I have been looking forward to this day for almost two months now. I FINALLY had my sleep study consult! I knew I wouldn't get any answers at the consultation, but was excited to be one step closer to (hopefully) finding out what is wrong with me! My appointment was at 8:30, which means I got to sleep in until 7 AM!!! Funny, sleeping in before your sleep study appointment. Well, I was up at 6:30 but I forced myself back to sleep for as long as I could.
I got to my appointment and filled out the bizarre and not so bizarre questions for the nurse before the sleep specialist came in. Some of these questions were like:
On a scale from 0-Never to 5-Very Likely, please rate how you feel in these scenarios:
1. Fall asleep while sitting in the passenger seat of the car for over an hour
2. Watching tv
3. Driving a car
4. Having a conversation
You get the point...
Oh... and they also measured my neck... apparently that's part of the tests for sleep apnea.
Well, the doctor came in and he's German, VERY German. I had a hard time understanding him throughout the appointment. He kept saying "uh huh, yes, ok." But I wasn't even saying anything to him, but that's how he would respond after each comment he made. He said he would send my referral to Seattle for the sleep study, then proceeded to tell me he wants me to do TWO sleep studies and that I will be there for 20 HOURS STRAIGHT. He said I have a lot of symptoms of narcolepsy, which, ever since I saw the movie Deuce Bigalow Male Gigolo, I've known it was a sleep disorder where people just fall asleep out of nowhere. He said that is the main symptom of narcolepsy that I am missing. He also mentioned checking for epilepsy. Now, because of his STRONG GERMAN accent, I needed some clarification and said "Excuse me, did you say epilepsy? (Insert panic mode here)" He said "uh huh, yes, ok." And I said "Okay... and did you say narcolepsy?" He said "uh huh, yes, ok."
I made my appointments to get my studies done in Seattle on July 10th-11th. I have to check in at 7:30 PM on the 10th and get all hooked up to the machines. They glue electrodes to my head/hair, face, chin, legs, and I am to wear a belt around my waist and chest. They also said they may hook me up to the sleep apnea mask at some point in the night. While they are describing all of these devices I am wondering how the HELL am I going to sleep at all? They said they will wake me up between 5AM-7AM and unhook the belts, but keep the electrodes on for the following day. I am supposed to be there until 5 PM. He said they will have me nap every 2 hours, for 20 minutes at a time. I initially thought, how am I supposed to nap all day long? But then I thought... there is NO way I'll get any sleep the night of the study because I will be hooked up to everything, so I'm sure I will appreciate the napping. They said to wear cozy clothes for the day study because I will be sitting there all day long by myself. They have a dvd player and wifi, so it sounds like I will be having a very lazy sleep study day.
A lazy sleep study day sounds quite nice after my afternoon experience today. I kept reminding myself all day DON'T FORGET YOU DROVE TODAY. I could just see myself getting on the bus to go home and getting to the parking garage just to not find my car. Well, today I walked to the street where I parked and there was no car. I walked up and down the street a few times before I called my mom.
Hey mom...
How's it going honey?
Not so good, my car isn't here.
Um like it got stolen? Or towed?
I'm not sure... I paid for parking in a 10 hour spot, I should've been fine...
Well, turns out the spot I parked in is fine UNTIL 3PM-7PM... oh you mean I missed the sign that was placed up the street a block from the 10 Hour parking sign and payment stand? After figuring out where my car was oh so NOT conveniently towed, I ask for the address. The man at the towing company told me it was about half a mile from my work.... Oh and by half a mile you mean 2 and a half? Right...
After arguing with my mom on who will pay the impound fee, I finally won and told her it was my own fault and that I was paying for it. I walk to the bus stop, hop on, get off and walk around for about half an hour trying to find the, again, NOT convenient location of the towing company. I finally get there, pay the $125 fee, get my $47 ticket and I'm on my way. I leave just in time to be stuck in the 6 o'clock traffic starting up at UW and finally ending back home 2 and a half hours after I got off work.
I'm surprised at how calm I stayed THE WHOLE TIME... I almost cried for a split second... but really I was just ROYALLY pissed off and in a rotton mood. I get home and text my mom saying I'm going for a run to blow off some steam, since I missed my hot yoga class. My sister text me to say sorry about the car situation and that my mom paid for the impound fee, so hopefully I didn't get charged, too.
Well, guess what? They charged me. Never mentioned my mom giving them her information to pay for it. They will be getting a phone call tomorrow morning from my sweet sweet mom who still tried to go and pay for my fee without me knowing... who hopefully wont be so sweet if indeed they double charged us.
Have never been more excited to take the bus to work tomorrow morning.
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