Sympathy Pain

8:00pm

So…it started off pretty rough. We tried to go look at houses between 6:30 and my 8:00 appointment for the sleep study. Tony would not have it. Usually, after a few minutes crying in the car, he nods off. Not this evening, ladies and gents. He let us know everything he thought of us dragging him along from house to house. We were only doing drivebys tonight, but he still was pissed at us. He cried for a solid half hour until finally we threw in the towel and Sarah took me to my appointment.

So here I sit. In a room about the size of a cheap hotel. It’s nice though. The bathroom is almost as big as the sleeping area. I have a tv with vcr…but no remote. There is a gazillion wires coming out of a control panel next to the bed. I think there is a plastic fitted sheet…probably with sensors…on the bed. And a camera with infrared LED lamp. I have no idea how long before she comes in and hooks me up. I so look forward to it.

9:00pm

Ok…so I’m lying in bed…kinda drifting. I’m waiting for someone to come back to hook me up…and not in a good way, when I hear from over head…

“Mr. Comer…” There’s an intercom above the bed.

“I need you to set up and look at the camera. I need to get a picture.”

So I set up. The robotic camera swivels around.

“Smile.” If just having the camera in the room wasn’t enough, they had to make sure I knew it was there…and moved. Creepy.

9:45pm

Patty comes in to hook me up. There’s a wire down each of my pants legs with 2 electrodes per leg…can’t wait to rip the tape off tomorrow morning. There are 2 electrodes on my chest, and what feels like 8 on my face and scalp. Plus the pluse ox on my finger and the air monitor in my nose.

Sleep tight.

After I get in bed and the lights are off, I have to do exercises. These tell her if everything is hooked up correctly.

“Mr. Comer,” again the voice from above, “look left, now right, no left, now right…flex your left fot 3 times…now your right”…and so on. A voice in the dark…and I’m being filmed…normal night for me.

5:00am

“Mr. Comer. It’s time to get up.” And we had to do the aerobics all over again. I slept o.k. Woke up a few times more than I would at home, but it wasn’t bad.

Patty came in and removed all the connections. “You wife is right…you do snore.” I almost didn’t take a shower there…until I ran my hand through my hair and felt all the crap. I took the option of a shower and left.

I go to the doc in two weeks to see if I have apnea or not. If so, I have to do another sleep study.

Yawn.