Tuesday, May 3, 2011

Let the Exhaustion Marathon Begin!

Nolan has his third sleep study tonight. Basically, this is a test of how long Mommy can survive without sleep: we will leave our home at 6:00pm to make the two hour drive to Buffalo. We check in to Buffalo Children's at 8:00pm, and the hook-up begins shortly thereafter. The hook-up involves many different electrodes, wires, and belts - usually the process is complete by 9:30 or 10:00pm. Then the technician turns the lights off, and leaves.

Nolan usually falls asleep in less than an hour. I, on the other hand, stare at the CO2 monitor and watch his breathing. Since Nolan is connected by so many wires and tubes, they get tangled frequently - which requires the sleep technician to come in and disentangle the mess of wires. I would guess that I manage to sleep about 3 hours during the sleep study - the lights come on at 5:00am, and I drag a goopy-headed Nolan to the car for a 2 hour drive home. Thankfully, Dennis is going to take Matthew to school in the morning: this means I get to take a shower before doing Nolan's speech therapy and doing the afternoon routine. Matt has a school program tomorrow, so I will be going from the Pre-K pick-up spot to drop Nolan off at the babysitter's house, then to Matthew's "Mommy and Me Tea."

I suspect I might be a zombie by Wednesday evening - just in time for swimming lessons!

All kidding aside, I truly hope Nolan passes this sleep study. On the one hand, it would be really nice to ditch these tests. On the other hand, we really don't want to have to do a revision supraglottoplasty for his laryngomalacia. If he passes the obstructive apnea portion, we should be free and clear. The central apnea was markedly reduced at the sleep study in August, so I have all of my fingers and toes crossed that this sleep study shows a clear airway and no apneas.

3 comments:

Herding Grasshoppers said...

Oh Leah, I'll be waiting on pins and needles t hear how it goes!

Julie

xraevision said...

I'm so exhausted from my own life that all of your talk of sleeping, er, I mean, not sleeping is encouraging me to nod off while I type. Sitting by Nolan's bedside during these studies sounds tedious, so good luck to you, and Nolan too. It sure is wonderful when you can cross one medical thing off your long list. And don't fall asleep in the pool! We still take X into the kiddie pool, which is warm like a bath and does not inspire alertness.

rouchi6 said...

Oh my ,you have a whole thing going and am already exhausted reading it and don't know how you are dealing with it.Hope all goes well and wishing you strength and all the best.