2/19/2009

Exhaustion

My husband has sleep apnea. I've been telling him this for years and finally he gave in to my nagging. After visiting our MD. and taking a written test, he was instructed to go do a sleep study.
I was excited that he was finally going to stop falling asleep at 8:00 every night, but soon realized that a sleep study meant that he'd be spending the night in a bed other than ours, without me.

For some this may not be an issue, but for me it means a night of sitting bolt upright in the bed, flipping channels, and watching the clock until I just pass out. I've never been able to sleep when he's not in bed, even it he's just out in the backyard camping with the boys. Fortunately, his absence from our bed is very infrequent.

Last night was the sleep study. Last night was one of the longest nights of my life. Today is one of the tiredest days of my life. I literally felt like I was going to break in half as I did the dishes.

To help kill some time, I had a friend over after her kids were in bed and we watched some episodes of "17 Kids and Counting" and felt better about our lives!
Then I watched American Idol. Then I watched a show about making lasagna on Food Network. I got really hungry (it was after all, about 8 hours since I ate dinner at 6:00!) and ate something. I don't remember what it was, but I must have finished it because I didn't choke in my sleep!

I think I passed out sometime after 2 am. The sad thing is, my husband who could lay down in the middle of a high school gym during a dodge ball match and fall asleep, hardly slept at all either! He took a picture of himself with his phone and I cracked up when I saw how many wires were coming off of his head and face.

Good news, we have a diagnosis and can do something about it. Bad, very very bad news, he has to go do it all over again, this time with a C-Pap mask on PLUS all the wires.
I'll be better prepared for the next one...I'll rent about 7 movies, buy a couple cartons of ice cream, make some coffee, and hire a sitter for the next day so I can sleep!

4 readers took time to leave a thought:

Homegrown Tribe February 19, 2009 at 9:37 PM  

oh man! It's funny... I would have stayed longer but I figured you wanted to go to bed! ha! I'll start planning for the next one...

britt

Lucky February 19, 2009 at 10:59 PM  

Michael technically has this too! But the sleep study is such a misnomer...he can never sleep there (we have the opposite problem of you...I can sleep fine anywhere, he only sleeps well in his own bed with me). Last time he went in to sleep with the mask on he lay there for 3 hours then gave up and just came home. He still hasn't used the mask to sleep with...let us know how it goes for you guys!

Katy February 20, 2009 at 2:31 PM  

Oh - not good. Sleep deprived mommies never end in a good day! I am so sorry you had to go through this! Sounds like you have your arsenal lined up for next time though.

Glad he is getting the help he needs. I feel his pain, only in that I don't sleep and am always tired.

Hope you not only have answers but a solution in the very near future.

~Kate

Kate February 22, 2009 at 9:24 PM  

Why do ALL the men in our church have sleep apnea??!! (at least that's how it seems) Jon went through that whole process too...the c-pap machine is oh-so-pleasant for EVERYONE! :) Jon ended up having major surgery because his apnea was due to structural problems in his nose/throat.

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