Sleep Study #3

Chilling on the couch after a long night!

Last night went really well, all things considered. Nolan watched his portable DVD player all the way up to Buffalo, and seemed to be in a rather good mood. We checked into the 9th floor sleep study unit - Nolan recognized the floor as the same-day surgery unit, and was upset because we didn't go to the playroom.

Our regular sleep study technician is no longer working there, which was a bit of a bummer since he knows us by name. The new technician was really wonderful, though, and had Nolan attach all the wires and leads. He fussed for a minute about the nasal cannula, but didn't seem to care after a few more minutes. We had 'lights out' by 9:00pm, so the hook-up went really fast!

He was probably out by 9:45pm, and I could hear him breathing with his typical stridor. It wasn't as "heavy" as it is sometimes, but it was definitely present. This doesn't necessarily mean anything, because kids with laryngomalacia will often continue to have stridor, even if the apnea is gone. I did watch the CO2 monitor for a while and saw some spikes to 55mm Hg along with a reduction in respiratory rate (normal is under 45mm Hg) - this might be indicative of some hypopneas or apneas. The alarm went off on the CO2 monitor in the morning, due to condensation in his nasal cannula. The sleep study was almost over, so the technician disconnected the in-room unit so we wouldn't have to hear the constant alarming. We won't know until we get the sleep study back in two weeks.

The sleep study technician was optimistic - "He's been through enough! Let's pass this one, little guy!" At 4:45am (wake-up time), she noted, "He did really well. He slept on his back a lot last night!" She's not allowed to tell us how the sleep study went.

Of course, now I'm trying to read meaning into her statement. "He did really well!" could mean that his apnea is gone. Or it could mean that he was a real trooper and did a great job with cooperating. Does sleeping on his back indicate that he is breathing better?

I have to stop it, because we simply won't know anything until we get the official report back. Of course, this means that in 10 days, I will begin calling the pediatrician's office to see if the official report is in - the stress of waiting for test results can be quite annoying at times.

Nolan did get an "award" for cooperating so well - he was quite pleased with the Lightning McQueen stickers. This technician was really wonderful with kids - she gave him a Lightning McQueen blanket and a Lightning McQueen pillow to sleep with. Our former technician never gave us cool stuff to sleep with! She also gave Nolan some crayons and a Batman notebook. Batman is Nolan's second favorite superhero (Spiderman > Batman > Superman). He was quite pleased with his spoils - he has already drawn a "rocket ship that can't go because a little fly is sitting on it" in his notebook.


This nurse was really amazing - she won't remove any of the stickers in the sleep lab, because she doesn't want the kids to associate sleep studies with any "ouchies." She gave me some adhesive removal wipes and we went home with the stickers still attached. Unfortunately, Nolan regards these things as his "powers" and wouldn't let me take them off. I finally convinced him to let me take off the ones on his face - he is still sporting the EKG leads and the leads on his legs.

We did give him a shower to get the goop out of his hair, and then he proceeded to run around the house like the energizer bunny hyped up on speed. It is 9:30am now, and he has crashed on the family room sofa, while watching Signing Time.

Now we just have to sit back and wait for the test results!