Sleepless In Johnston

I sleep all crazy times, as most of you know. And I always seem to be tired. So when my doctor requested a sleep study a few weeks ago I was looking forward to it.

In May of 2000 I had spent two Monday nights in a row at RI Hospital hooked up to wires for a determination of why I didn't sleep. I always felt it was insomnia because taking a Tylenol PM would help. I also knew it was a "control" thing. When you live alone it's difficult to get into a deep sleep because you need to be aware of what's going on around you at the same time.

So I went to the sleep study back then and it was determined that I had sleep apnea and if I bought a $1,200 CPAP machine I'd sleep well. I didn't believe it was apnea and I was proven right a few weeks later when Veronica and I headed north to Maine for the July 4 weekend. We spent one night at Lil's house in Goodwin's Mills, where I slept like a baby for the first time in years. The next day we drove further north to spend the next 3 days with Auntie Rita and Uncle Larry in their RV at Happy Horseshoe Campground in Embden, where again I slept like a baby. Then back to Lil's house for one more night, then back home. For years after that I slept pretty well.

More recently, not so well. So I go off to RI Hospital last Monday night only to find that the 3rd floor - Room 302 - is what I was told was completely deserted. I called the number that (thankfully) I had saved in my phone which confirmed it was room 302. The guy said he'd come open the door. Didn't happen. I called him back only to find out they moved to Johnston on Atwood Ave.

So off I go to Atwood Ave where I find Brian, a nice sleep tech, who hooked me up to all the wires. He had me try on several (like 12 or so) masks so that when it was determined that I did have sleep apnea (again!) he would know which one was more comfortable on me. So I watched some TV, read for awhile and I was so not tired. After all, it was only 11pm about 3 - 4 hours before my regular bedtime.

I tried to go to sleep without much success. Brian, who was monitoring my sleep (or lack of) came in a couple of times because one of the wires came unhooked, never returned to put the mask on me. At 5 am he came in to say we were done and after unhooking me (and leaving gobs of gloop in my hair) he said he was not able to give me any results because of federal laws (! freaking GWB again!!) so we had a few minutes of conversation about THAT, and I was free to go. I was looking forward to getting home because my new fridge and stove were to be delivered first thing!!!