CupTeaLuv?

we sure hope so!!
This morning I go for my results from the sleep studies… I meet with the doctor first of all, and then I meet with the respiratory therapist… to get my CPAP machine!!
WHOHOOOHOOOOOOOOOOO!
Can’t wait for that.
So I’ll let you know tomorrow how it worked out.
I’m closing tonight at work (by myself — again…) so I should be good and tired by the time I will be going to bed.

There was one point in the night where I woke up and had a bit of a mini panic attack — it is the strangest feeling in the world to wake up and feel short of breath and to take big huge breaths to catch your breath and feel and hear the air being pushed out of your mouth…
I am clausterphobic, and when I woke up and felt that, it was awful. The machine basically takes room air and gives it more pressure — as opposed to it being an oxygen tank. When I woke up like that, all I wanted was a fresh breath — this may or may not be a problem when I get the actual machine — the feeling of breathing stale air…. argh.
Anyhow — I was supposed to go back for my last appointment this morning with the doctor — to be prescribed the CPAP machine and to collect it to begin using it at home. But as things have it — that particular doctor is moving off from the practice to start up her own practice, and hence I was given a phone message with the option of rescheduling with her at her new practice, or rescheduling with a different doc at the old one.
I ended up with a different doc at the old one, merely because I did not want to go through the whole song and dance routine again of finding out if she would be covered under my insurance in her new practice…. what a nightmare.
So my appointment is next week — on Monday.
Hopefully there ends my sleep problems, and as a result, Andy’s sleep problems too!

Sorry about that.
Life just took over and add to that the fact that the last time I typed up a lovely (long) blog entry it went missing into the great wide beyond… my motivation to blog was diminished.
so I’ll play a little bit of catchup for you…
Part two of the sleep study went as well as could be expected — I had requested that the doctor in charge of my study prescribe a sleep “aid” for me for my second night doing the study because I was told by the sleep lab technician that most people are able to fall asleep on their own the first night (which I failed abysmally at!) but they struggle to fall asleep on the second night because it is uncomfortable to sleep with the CPAP (continuous positive air pressure) mask on. So, figuring that if I didn’t sleep the first time, I was reallllly going to struggle the second time, I asked for the prescription. She prescribed a med called Sonata, which helps you fall asleep but doesn’t keep you asleep. She prescribed two pills, yet the outside of the bottle said take one pill. So I followed directions (should have taken them both together!!) and ended up feeling very drowsy and sleepy but never actually falling asleep. So after a while the lab tech brought the other pill in and I took that and evetually fell asleep.
The sleep mask is very awkward — although she gave me a choice of three different kinds — one that is like a shell that fits over the nose, one that fits over nose and mouth (apparently not recommended by the doctors because of the “leakage factor” — it’s all about keeping the air going into my lungs at a certain pressure, and if the air is leaking out from the edges of the mask or from my mouth or wherever, the pressure is decreased and the mask isn’t getting to do what I need it to do.) The third option was the one I chose — apparently it is the doctors’ favorite because it has the minimal amount of leakage factors. It looks like a smaller version of the expandable vaccuum cleaner hoses that you use the attachments on — it’s about an inch and a quarter in diameter, and has two rubber nozzles that fit just inside your nose (not highly uncomfortable, but not exactly comfy either!), and there are two straps that go behind your head to hold it in place.
Apparently, ideally you are to lie on your back to sleep with this mask, because then the mask isn’t affected by pillows pushing it or your arms or anything. I was very surprised that once I did fall asleep I didn’t remove the mask in my sleep — like I used to remove my night-brace oh so long ago when I wore braces.
(cont’d)

haven’t slept for the past three nights.
Friday night I can understand — the night before opening day — a bit like the night before your first day at school or like Christmas Eve… something big happnening soon…
but Saturday I should have been so exhausted I should have slept like a rock. Nope. Not only did I not sleep, I missed out on an hour that I wouldn’t have slept either because of the clocks going forward! Nevermind. I just could not get comfortable — my back ached (and yes, I did take a pain killer before bed) and my joints were sore.
Last night? Should have slept like a rock — again. But nope! Every time I fell asleep I began to dream about working. It was awful. So then I would wake up frustrated again, and toss and turn trying to get comfortable and then slowly fall asleep again, only to dream of more work. Then some time in the middle of the night we had a huge rumble of thunder — it was really loud! And then a few minutes later some lightning and more thunder…
So needless to say, I am not in good shape today. I am scheduled to work from noon til 8:30pm… pray for me! oy vey.