I survived

Why did it take me two days to write about the aftermath of the dreaded “sleep study”? Did it take me that long to recover from the “trauma”? As much as I believed it would be the case, it is not. I simply took the weekend off from any computer access so I could visit family this weekend and also try to catch up on much-needed rest after a severely sleep deprived last couple of weeks. So, after a 48-hour delay, here’s the report from that fateful night…

As the final minutes ticked down before my appointment Friday evening, my anxiousness manifested as surliness that unfortunately bit at those around me. Compounding my unsettledness, severe weather moved through our area about the time I was getting ready to leave, which seemed an ominous sign of things to come. The reality was that it was a perfect picture of my evening: a brief tempest followed by a very calm, uneventful rest of the night — and my personal tempest ended when I walked in the door of the sleep clinic.

Something about just walking in the door instantly settled my nerves somewhat, perhaps because it was a resignation that the inevitable was about to happen or perhaps because it was so calm and quiet in the clinic. The clinic was very unclinical in its appearance, instead it was more like a nice, warm, welcoming home that happened to have several bedrooms. I was greeted almost instantly by one of the sleep clinic technicians whose calm, pacifying demeanor also set me at ease.

I was shown my room, which had a nice regular queen-sized bed in it along with a television, nightstand with reading material on it and a ceiling fan (which was perfect since I sleep with a fan going because I need moving air). I ended up waiting a while before I got “hooked up” because one of the other earlier appointments was quite late and delayed the schedule. So I sat there for close to 45 minutes with a few remaining butterflies fluttering about in my stomach as I still fretted about the actual sleep study.

One of the sleep technicians finally came into my room and began to wire me for the test. I must have had a couple dozen leads connected to various areas of my body, the bulk of which was centered around my face and head. Both technicians described what they were doing and what would happen during the test, and they generally assuaged my anxiety with a sympathetic discussion about my sleep symptoms, reassurances that I wasn’t that uncommon and assurances that there are treatments that will help. After I was all hooked up, I laid down for the night.

The first half of the night — I’m not really sure of how long it was because there was no clock in the room and I forgot my iPhone at home — was fitful and restless. My sleep was erratic at best and I repeatedly woke up. At one point, I was awake for a while and determined that I was going to have to visit the restroom if I hoped to resume sleeping. I pressed a button that called the technicians and they came into my room right away. After disconnecting me temporarily from the monitors (by way of a detachable central plug of sorts that all the leads attached to my body were connected to), I was able to accommodate the call of nature (with a little bit of extra effort with all the wires hanging from my body).

When I returned, the technician told me that they were going to go ahead and hook me up to a CPAP to see if it would help in my breathing and, as a result, sleeping. He noted that, although he would leave the details for my doctor to explain, I was suffering from “rather significant sleep apnea” that was serious enough that they were just about to wake me to have me try the CPAP. After fitting me with the mask, I laid back down to sleep. I immediately could tell a difference in my breathing with the aid of the forced air. Within a couple of minutes, I was fast asleep.

The next thing I knew, they were waking me up. I felt like I was waking up from a very hard sleep. But within a minute, I was wide awake and felt amazingly refreshed. And I mean I felt the best I have felt for a very long time even though I only had a very short night of actual good sleep. I was immediately sold on the CPAP. Others had told me that it made a huge difference in their lives, but experiencing it made me a true believer and evangelist.

Unfortunately, I didn’t get to take a CPAP home that morning. I have to wait for my doctor to see the results and make his determination. However, I would be very surprised if he didn’t see a significant need for it and if he didn’t also see the marked difference in my sleep before and after the CPAP from the clinic’s test readings.

So, I survived the test. I’m glad I went. It wasn’t as bad as I was worrying it would be. The sleep clinic was excellent. The test was enlightening and the tested use of the CPAP was encouraging. I just might be able to sleep well after all. And I’ve been told by the doctor, the sleep clinic technicians and by others who have been through this that it can literally change your life when you are able to get the sleep your body needs. Well, I need to have that type of change because my current pattern is slowly, but assuredly, wearing my body down.

The one thing that stuck out to me most was just how precious air is and just how precious effective breathing is. I’ve struggled with asthma all my life, so I’ve never taken normal breathing for granted. But this study reinforced how much of a blessing that good breathing can be and how refreshing a breath of fresh air can truly be.