Sleep Study

So here we are, at Texas Children's and the fun has begun.  I left the house a little before 5 this afternoon.  I met Tommy at Chick-fil-a for a quick dinner, and then we came to the hospital.  We were here about 6:45.  We got all signed in and then the fun started.  After we got him dressed for bed and gave him a bottle, the tech began to attach the electrodes to his head.  They start by measuring and marking his head in the exact location that they attach each electrode.  Then they attach it with some gel and put a piece of tape over the top for good measure.  After about 20-30 minutes of this, we were done.  I had the good foresight to bring my laptop with his new DVD so he could watch it while they did this part.  John did extremely well and thank goodness there was no crying.

Then we got him in bed and they began to attach electrodes to his legs and chest as well as put a strap across his chest and one across his belly.  They need to make sure if he takes a breath, it is recorded no matter how shallow he may be breathing.  All of this time, he was quite wild and it took Tommy and I both to keep him still.  When they finally had everything attached and working properly, they turned off the lights and it took him all of about 3 minutes to fall asleep.  That's my child, falls asleep under any situation.  Now let's just hope momma has no trouble going to sleep tonight.  Tommy left shortly after he fell asleep, so now it's just me.  I need to find something to occupy my time before falling asleep.   Thank goodness for free wifi.

We are doing the test a little differently than we thought.  We originally thought that they would start the test with his trach closed.  This means we put a cap on it and he has to breath completely through his mouth and nose.  This is generally how we start the night.  If and when the apnea gets too bad, they open the trach for the remainder of the night and then add oxygen if needed.  But apparently, the doctor wrote orders for the trach to be open the whole night.  That is actually good, because that should help him sleep better, which in turn will help me sleep better.

The only problem that has come up is I have something seriously wrong with my left eye.  It started hurting this evening while we were eating dinner and has just gotten worse.  I may be paying a visit to my friendly Optometrist before the week is over.

All in all, everything went very smoothly.  First prayer on the list was answered.  Now let's just pray the rest of the night goes just as smoothly.

Here are a few pictures I took during the preparation:



Getting his head marked up



Attaching electrodes



Side view of the wires



All wired with his stocking cap on.