Just a couple wires...

Ok, 35 to be exact, 13 of which were on my head. Among the other leads were 4 for the EKG, 4 on my legs, 2 bands to measure breathing, 1 thing that could tell what direction I was facing, an oxygen-ish thing in my nose that measured the air I was exhaling, a snoring microphone attached to my jaw, pulse-ox on my finger, plus the others that I already forgot.

It wasn't AS annoying to sleep as I expected with all those wires attached to me, but it was a pretty restless night. But no more restless than a usual restless night in my own bed, so hopefully they got some good data. The technician was awesome and answered all of my questions, and this morning he could see when I was in a light enough stage of sleep that it would be easy for me to wake up. And it was. HOW COOL IS THAT?! Based on every other day this week, I should have been exhausted and falling asleep on my desk, but I wasn't... Not to be misleading, I did have some caffeine and felt tired.

There was a gentleman in his 50's or so getting all wired up at the same time, and he seemed pretty bland. While I was asking a million questions, he sat there like a bump on a log and didn't seem the slightest bit interested in it. When I looked at him, all I could think was "wow, you're life must be pretty boring. I'm glad I'm not you!"

As the technician was leaving the room last night, he asked if I had any other questions. I said yes, and asked how he got into this field. Apparently that wasn't what he was expecting, but he found it entertaining nonetheless and answered my question.

Unofficial results from the technician (who is not a doctor) were that my legs twitch and I occasionally clench my jaw. Everyone always jokes about having restless leg syndrome when they feel the need to get up and walk around, but I may actually have it! And if so, thats something that (I think) can be easily treated so I can maybe get restful sleep! I'll get the official results from my doctor next Friday, and of course I will share them with the world.

Oh, and the technician could tell by my brain waves that I didn't dream (or at least I wouldn't be able to recall any), and he was 100% correct. SO COOL!

Final interesting fact: of all the leads on my head, there were 2 that were special and were the "command centers". If either of those came off, the computer wouldn't be able to see any of the data from that entire hemisphere of my brain, even though all of the other ones were still connected. And if a non-command center one came off, it would just lose connection with that particular part. Now that I'm thinking about it, its a bit like an on/off switch in a room with several lights. The switch has to be on to get any light, and its possible for a single bulb to burn out while maintaining the other lights. This stuff is FASCINATING!