Last night’s sleep study went well. For those who haven’t had the pleasure, here’s what having a sleep study is like.
Participants are instructed to arrive at the sleep study center (mine’s at Integris Hospital) at a specified time (mine was at 8:30pm). When you arrive you’ll sit in a waiting room with a bunch of other people with sleeping problems. Everybody’s nervous, which means some people will be talking nervously and asking a bunch of questions while other people sit quietly, reading or watching the lobby television. The veterans (people who have already been through this) answer questions for the amateurs while we all wait. (“No, there’s no TV in the rooms. Yes, there’s a shower. No, it doesn’t hurt. No, you won’t get a good night’s sleep.”) One by one, each person is called into the nurse’s office where your paperwork is reviewed (and more importantly, your insurance is verified). Once everyone’s checked in, the sleep attendants will come get the group and herd them into the sleep lab.
The sleep lab is like a little motel within the hospital. Those who have never been to the lab are forced to watch a short film about sleep apnea and other sleeping disorders, which actually has two affects; one, it informs patients, and two, it is so incredibly boring that it makes the viewer sleepy, preparing him for his sleep study. Since this was a return visit for me, I was spared the watching of the video, although the television was right outside my room so I still had to hear it.
As it is a sleep lab, the rooms are designed for one thing; sleeping. My room was 8′ x 12′, with a bed at one end and a small dresser at the other. Next to the bed sits a CPAP machine (that’s why you’re here). A few magazines sit on the dresser. A video camera, mounted in the corner of the room, ominously points toward the bed. Just like the doctor’s office, the entire event is “hurry up and wait” — there’s a rush to get you to your room, where you’ll get to wait for an hour or so until the sleep technicians come and wire you up with around two dozen wires, most of which are attached to your scalp with gooey glue (good luck getting that out in the morning). The first time I went, this time was spent worrying about the impending study, but this time I was just bored waiting for the test to start.
The first time using a CPAP machine is a unique experience. For the first time you’ll be sleeping with a large mask on your face that blows high volumes of air up your nose. Nighty night! Don’t get my wrong — I’ve had a CPAP for 3 years now and I would not trade it for the world, but the first night is very stressful and can make people panic. For me though it’s old hat. Once they finally got around to getting me wired into the comptuter and got my machine going, I was out. I slept like a baby last night. The first time I went (three years ago) I don’t remember sleeping longer than 15 minutes at a time, but this morning the techs had to come wake me up this morning when the study was over.
The rooms at Integris have bathrooms and showers in them, so this time I took a change of clothes. I was out of the hospital by 6:30am and actually arrived at work 5 minutes early.