Sleep Study = Purgatory

Friday night we had Caleb's first sleep study done. It was just to get some baseline info (data to compare to) for future reference as sleep apnea becomes a problem for kids with MD. He'll probably have this done about once a year...I am now shuddering at that thought.

So, we check in at Children's Hospital at 7:45 pm. Caleb fell asleep on the way there, so I thought, "Sweet! If the technicians are careful enough, he should just sleep right through it." Well, you've probably gathered that that did NOT happen. Things started off fine - we got some of the wires hooked up to him without so much as a stir. A few more, and he kind of opened his eyes, but quickly closed them again.

Then he opened his eyes one more time and the technician decides this is a great time to explain to Caleb what is going on. It goes something like this, "Caleb, my name is Neil, and I'm going to..." "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!" (That's Caleb screaming). Caleb then goes into hysterics, telling the 2 techs and me to, "STOP TOUCHING ME PLEASE! NO, I DON'T WANT THAT ON ME!" etc., etc.

They decide to clean the spots on his head and face where electrodes will be attached, and attach them after he's gone back to sleep. Well, he calmed down, but 2 hours later he was still awake. Neil then came in and said, "If we're going to do this tonight, we have to hook him up now, or we won't have enough time to get enough data." So I agreed that we've gotten this far, we might as well finish.

I tried to show Caleb that the tape that would be used wouldn't hurt, and told him, "They're just like stickers. See, mommy will put a sticker on her head." Well, it quickly went downhill from there. Caleb then started screaming, now in hysterics again, "NO STICKERS! I DON'T WANT ANY STICKERS!" Have you ever had that feeling that you've ruined your child for life? I think Caleb just might be terrified of stickers after this experience.

So we get everything hooked up, and he finally is so exhausted that he falls asleep around 11:15. I fell asleep around 12:30, but the tech came in at 1:30 to check on something, and that was it...I was up. So, on one hour of sleep, I was stuck in a small room, with my child hooked up to enough wires to look like he was in a Sci-Fi movie, with my cold and cough getting worse, and the air in the room was the driest air on the face of this Earth so the skin on my hands was cracking and I was sooooo parched! Oh, and did I mention that there was one bed for Caleb and a very uncomfortable pull-out hospital chair, which was so great for my back and neck.

I finally got back to sleep around 4 am. 4:45 rolls around, and my good friend Neil comes in and says, "Up and at 'em. The hospital needs the room at 5." Thanks, dude!

But wait, there's more...Caleb was in a very good mood after he got rid of all the wires. On the way home, Caleb tells me that he feels dizzy. He's got blood-sugar issues, and sometimes feels dizzy in the morning, but then takes a few sips of juice and is fine. So we stop at McDonald's and I got him some OJ, which he drank for the rest of the way home. We pull into the garage, and I started unbuckling his carseat. Without warning he throws up all over himself (and me). This was the icing on the cake...vomit icing!

He had the flu all day yesterday, but is fine today. He's keeping down food, and has a new found love for popsicles. I have since caught up on my sleep, and managed to fight off the flu. Jeff has been wonderfully supportive so we could both recover from this horrendous experience. Hopefully next time we will be able to better prepare Caleb for the sleep study and be able to talk him down from his hysterics. *Sigh*