Torture Chamber

I'm feeling a bit lazy today so I'm just posting an email I sent to a friend, as my post. Please forgive my laziness, but I just feel like sleeping. I'm so tired that I'm just going to attempt to copy and paste it below. The two pictures above are of the inside of the torture chamber.

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I didn't get any sleep last night...I went for the last day of my sleep study and I'm worn out and very tired. I think I'll go to bed really early tonight and then maybe not, because I have to wear that air-mask to sleep from now on. They sent me home with one, so I don't have to wait until the pulmonary service comes around with one. I have it all hooked up and ready for tonight's sleep. I know I will be able to rest better at home because I won't have that stupid nose airway hose that monitors your carbon dioxide out-put levels and I also won't be connected to all those electrodes and wires.

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I got really tangled up in the wires last night because the woman who hooked me up just left them hanging around loose except for the ones on my face. The ones on my face, besides being attached with that gooey stuff, were also all taped to my face. There wasn't a spot on my face that wasn't taped up and I even had to ask her to please loosen a piece of tape that was attached very close to my left eye, because it didn't allow me to close that eye. She seemed peeved that I asked her to please loosen the tape, but how was I supposed to sleep if one eye wouldn't close? It hurt when all the tape was pulled off this morning too.

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I also had to ask her to please loosen the chest strap because she had my chest bound so tightly that it really hurt and I was wondering how they would be able to measure chest movement anyway. She didn't much want to do that either, but it really hurt and I'm not really a baby when it comes to pain...I'll put up with more than I have too most times.

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I think I was a bad patient. I was very tired & sleepy when I arrived but the airmask really hurt...It was fastened way to tight against my face and the more I wore it the worse the pain got. It was so tight! I kept lifting it up a little just to relieve the pressure on my face and I was being very careful not to lift it far enough off to let any air escape. I didn't want to complain, and I tried to be discreet and after about an hour of fighting with the airmask, two women finally stormed into my room like a couple of Gestapo's and removed that airmask and replaced it with a more comfortable one. Thank goodness for that.

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Although the new mask was comfy, I still couldn't sleep because then my nose itched, then my leg, then somewhere else. When that stopped then one of my legs started aching for no apparent reason. Of course I asked for tylenol or advil but they didn't have any. Finally when I thought I was getting comfortable, and feeling somewhat relaxed, the person in the next room started snoring so loud that I could hear them in my room and, although it was a muffled snore, it still bothered me. Then I listened to the rain pitter pattering on the roof and I thought I heard some thunder booming outside. I heard every noise there was to hear, closing & opening of doors, foot steps in the hall, but I know I slept because I woke up gasping for air 3 times and I never do that at home...I must have opened my mouth while sleeping because that's what happens when you open your mouth with the airmask on. Ms. Gestapo also told me that if I opened my mouth while sleeping that she would come in and attach some kind of chin strap to keep my mouth from opening. And I also know I fell asleep because I had a good dream.

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Honestly I don't know how they can tell anything about the way you sleep if they're relying soley on what they see because that's not the way I sleep at home. I fall asleep right away and I'm not bothered by annoying sounds & I don't get tangled up in wires. They might as well have tied me up and gagged me because that's what it felt like to sleep there.

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Oh, let me tell you what a stupid thing I did. When Ms. Gestapo came to wake me in the morning, she told me that the air would be shutting down shortly on the airmask and to keep it on until the air was completely shut off. When the air shut off I tried to take the mask off as I was shown, by finding the little round metal fasteners that fit into a little hole. My fingers were searching and searching and I was holding my breath the whole time...(remember they gave me a different mask during the night) I was beginning to panic and I couldn't find the fasteners and finally over the loud speaker another tech said, "Just pull it over your head, it won't hurt your ears too much." So I quickly pulled it over my head and took a breath and that's all that was said about that. Well, when I was telling Jimmy what happend he said, "Why didn't you just open your mouth and breathe." Smart a*s!

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