To Sleep, Perchance to Dream - Part 2

Aren't we just thrilled to be here?  Yes, we are!  I don't know about you, but I could be back at Dr. SnoozeAndDoze's place wired up like a motherboard on speed.  See Exhibits A and B below: 

I think these photos came out pretty good, considering that I was shooting into the mirror.  Besides all the stuff you can see on my head, face, and neck, I was also hooked up across my collarbone, and there were wires under my shirt and through my pants' legs hooked up to both shins.  I couldn't get a picture of me in the mask because once the thing hanging around my neck was hooked in to the wall socket, I couldn't drift more than a foot or so from the bed.  Rest assured that there will be more pictures once I get my machine and mask.

No, I haven't received the machine and mask yet.  It turns out that I need a bi-level unit and that one had to be ordered.  I should get it sometime this week.  Why, you ask, do I need a bi-level unit?  Good question!  Thanks for asking!  Because I'm a delicate little flower, that's why.  (Hey!  I heard that snort!  Let me remind you that I know where you live and I'm crazy.)  I can't exhale very well while there's a bunch of pressurized air being forced into my nose.  I don't breathe hard enough to push the air out through the incoming rush.  So I'll be using a machine that blows the air into my airways at the needed pressure, but then backs off when I exhale so that I can get the air back out.  Cool, huh?

I keep saying "mask" because the comparatively tiny things I posted a picture of in a previous post is not what I will have.  After trying both kinds, it ended up that I can tolerate the mask on my face much better than the things going into my nose.  And, again, it was easier to exhale without things in my nose.  The mask covers my whole nose and has straps over the top of my head and around my face.

I still don't know how anyone can be expected to sleep during a sleep study.  You've seen how I was wired and you've got a good idea of how the mask works and is strapped on.  I slept about 3 hours.  As my friend Carolyn pointed out, "Isn't the mask supposed to help you sleep better?"  Yes, and it will.  But there's that adjustment period.  I have to get used to having that thing on my face, and that thing has to get used to me.  It's kind of a package deal.  Don't ask me what that means.  That's what I was told.

So I'm waiting for the equipment and then we can start the honeymoon.  I'm also waiting for those lab results from Dr. OhMyAchyBody.  It's always about the anticipation.  Shoot, just when I thought I'd be witty and put the old Heinz Ketchup commercial video here (the one with Carly Simon's song "Anticipation", remember?), I find it's been removed from YouTube because of terms of use violation.  Curses, foiled again!

Better quit while I'm ahead.