Another night in the sleep lab

Last night actually went pretty well. Jack did not wake up fully as we got him hooked up. Yesterday afternoon, I took some time to remind him about how the sleep lab worked and how he would be hooked up to all the wires and even if it was uncomfortable it was important to help us figure out how to help him to breathe better at night. Everytime he stirred while being hooked up, I just patted him and reminded him, "It's just a bunch of wires like Mommy said." It seemed to help. It's amazing how well kids react when we treat them like people and actually tell them what's going on. This morning, when he woke up, he had to wait until he was stuck twice for blood gases before he could take the mask off and nurse. I just explained it to him as the tech explained it to me and although he was a little impatient, he handled waiting very well.

Dr. Lozano was very happy this morning. He is going to keep Jack on an IPAP of 18, EPAP of 10, back-up rate 0f 22 and we will add 1 liter of oxygen. Dr. Lozano said that Jack had only 1 significant desaturation once the pressure was up to 17 in the sleep lab. I reminded him that Jack had many more than that at home on a pressure of 18 and he said that that was just one night and it might just take some getting used to but we should definitely call if it happens again.

Here are some pictures of Jack hooked up for the sleep study so you can get an idea of what it looks like.

Here are the limb leads covered with elastic tape. These leads tell the doctor about any movement of his legs during sleep.

These three pictures show the chest and abdominal straps and leads. These help the doc to "see" whether Jack's muscles are working "in sync" and helps to show the difference between obstructive and central sleep apnea.


Oh yeah, more good news on that front. Jack does have some central sleep apnea but it IS NOT related to his Apert syndrome or the swelling that occured from all the subdural fluid. His central apnea is normal for his age group and there is no reason to believe that he won't grow out of it like other children his age.

These pictures show more chest leads, chin leads, cheek leads and eye leads. These all help the doc to know what stage of sleep Jack is in.

Also, it's hard to see in the pictures but there is also a little microphone taped to the right side of his neck so they can hear him breathing.

Of course, there's the pulse oximeter.

This is what he looked like before the airflow monitor and snore microphone were added and before the tech wrapped his head. There are wires attached in his hair and behind his ears but you can't see them well.

Now here he is with his head wrapped, snore mic/airflow monitor in place, and I started getting his head gear on. The second picture was to show all the wires they have running off of him.

Lots and lots of wires.

Finally, all wrapped up and getting the mask on and completely hooked up and asleep.

I'll keep you posted on how it goes.