Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Electrodes Have Limited Entertainment Value

(Unless they are the kind that zap you in the nuts while you're hogtied and ballgagged that is.)

Sorry, where was I? Oh yes, the sleep study.

One of the first things to say is that it was more comfortable than last time. Even though I had a mature aged and experienced technician hook me up last time, and the two young men in who's hands I placed myself and my leg hairs (more on that later) appeared to be children, the boys did a better job. All the stuff that chafed and annoyed last time didn't so much this time around, and they even used a different type of finger pulse monitor that made my finger throb less uncomfortably than before.

The first technician that hooked me up to all the electodes etc was a uni student of Malaysian background. Whose second degree was something neuro-electro-brainwave-blah-blah-zoned-out-on-the-details-blah-blah, and who had very bad skin, a tiny bit of halitosis, but the sweetest gung-ho disposition of the Aussie start/end/punctuate every sentence with the word 'mate' kind. Late in the evening the second technician came in to hook me up to the machines, a slim boy called Mohammed who likewise had bad skin (but no halitosis yay!), gorgeous wavy hair, and an incredibly polite, respectful and professional demeanor.

I watched some basic cable tv, and the tiny wee poppets competing in the Olympic women's/tiny children's gymnastics, knit about 12 rows on the second sock of a pair of socks I started a year ago (almost done!) and had a fairly pleasant evening. I even managed to get some sleep without sedatives this time, albeit pretty broken sleep.

Then Mohammed helped me to get out of all the gear this morning. 8 head electrodes. A finger pulse monitor. A chest and abdomen pair of respiration bands. 2 chest electrodes. A plastic '2 nozzles up the nostrils' oxygen tube thingy. 2 leg electrodes. Quite some performance, and one that involved the dissolving of glue in one's hair and beard (nasty) and an impromptu leg wax that made Mohammed wince as much as I did (but I swore more) courtesy of some over enthusiastic tape and glue on the electrodes on my legs (nastier).

Oddly, I only just watched "The 40 Year Old Virgin" for the first time the other day. RIPPPPPPP! Motherf*cker!

By 7am this morning it was all over and I was checked out, to head home and have a quiet day recuperating. I considered napping to try and catch up on lost sleep, but ended up drinking coffees and watching youtube clips of old seasons of Project Runway instead! My kind of battery recharging.

2 comments:

Mel said...

Your experience was better than David's. When he went in to try the CPAP, the testing facility just happened to be out of linens and pillows and he had one of the most uncomfortable nights of his life. Needless to say, it threw off the results just a smidge, and since he's paying for the study out of pocket (of course, they wouldn't not charge him or reschedule), he's not given it another go.

The Other Andrew said...

Yikes, that's horrible. I had a flat screen tv and the experience cost me nothing this time around, but best not share that with David I'm thinking... perhaps.