then called to tell Susan that I was "ready." 

Susan explained that the glue that she would use on my body to get the little electrodes to stick did not smell so great, so we would go to another room to place them on my body.  Oh, my.  She was soon parting my hair, "painting" my hair, my eye muscles, chin, neck, etc.  After she was done, it was obvious that I would be sleeping in my cute little "sea-bead necklaces" and my make-up.  Oh, well.  That's what soap, washcloths, and morning are for!

With at least 40 wires hanging off of my body, we went back to "my room," where even more electrodes were placed on my legs, and then, I was plugged into the machine by the bed so that Susan could monitor me throughout the night.

I did not turn on the television, but did finish one row on the dishcloth I'm knitting so that the stitches wouldn't fall off, and looked at about 40 pages of my GoodHousekeeping magazine before I was ready to hit the zzzzz's.

Before I knew what had hit me, Susan was back saying, "Wake-up.  It's 1:00 am, and you need to let me fit the (whatever she called the machine) over you."  She said a lot more, too, but I was so out of it, and a bit unhappy about being awakened at 1:00 am that, I missed out on the rest.

Soon, she had the machine turned on and placed over my nose.  I could tell that it would only work until I fell asleep and opened my mouth.  So at 1ish am, I started to do yoga breathing in hopes of getting back to sleep.  Yikes!  Susan did not like yoga breathing.  It "messed up" the machine.  So, regular breathing until I fell asleep, then of course, she was back in two seconds to fit a device over my chin to keep my mouth closed so that I could get all of the oxygen into my body instead of letting it escape out of my relaxed mouth.

And then, lots and lots of wonderful, delicious, uninterrupted sleep until 7:00 am! 

But boy did I ever dream!  I felt like I was chasing around with my dear friend and her triplets, plus an entire gaggle of company that seemed to be at their house.  The house was beyond enormous, stretched out forever, and had unlimited activities and interesting people inside and animals outside.  How could something that detailed last only 15 seconds!?!

The next I remember was Susan coming in and announcing that it was 7 am (but I think that I'm wrong on that).  I don't think clearly early in the morning.  And it couldn't have been that late.  But it was still "fast" sleep and slow wake-up, as usual.

Since I was the only client there last night, Susan treated me to the seeing of the graph of what those naughty little electrodes caught in the early hours of my night and explained why I generally wake up feeling as tired as if I hadn't slept at all.  My REM sleep has been almost non-existent for a long time, it would appear.  And she told me that it is as if I'm up all night running around my bed exercising, instead of getting the good quality sleep that my body is craving to heal, rest, and take care of itself.

Bottom Line: Severe Apnea.  What a surprise!  Truly, I feel that I have no trouble sleeping, sleep through the night, etc.  I had even felt guilty about going for the sleep study that my doctor ordered.

The next step is for the notes to get transcribed at the hospital, then sent to the pulmonary specialist.  She will review, send a copy to my doctor, Susan, and go over them with me.  Susan will order the machine, and I will be set to go.  The End.  Happily Ever After and Everything!!!!

Yesterday was busy and fun.  We started off with the Duffer's Member/Guest Golf Tournament, which was rained out from last week.  Although my sweet friend, Linda, couldn't play (she fell in a hole on Monday near the ninth green and injured her ankle, she was able to ride around and watch a sub play with her husband.  It was actually really, really fun, although I did not enjoy and think it is way silly to putt with a driver.  Yes, that is correct.  On one of the holes, we were required by tournament rules to putt with a driver.  Even though I putted my putt in for a par, I still think that the rule was a bit far out, even for the Duffers.

Hubby and I think that we came in pretty well.  We shall see.  We shot a 30 on 9 holes, if I remember correctly.

After a quick lunch with our friends, Linda and Jim, we came home to shower and get ready for pictures for the church directory at 3:15 PM.  It was a rush to get in and out of the shower, hair redone, and then to decide what we would wear to coordinate.

All went well, and other than dinner at Red Lobster in Hot Springs, and shopping at Kroger's, you know the rest already.

Tonight we are having friends over to celebrate the birthday of a mutual friend that celebrated her birthday last week by cooking for other people at her house.  We wanted to do something special, although late, just for her.

So I need to get my body into the kitchen and work on Paula Deen's recipe (http://www.pauladeen.com/recipes/view2/chicken_and_rice_casserole/) for  a great chicken casserole and a chocolate cake.  Time is short.  I must run.

Here is a picture of our home today, after the wonderful genie came to mow.  It is beautiful despite the record breaking temperatures that we endured this summer.  Yeah!!!