We Did It! The Sleep Study Is Over

A few days before Beth was supposed to have the study done, I took her to the clinic to get a look at the rooms and talk a little about what was gonna happen. She asked how long we'd be there, what day we'd be home... We've learned it helps her when we explain things ahead of time and give her the timeline. 

(We went to New York in 2004 and Beth was so mad the whole time. Until we figured out that she thought this was our life now. Once she learned it was temporary and we'd be back home soon, she perked right up!)

Just one of a few pictures we have like this:

So now we always plan ahead. 👍 

On Thursday we got to the clinic at about 8:30 and they took us to the room. We immediately felt like we were on vacation, it was so much like a hotel room. We loved it and made ourselves right at home!

 

The tech came in and started hooking Beth up to all the wires, gosh there were so many! Beth watched Madagascar 3 while the tech and I (why can't I remember her name?!) talked about traveling. 

(Sharaya and Diana are actually in New Orleans right now and the tech - I'll call her T - took her husband there for his birthday a couple years ago.)

We sat and watched TV for a while before climbing into bed. T brought in a cot, basically it was a roll-away bed for me to sleep on, and turned out most of the lights. When we were finally ready for bed, I think it was about 10:30, we called T and she came in to help Beth get into bed.

That large pad with all the wires coming out of it actually attached to the wall and transmitted all the data so she didn't have to sleep with that but there was still a lot of stuff! After she got into bed, we had to straighten all the wires out and then we turned out the lights and went to sleep.

I woke up at about 3:30 and just watched Beth for a few minutes. She hadn't moved at all since we crawled into bed and I saw her reach up and scratch her neck. But it was very controlled and methodical, like she was awake. I of course laid there wondering if the lamp we left on was keeping her awake but she didn't want to wake me to tell me. 

So I got up to check on her and she looked like she was asleep. I turned the lamp off and they had a pretty bright night light built into the wall so I quietly went back to bed.

T came in at about 6:00 to wake us up and the first thing Beth said was, "I did it!!" 

She had told me before we got there that she was a little nervous, but she really did great! We got up and T took all the equipment and the stuff off of her and told us there was a survey we needed to fill out on the computer. I sat back and let Beth do the whole thing. She read the questions out loud and then clicked on the appropriate answer. 'How well did you sleep?' 'Did you have heartburn?' One of the questions asked if anything had woken her up during the night. "Yeah. When you turned off the lamp." Oh. 😀 Whoops!! So she wrote, "When my mom trun off the lamp." (Yes, trun!)

T said they got some good data and that Beth did really well. We went home, took a shower and got all that waxy goo stuff out of her hair, then decided to go to breakfast to celebrate!

 

Strawberry crepes with a side of hash browns for the win!!

Getting Nervous About Beth Having A New Sleep Study Done

Earlier this year we got notice that Beth's Primary Care doctor - Dr T - would no longer accept her insurance. We could get new insurance or find a new doctor and since Beth has been seeing her for decades, we decided to get new insurance.

It took a few months, lots of phone calls and paperwork to get everything transferred over but we finally did it. And while all of this was going on, Dr T referred her to a Sleep Medicine doctor - Dr M - because I was hearing her gasping for air during the night. We were able to do a home study and Dr M got enough info to give her an official diagnosis of sleep apnea.

Well, a couple months after starting the Cpap machine, we got a call saying Dr. M doesn't take the new insurance. 

Sigh.

So I found a new sleep doctor, Dr G. Then I sent Dr T all of his information and set up an appointment with him. 

Dr T sent them Beth's records and the results of her sleep test. Dr G's office mailed us paperwork to fill out and I had to go on-line to fill out more paperwork that took almost 30 minutes. After already doing all this for Dr M!

Beth had her first appointment earlier this week.

It was pouring rain when we got there.

 

They took her vitals and then Dr. G came in. He asked a few questions then said he wanted her to have a full sleep test. In the lab.

(Beth had a sleep test done in the lab before she had her tonsils out and it was a disaster. Granted it was a long time ago, but I'm still nervous about doing it again.)

Beth usually doesn't go to bed until midnight or later but we have to be there at 8:30. 

The more I think about this the less I like it. Were the other tests inconclusive? Why are they having her do another one?

One good thing is that I get to be in the room with her this time. But she rarely talks when she needs something. Will she tell me if she needs to go to the bathroom? Here at home she uses 2 night lights, but the room in the lab needs to be dark... I don't know, the closer it gets the more nervous I get.