One of the requirements of the hospital (not the insurance company, or the surgeons office) is that I had to have a sleep study preformed.  I’ve never been through a sleep study before, so I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect.  I know that I have a hard time sleeping in new places, which can be an issue with the amount of time that I travel, so I knew I was going to have a tough time sleeping.  To top that off, due to allergies I’ve had a bit of a cough and a runny nose.  I’ll do a timeline-play by play of what the experience was like.

• Arrived o the sleep study center at 9PM
• I was shown to my room and given some paper work to complete.
• The room was very comfortable, sort of a mix of a hotel room and a home bedroom.  Flat screen TV, giant leather recliner, sleep number bed.
• I was told that if I showed 15 apneas in the first and second hour (15 in each) that they would come in and wake me up to fit me with a CPAP machine (scared the ever living SHIT out of me to hear that.)
• The attendant came in and hooked up about 15 or so wires to me.  One on each of my lower calves to check for restless leg syndrome.  One behind each of my ears.  One on either side of my upper chest.  Two or three on the back of my neck.  One on each side of my cheeks.  One on each side of my forehead.  Then I had this strange wire thing set inside of my nose and then an oxygen cannula thingy stuck up my nose.  I either have really small nasal holes or these things were all huge.  I couldn’t breath out of my nose with these things up it.  I knew that they both wouldn’t last, but I wanted to give it a try.  There was also a strap placed around my waist and another that run under my arms around my chest, I guess to check my breathing.
• I was told that I had to sleep in the middle of the bed because the box that all of the wires connected to had to be on the bed with me.
• I read my kindle for a bit after watching some TV.  Started to feel a bit tired so I shut the light out.
• The second I got to sleep the attendant had to come in to check things, which means I woke up.  I’m a light sleeper, so I knew things weren’t going to get much better.
• I finally fell back asleep, and about two hours later had to use the restroom, which required pressing a button to call the attendant to come unhook some wires so that I could go to the bathroom.
• I made it through the first two hours with very few apneas, so the CPAP wasn’t required.
• At some point I fell back asleep and apparently pulled the oxygen out of my nose which of course required another visit and being woken up again by the attendant.  I’m a nose breather, so having to breath through my mouth in an incredibly dry room was drying out my mouth and throat and making me snore. I talked her into leaving the oxygen out.
• At about 4:30 I woke up again needing to go to the bathroom (it was so blasted dry in the room that I kept waking up to drink water.)
• At 5 AM the attendant came in to wake me up and remove all of the electrodes attached to my body.  She told me at some point in the night I showed mild or so sleep Apnea.  This scared me.
• I was told that someone would be calling me after all of my tests were gone through, and that I would hear back from my surgeon if he was going to require that I wear a CPAP leading into surgery and then during the week or so post recovery.
• I headed home.

On my ride home I began to tear up.  I couldnt think of how to tell my husband that his wife was going to potentially be sleeping in a Darth Vader mask for a few weeks.  I got home and he woke up and I just started balling.  I was crying for numerous reasons:

• I was SO BLASTED TIRED.  I got maybe 2 hours of actual sleep.
• I was so upset with myself for getting to the point with my weight that I might need to wear a CPAP machine (I’m not knocking ANYONE that has to wear one, but since I rarely if ever snore, this was a complete shock to me.)
• I realized even more how much I want to work to make the Lap Band work for me, so that these sorts of healthy issues start to resolve themselves.
• I felt so snotty and gross from having to breath through my mouth instead of my nose.
• I had NO idea that I was having apneas!
• I had goop in my hair from the electrodes, red marks all over from the tape and sticky stuff from the electrodes, etc.  (See I was tired, this is a BS reason to cry, ha!)
• I spent most of Sunday is an overly tired haze, sort of like when you were up too late drinking.  Just feeling blah.

My husband is the most supportive person, he hugged me and told me he loves me regardless and is going to be there for me every step of the way through this process. I am one of the luckiest ladies alive to have such an amazing man as my husband.

I’m nervous to get the results, and I also am nervous that I’ll have to go back in for more sleep studies.  If I do need a CPAP, I do need to go in for another sleep study to be fitted and set up for the CPAP.

Good news, I’m already down a few pounds since Sunday thanks to the modified South Beach plan!