Matty's Blog

About two weeks before the night of the sleep study, the hospital sent us the admission forms to fill in along with a list of what to bring with your child. One of the items they suggest is a camera to document just how many wires are attached to your child. Thankfully, we took their advice as it was quite a sight to see, but unfortunately, the photos do not do the sight any justice.

Why would you do this to me?

Upon arrival and admission to the ward, Matthew’s head was measured and dots were drawn with marker onto his scalp at particular points where the probes would be attached later. Approximately 20 probes were attached to Matthew from the top of his head all the way down to his big toe. All-in-all, Matthew was very forgiving of all the annoying probes that were now stuck to him. Matthew went to sleep a little earlier than he normally would, which was good because we were not looking forward to waiting until too late in the evening for the testing to begin. All the probes are sensors that measure things like heart rate, air flow in and out of the nose, carbon dioxide in the bloodstream, brain activity and they even measure muscle twitches caused from REM during sleep (rapid eye movement sleep).

Matthew uses wires as a substitute for hair

As I couldn’t sleep for most of the night ( I prefer my own bed), I watched Matthew’s machines. He did sometimes go out of the acceptable limits for him to pass the sleep study, but mostly due to Matthew wriggling too much.

We won’t know if he has passed the test for another fortnight until the results have been reviewed and assessed wholistically. I know that we all want him to pass the test, but we know that Matthew will pass it whenever he is ready. Still, fingers crossed.

September 10th, 2009 | Category: Uncategorized | Subscribe to comments | Both comments and pings are currently closed