Not sure why they call it a 'sleep' test

I survived the 'sleep' test,  but it was one of the top 10 worst nights of my life.  I'm very exhausted today, I actually feel sick. I took a 2 hour nap when I got home,  but that almost made me feel worse.  I've cancelled my day.

But, at least it's done.  As you can see my Fitbit tracked my night of very little sleep, I actually think Fitbit thought I was sleeping when I was laying very quiet for hours trying to sleep.

It will be interesting to see the results in 2 weeks.

Everything kicked off on kind of a bad note for this event. I arrived at the emergency room check in at 8pm sharp, as instructed, and did my check in. Then was told to sit on a bench in the hallway up against the windows. So I turn to walk over to the bench to see a short bench already inhabited by two men, one of which had a pillow leaning up against the wall so it was clear we were there all there for the same purpose. I plopped myself down in between them but it felt so very awkward and kind of felt like it was not very confidential for some reason.  I'm not sure confidential as the right word but there was a different awkwardness to this setup.

Then the technicians came to escort the four of us back to the sleep lab rooms. Once in my room, the technician asked what time did I normally go to bed and I said between 11 and 12.  , she then said that she would be back in a while to do my hookup which would include measuring my head for the brain Monitoring leads as well as attaching a band around my waist and chest. I guess I knew there were going to be wires hooked up to me but her presentation of this material was upsetting to me and I truthfully thought about walking out the door. But of course I did not. I had my Kindle along with a new book on it and so I set down in the recliner and started to read. The recliner was not comfortable as it is so large that it stressed my back to sit in it and the footrest didn't come up high enough to be comfortable. So for the next 2 plus hours I switched from the recliner to the bed and back again while I read and watched a little TV. At about 10:30 the technician reappears and asks if I'm ready to get going. I was about wondering if they had forgotten I was even there. 

During the attachment of the many electrodes to my head area the technician rarely spoke. There was no friendly conversation nor any explanation of what she was doing. Once she had attached all the wires she said okay you can go to bed. It would have been nice if I could have had a bedside lamp to read a little to ease into a sleep state but that was not to be. Once I laid down, she turned out the lights and went out to the monitoring station where she watched me through a few movements to test all of the leads that she had attached to me.  There was one thing she asked me to do that I was sort of puzzled by, she told me to make snoring sounds and I didn't even know how to do that. A minor detail but just one more thing that was awkward between us. Once she was done with the test mode I was told to just call out if I needed to go to the bathroom and she would respond and that she was right outside the door. This proved to be exactly true. The first time I set up and said out loud, I guess I need to go to the bathroom, within seconds the door flew open and the lights were turned on in the room. It startled me, I jumped and said my usual exclamation "jeezuz!"  There was no apology for startling me or any comment at all from my technician

In my opinion, my technician lacked bedside manner, we got off on the wrong foot from the start.  I was further annoyed by the slamming of doors I could hear all night, the insanely loud toilet flush in my bathroom that actually hurt my ears, the way the technician came crashing in when I asked for bathroom priviledge, there was no effort to try to keep the patient in sleep mode, turning on bright lights & letting door slam.  The leads/wires attached on my head and body were less bothersome than all the human interaction stuff.  The icing on the cake was when I finally did sleep soundly sometime after 5am, and woke up at 6:15am and asked for bathroom (they have to unplug you and hand you the electronic box) she came in and said let's unhook some of these wires. She took the Oxygen meter off my finger and then, without warning, ripped a big piece of tape off my arm. It made me jump and say "JEEZUZ".  Then she says, "that tape is not fun in the morning".  

The good part was...the bed was very comfortable and the blanket was soft and snuggly.  

And she did NOT pop in to put a Cpap on me during the night, which she warned me she would do if she observed a level of apnea.

During the night I got very emotional remembering that Dad had a sleep study when he was in his late 80s. It made me sad to think he had to go through this.  And I got doubly sad remembering that Glenn stayed at the clinic all night while Dad 'slept'.  It is not good when you lay for hours without sleeping, it makes a person lose their grip on sanity.

This test was the last link in the chain of events that started with my Rapid Ventricular Response & Afib on March 6th.  There is strong correlation, according to my doctor, between afib & sleep apnea.  I've had no further problems,  although I was worried last night that the anxiety might affect my heart rate. For the next 6 months, I'm still on Diltiazem, which slows down my heart rate, but on half the dosage now than was first prescribed.  For now, I also take 1 aspirin per day.   
I'm ready for this chapter to end. 

I think I'll go take a nap now.
+++
After a long afternoon nap, I am re-reading this, and I'm not changing, in fact I am adding to, my commentary. In my opinion this could have been a much more positive experience had the human interaction been better.
Oh well, she was just doing her job probably to the best of her ability. Maybe the technician who took care of Dad had a kinder, more supportive approach, I sure hope so. 

Bibs be done

I finished all of the bibs that I'm going to make. They turned out very soft and sweet. I have enough fabric left to make some burp pads and we'll work on that later in the week. Then this little project will be finished. And then I'll be ahead of the game when the baby comes. It's not a Johansen baby but a cousin of the Johansen kids in Luck.

I'm trying to keep busy today so I've been sewing, vacuuming, mopping floors, and thinking of other little projects that need to be done so that I'm not tempted to take a little afternoon nap. There are no naps today for me, but hops wants to be on my lap napping most of the day today. 

Tonight I have an overnight sleep study at the clinic and I want to be as tired as possible to see if I can't give them some decent data. The reason for the sleep study is determine if I have sleep apnea. This continues to be follow up to my atrial fib / rapid heartbeat episode in March. Hopefully this will be the last of it, as I have not had any further issues along that line.

Insanity, Puke and The Moon

I'm not sure if you can tell from this photo,

but the free...forced on me...tomato plants, variety Ultima, are going crazy.

I transplanted them from one big pot into this largest pot I had on hand,

and they are outgrowing their home quite quickly, already at least 4 feet tall.

Requiring daily water, and growing like crazy, these two plants are INSANE.

The greenhouse owner who pushed these two plants on me, for free, told me that 

"You will be back next year begging for plants of this variety"

I'm starting to think she might be right.

Lots of small tomatoes on the vine,
if nothing else, I can have fried green tomatoes.

 The Erickson Memorial gardens in Rice Lake are at their peak.

My driveway is lined with Day Lily clumps given to me by Gary & Mary Erickson out of their gardens over the past 6+ years.

Soon, I should split some of the larger clumps, 

but for this year, I am just enjoying the show.

My wild flower & pampas grass ditch project is coming along.

Right now there are Beebalm, Black Eyed Susan, tall Phlox and some other wild flowers in bloom.

The grasses are spreading and look thick, should be pretty when they get their plumage.

It still looks a lot like weeds in a photo, and it is a fair amount of that too, but looking better every year.

***

I've had the cutting board on the island for a couple of months I think.

A few projects have been sewn, but this little idea has been sitting here, taunting me, driving me insane, so today I finally sewed it up.

I have several baby bibs cut out, in preparation for an arrival over in Luck this fall.

It is a new pattern to me, but I think it works nicely.

Little lambs on one side and micro cloth on the other.  Velcro closure, and a little fancy stitching around the edge makes for a soft and sweet bib, all ready for puke.

 A few more to sew, and then that project can go away for awhile

and I can get my sanity back....

Could not be easier, layer your fabrics right side together.
Draw around the template, stitch on that line.
Trim off excess fabric.
Turn.
Wallah!

 ***

Moon Flower, 

how appropriate 

as we have been talking about 

the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 landing on the moon.

 I love this plant.

The foliage is beautiful and according to my LHS Class of 1971 classmate, Debra Baker, they reseed easily.  She sent me a packet of seeds last fall, and I am so happy she did.

I can't wait to see the blooms, I'll be sure to post some photos.

I'm already planning where to plant the seeds next year.

Life is Good.

Golfing Adventure Bags

Some time ago, I had picked up some plastic that you can iron on to fabric to make it waterproof.  My intent was to make a couple of bags for Roche & LeAnna for their golfing snacks.  While the sewn bags would not be waterproof, they would resist leaking better than plain fabric.

Since I am meeting Roche & Tom and LeAnna in Eau Claire for lunch tomorrow, today I got busy sewing, nothing like the last minute to give me motivation.

This plasticized fabric was not fun to sew on, this will likely be my last effort along these lines, but they are usable and fun.

I got special fabric for Roche after one of her golf board members claimed that she was a puppet.  I could not resist.  I've just never ever thought of Roche as anyone's puppet, and I think it bears commemoration with this fabric.

Not sure if you can see that the inside is shiny.

LeAnna gets a prettier fabric, I really like this Holstein Cow fabric, 

I bought a little bit of yardage, I will have to find something else fun to make with it.

Shiny interior.

It will be fun to have a gift for each of them tomorrow when we meet up for lunch.

Summer Stuff

My front porch is really blooming.

The morning glories are trying to take over, I'm hopeful to see them blooming soon.

This little volunteer from last year showed up under the step.

It is amazing how they will grow in a tiny crack, a year later.

I read that there had been a tornado touch down in Gordon, WI not far from our cabin.

It was time for a wellness check up there anyway, so Wednesday afternoon I took a drive.

 Our cabin looked just fine,

in fact, I think it looks very charming.

About 1.5 miles away, there were a bunch trees down.

 Luckily, there are no buildings in this exact area.

Most of this land is reforestation by the paper mill companies.

It was a nice drive to the cabin and back.

The little saw that could

My little electric chainsaw is a little champ. 

Got the branch down that came down during the storm on Friday evening.

It was a perfect day for working on this clean up.

The pile of big logs are left from the tree cutters this Spring, 

that's why it looks impressive. I can barely manage a 6 inch log with my little saw.

I sawed up some of the smaller wood into chunks 

and started on a border that will surround the soon-to-be Martin-House-stump.

I used the pole accessory for my little saw and cleared a few branches off this Maple.

They were hanging over the roof of the house.

I did get the saw caught up there, had to let it hang and drop to the ground as I pulled on the offending branch.  

Not my best work.  

The saw continued to work okay, but not likely recommended in the Owner's Manual.

I'd like this tree to go away, 

but that is beyond my lumberjack grade.

Brush pile has shade now from the new branches, the critters who live in there will be glad.

Now, just the bigger logs are left, 

I'm still hoping I can get a nephew or a brother 

to come with a bigger chainsaw to chop of those monsters.

In the meantime, we mow around them like they are yard art.

I'm pleased with how much I got done today,

I wonder if I'll be pleased when I wake up in the morning with some new aches & pains.

Powerless

Friday evening, major storm rolled across Polk County, Barron County and on East.

It was well forecasted to be potentially severe & it was. Whether it was tornadic or straight line winds will be hashed over by those in the know, whatever, it was very damaging.

During the worst of it, I took shelter in my tornado safe place, my walk-in closet, with transistor radio & flashlight.  It was pretty scary for awhile.

I have a good sized Maple branch down in the backyard, it is leaning on my roof, but no other damage to my home. My power went out at about 7pm Friday evening and still is out. 

Surrounding areas got hit very hard. Glenn's lake cottage had a big tree drop on the roof and yard. 5 holes in the roof & a bunch of cleanup.  Even more severe damage was caused by this storm in the town of Barron. Light posts snapped off, on the main drag, about 8 of them, I've never seen anything quite like it.  I football field sized corn storage building that had a bright red & white roof made of some kind of canvas, is now without half of that roof.  A dairy building with bright red steel roofing now has no roofing on the entire East roof slope, the West is intact.  The missing roofing is wrapped around power poles and trees, some of it across the state highway. And the list goes on...& that's just what I saw driving from my house to Glenn's cabin about 30 miles West of my home.

I'm hearing reports of lots of trees down near, and in, Luck.  Many also still without power. A rough deal for the annual Lucky Days celebration in town.

Two days without a shower is ok, but 3 is my limit. I took a 'shower' with 1/2 gallon of distilled water this morning. At least my head got clean,  and it was refreshing! (as in very chilly)

I used my transistor radio to listen to Brewers baseball last night & will do the same this afternoon.  I had hoped to be in Luck for Lucky Days this weekend but that's not going to work out.  Next year.

There are many in this area without power, the restaurants that have electricity are doing a big business.  The electric company is working hard, but it all takes time.

So, now we wait.

***
Update: 4:15 pm and the power is back on, a 41 hour outage, but the sound of flushing toilets is music to my ears! 

Estela

One of my best friends from Coors, Al, just lost his Mom, her name was Estela.  I don't think I ever met Estela, but I heard many stories from Al about his Mom.  She was well known at the brewery for being a tamale maker extraordinaire.  

When she visited from Chicago, we all queued up to be in on the tamales.

So, while I didn't know Estela, I knew she had started in nursing at a young age and continued her nursing education into her later years. I knew that she cared for Al's Dad as he struggled with declining health and Parkinson's Disease, and then was diagnosed with her own cancer in the mix.

After Al's father died, he sent a note out to some of his friends saying that Estela would enjoy getting mail as she managed her way through the loss of the love of her life.  So, I started sending a card once in a while to Estela. I always used one of my photographic cards and would write a little about the photo and some other bits of news.  I heard from Al how much she enjoyed my cards and my photography.  It was an easy thing to do.  I felt like I knew Estela just from sending those cards.

But, as with things like this, it got put aside and recently I had a momentary thought that I should get another card sent, then I heard the news from Al, that Estela had passed.

Estela was a very devoted Catholic, & I knew that this funeral mass was very important to her family.  I decided it was drive-able distance, and that I would go.  

So, Wednesday morning I left for Aurora, IL, some 340 miles away.  

I had a pleasant drive, found my motel with ease and settled in for the night.

Thursday morning I awoke to a hard rain, that just wouldn't let up.  

I arrived at the church and thought it was a little humorous to see so many umbrellas, 40 or more, parked just inside the front door.

It was wonderful to see my friend Al and his wife & daughters as well as one of Al's brothers who I knew.  I also met some of Al's college friends who had traveled to Illinois to be with Al.

Growing up with little exposure to the Catholic faith and the ritual, I'm always fascinated when attending a funeral mass.  I always leave still confused about what it all means, but understanding full well the magnitude of importance to those who's faith is strong.

I was glad that I went to honor Estela.

The drive was long, but Wisconsin is so beautiful this time of year, 

I got my eyes full of Mother Nature's beauty.  

In a way, Estela and I had something in common that we worship, 

I call it Mother Nature, 

she called it God, 

but both of us appreciated this place, this Earth and this life.

Rest in Peace Estela.

Aunt Ila

On Saturday, I rode with Glenn & Kathy into Minneapolis to attend a birthday celebration for Aunt Ila.  As a little girl, I mostly heard my uncle and aunt referred to as Brother & Ila.  Elwood was Mom's only brother, so I guess that's why the nickname.  

Uncle Woody and Aunt Ila lived in the Twin Cities area, we saw them annually, but probably not much more since we were living in Northern Wisconsin. 

Uncle Woody passed away in about 2010, and that was the last time I saw any of the folks from that family.  So, when I got the invitation to Aunt Ila's 90th birthday party, I knew I would go.  It was nice to ride with Glenn and Kathy, I rarely get to be a rider and I enjoyed not having to negotiate the traffic.  Plus, I have not spent much time in the Twin Cities, other than airport & VA hospital, so I'm not very familiar with the layout.

The party room was full when we arrived.  

Aunt Ila lives in a high rise Senior housing building, but the number of rolling walkers parked here and there, I suspect that many of the party goers live right there.  

There were also a few out of towners.  My 1st cousins-once-removed from Shell Lake & Duluth were there.  I also ended up meeting a table of folks who had come to the party from Rice Lake.  Laurie was introduced to me and when I asked her how she was related, she said that Ila was her Aunt.  This caused a few moments of wonder as Ila is also my aunt.  I never knew Ila's sisters, so never knew of this woman who was a daughter of one of those sisters.  

Now, we live only a few miles apart in Rice Lake, crazy small world.

Anyway, a few photos of Aunt Ila from Saturday.

It was nice to see Aunt Ila's 3 daughters, my first cousins Terry, Wendy & Jill.

I had a chance to visit with each of them a little to catch up on their families.

I was kind of overwhelmed by how happy my Aunt Ila seemed to be that I had come.

She said several times how happy she was, 

I think I'll have to get back down there for a visit soon.

It was a really nice day spent with Glenn & Kathy and the birthday party.

The Backroads are the best

Took the back roads to Boyceville to watch Milli play Softball tonight, I was avoiding some construction and I had plenty of time.  It's nice to have the road to myself, no tailgaters or impatient fellow travelers.

Tonight I got the big payoff, huge!

Found a field with about 75 Sandhill Cranes on the way there.

When I first came along, the Cranes were standing pretty close to the road, the longer I sat and watched them, they meandered out into the field.

I was messing with their bliss...

After the game, I headed home off the beaten trail again.

Not far from the ballfields, I found this beautiful Whitetail Buck in velvet.

He was not very bothered by me.

But eventually, he ambled on, probably looking for supper.

I ❤️ Wisconsin