Right now Andy and I are at the sleep study clinic at Hardin Memorial Hospital. Now you know where we are, don't come looking for us! He looks pretty dang funny with the 30, or so, wires stuck to his head, arms, and chest. I really can't look at him right now because it's making me laugh and he's getting irritated. He's going to lay right down on that bed right in front of me and attempt to sleep for the next 5 hours.. in the clinic. Oh boy. The bed that represents the who "household queen" is a little lopsided. The room is kind of cozy but it still feels like a hospital. I would have put some pictures up on the walls to give it a more "homey" feel, or something. What about those artificial fireplaces? I saw some small ones for less than $300 at Big Lots. There's a wall right in front of me that would be the perfect place for a fake fireplace. Hmm come to think of it, we STILL haven't replaced the fireplace the guys tore down about three months ago. I'm considerably patient, but as soon as summer's over I'll be needing that fireplace.
So, the whole purpose of this sleep study is to figure out why Andy doesn't get a good rest each night. It doesn't matter if we go to bed at 9pm or 2 am, it's all the same scenario. He dozes off and begins to lose consciousness. Good, right? But within two minutes of his sleep cycle he starts to move his wrists, in a twisting manner. He twists them back and forth for about three seconds, then stops moving for about fifteen seconds, then inevitably twists them again. This cycle goes on for hours. I've stayed up counting the number of times per hour and gave up at an hour and 1/2. I can't stand the wrist-twisting! He doesn't even have a clue that it's happening! Sometimes I wake him up and tell him to stop, and he looks at me in a daze...then falls back to sleep.
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| Andy At the Sleep Clinic, prepping for the night. |
Another interruption to his hollowed sleep stints is the seldom snoring that occurs when he's had a particularly busy day. I will let him snore (keeping me up) for about two or three hours until I finally push him off the bed, or leave the room to find solace. I am usually too tired to leave the room, so he gets a good beating from me most of the time.
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| Dang funny if you ask me! |
Andy dreams a lot; I can tell! At least I
think I can. I've read that dreaming occurs during REM, which is the part of the sleep cycle that occurs once every 90 min. I've watched in this cycle on nights he's able to achieve REM, and in the morning he can usually recall a dream or two. When he gets into a deep sleep and dreams (or doesn't dream) he usually doesn't know whether he's had a dream or not. I know he has, though. One way I found that out was the recent time he karate kicked me in the back of the thigh. I had to yell, "what the hell was that?!" And upon waking he had NO clue. HA!
Sleep, it's definitely precious, vital and something that our whole family lacks! I have to force myself to sleep most of the time, and it's been a real challenge.
