Moving Along!

Tuesday i have both my first appointment in ottawa. I've done the little open house and now we really get into i guess! How much time does the first real appointment take? Also on Tuesday I have my sleep study! i'm curious to see how that goes as i don't sleep well in places that aren't my own bed. Anyone done a sleep study at the queensway carlton hospital in ottawa? tips?

Haven't done one there but if you can take your own pillow(s) it really helps, also something to read if you don't normally go to bed at 9 pm. I had a terrible time sleeping the first time but they don't need that long they just need you to get into REM sleep. They want you to sleep on your back but I could only do it with a few pillows as I also have Asthma and have a hard time breathing on my back.

Good luck it's not tht bad.

Good luck with your appointment. I think every center is different so I have no advice to give concerning your appointments...I'm in Hamilton. Also, the thing I hated about the sleep study was all of the goopy gunk they put on your head to attach the electrodes. Oh well, it is just one step closer to having surgery and changing your life...and it's so worth it!

Barb

Congratulations!! Yes... this is where you really get into it. :)

Din't worry about lack of sleep at your sleep study... everyone here I know of has been able to sleep enough. It'll be fine!

Congrats again. :)

Congrats! I'm at the same point in my journey and it's pretty exciting. By the sound of it, you are going to have a very busy Tuesday! It's good to get a lot of those things crossed off your list all at once. I'm not from your area, and I know that every center is a bit different, but my first one-on-one appointment with the nurse took about 45 minutes to complete. Before that I had two group sessions - orientation and a nutrition class. With the nurse appointment, she just went over my forms and asked questions to make sure everything was complete. She recorded my weight and some other details and then set me up with the rest of my appointments (scope, dietician, internist and social worker). It was pretty quick and easy.

I had my sleep study done in late December. I'm sure i'm not the first one to say that it's not a great night of sleep - I think i slept maybe an hour. Most people don't sleep a whole lot, but surprisingly they somehow get enough data to figure out what they need to know. From what my GP told me, OHIP just needs to know if you have apnea severely enough that you require a CPAP for your surgery - and to make sure you get one so you are not at risk. I got my results and thankfully I don't have enough of an issue that I require any intervention. My study was done in the hospital and the room was comfortable and i brought in my own pillow, blanket and a little fan for white noise to help me sleep. In my case it didn't help all that much because I was bothered by all the wires they hooked me up with. Also, just knowing that I was supposed to sleep, made me unable to, even though I was tired. It's not the case with everyone. The next morning, some of the other people who took the study at the same time as me said that they slept like babies. So who knows?

Good luck and let us know how it goes for you on Tuesday!

Congratulations on your appointment.

I didn't need a sleep study for this process because I'd had one recently enough to qualify. I remember being so worried about sleeping there, but it was just fine. I brought a book and read until I could fall asleep. The technician was a young man in his early 20's and he tucked me in, making me laugh like crazy because I haven't been tucked in since I was a little kid. I was there for PTSD nightmares, and in the morning I woke up disappointed that I hadn't had any nightmares. Then the technician told me that not only did I have nightmares, I scared him with them by screaming, and yelling. He said I never shut up all night long and when I wasn't having nightmares I was talking or laughing, and that I moved around so much he had to reconnect the do dads (I never woke up). He said it's no wonder I wake up tired.

I did mine at the QCH and the sleep tech was great. I was worried about not sleeping and he said as long as I slept a little it would be fine. I actually did sleep for about two hours and that was enough for them!