ok, now, that's just silly. A community college class on starting a blog! People will pay for ANYTHING.

so, things went crazy today. we had our first out and out fight since all this started. I've been getting frustrated because it seems to me like taking more than a 20 min nap is "cheating" for lack of a better word. Jeremy's theory of taking extra naps is a little lost on me. I don't really know what to think. All I see is him sleeping more and helping less. It's a little hard to stay patient with that.

Hence the fight. We were both tired, having difficulty with the commitment of this project, set backs etc. It's hard to see a rosey future when it's not the present.

I got my first comment, about how Jeremy deserved a better woman lol. Most of our friends wonder why I've even LET it go this far much less getting snippy with Jeremy once in the first week. Ok, so, twice now. But, better woman for Jeremy? I would be surprised if there is another person willing to do what I do.

so, I guess I got all excited about the people reading these things for not at first.

Any sane people reading this? leave me a hi comment!

I'm concerned. It's Thursday, Day 6, and I'm supposed to be making sure that Jeremy is hitting REM sleep.

I can honestly say he seems to be. His eyes are moving back and forth under his eyelids.

However, his apnea, the snoring, the jerking, twitching etc. interrupts it. I don't think he gets more than 30 seconds max each time I've noticed the eye movement. Oh yea, and the R - rapid? well, I wouldn't call it rapid. It actually is fairly slow compared to what I believe I've seen in others.

So, I'm worried. I hope this works. We're going to try another observed nap later tonight. Maybe some more this weekend too. who knows.

oh yea, and I still can't figure out how to put a title on my posts! grrrr! lol

What is obstructive sleep apnea?

It dawned on me early on in the blogging process that I might want to provide some links to information regarding the sleep apnea we have been talking about.

this site has the best layman's descriptions with the most up to date information on the diagnosis and alternatives.

Jeremy was diagnosed through a sleep study with 70+ cycles/hour (how many times you wake per hour, so, more than once a minute)

no wonder he was confused and loopy every morning! he hadn't slept much!

He has been on the C-pap and Bi-pap machines, he's had corrective surgery for a deviated septum, involving straightening his nose etc., and they rotorootered (spelling?) his turbinates (pictured in the deviated septum link)

The C-pap machine left him extremely bloated and he still woke up with the groggy feeling of the apnea.

The bi-pap was somehow supposed to be easier, something about not having to breathe out as hard, and it was less bloating, but still the groggy feeling.

The deviated septum surgery was great, much less snoring, but the effect of the apnea was not reduced enough to feel very rested. After this surgery he was diagnosed with a 20+ cycles/hr compared to the 70+ originally.

he has also purchased a fitted mouth guard from our dentist where a mold was made to move his tongue forward there by opening the throat passage. It cost $400 out of pocket and that worked for awhile, but he still has to lay on his side and the longer he uses the mouth guard, the less it seems to work. They tested this as well in the second sleep study and he was down to 14 cycles/hr

the only alternative we have been told will really be a serious correction is the Mandibular Myotomy in which they do both the top and bottom jaw. This involves 4 months of down time, with your jaw wired shut, and a traech tube to allow breathing.

I have heard good things but while 4 months of your jaw being wired shut is probably an effective weithloss plan, I can't picture how we would cope with 3 little ones and Jeremy speaking even less clearly than usual. (he's a mumbler)

I am encouraged that there are more alternatives being approved by the FDA. Since Jeremy is in his early 30s and his apnea numbers are lower, with no negative effects such as high blood pressure or heart disease etc. maybe we can hold out for more options in the future ;)

meanwhile, he's doing this POLYPHASICCRAZINESS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

oh yea, and I AM NOT A DOC. please don't use this to selfdiagnose. I do not recommend anything. I am merely sharing the information we have found. If you have any questions regarding your own health, please, ask your doctor.

disclaimer done :) and so is this entry

Day 5 - Well, I got annoyed with Jeremy today. I keep waiting to be able to sleep in with this whole theory of him being up and able to take care of the kids. But, he crashed pretty badly this morning. I woke up to our baby crying. I tried to just wait for him to get her, but she got increasingly upset and I couldn't just listen any more.

I went into Jeremy's room (he's put a bed in our office area) and bopped him on the head saying he's not supposed to be sleeping at 6:30am, it's not a scheduled time. I got an incredulous "huh" like "how interesting, how did that happen" reaction and then nothing. Went back in, same "huh" in response. So, then I got annoyed. more time had passed, he was still sleeping, alarms going off and I knew he was supposed to be up. I raised my voice and told him he didn't leave me a note or anything so I assumed he needed to be up and to wake up now.

I have to admit I was disappointed in myself for being so snippy. I guess since the cleaning up energy thing has been slowing down, I just wanted to be able to sleep in for once. Oh well. He actually thanked me for waking him. I guess he didn't get the snippy effect, then again, he's really groggy at this point.

His 8:30am nap seemed to go better. He was at least up on his own, pitching in, awake enough for me to leave the house for my appointment.

When I got home just now, things went well in my abscense and he was ready for hi 12:30pm nap, right on time! So, I'm encouraged for this afternoon!

Reading his blog helps. I get to hear more of what he's thinking without all the normal boring details he tends to include when he's actually speaking it.

What is the deal with actually being more informative on a blog? I guess it's something to do with the expectation of a 3rd party reading it, with no background, and you have to fill them in enough to read on?

oh who knows. I don't read blogs yet. I'm still trying to get the hang of this!

oh yea, and Jeremy got is first comment! of course, it wasn't on the polyphasic sleeping, it was on the kids throwing up lol.

oh well, who knows why these blogs are so popular anyway!

Updated day 4 - Jeremy hit rock bottom today. He doubted every reason for attempting this whole thing. The tiredness had turned into exhaustion and his latest additions to the routine hadn't even been attempted yet. He simply hit a wall and had a hard time figuring out how to get to the other side.

I read about it on his blog this afternoon which was several hours before his doubtful blog entry. (yea me I just did my first link!) I was encouraged that the thought of everything we've been through up to this point helped him get past it.

However, I did feel the need to clarify the following:

My supportiveness has been based on him putting heart and soul into making this work. Nothing less is going to be tolerated. It has been a HUGE adjustment for the family, vacation time taken off, schedules adjusted at work and home, cooking habit and eating habits changed, FINANCIAL investment with the healthy groceries (tofu, veggies etc.) to make sure he gets his protein requirements, time READING ALL THE LABELS ON BREAD to see what he can and can't eat, etc.

if he just quits?

1. I will kill him
2. I will have a hard time being at all supportive etc. with the next crazy thing he wants to try
3. I will kick his ass from here to next week
4. I will sick my sister on him, insulting his manhood etc. in a way and to a level I cannot even IMAGINE much less ATTEMPT to repeat here
5. No one will take him seriously again, all those people that said it couldn't work etc. will have a crazy laugh rather than being proven wrong (and again, my sister comes to mind)

So, as of now, almost 10pm eastern time on Tuesday 28th Jeremy understands the level of his commitment, how seriously we are taking this, how important it is to give everything in order to really see if it will work. There will be no second attempt. This is it. Make it or break it, bud.

Right now he's feeling good, even capable of being entertainingly conversational and we can laugh and joke about the above warning/threat.

But know, next time he has a weak moment, he'll know without a doubt that he'd better find a way past it.

Of course, I say all this in the most loving, supportive, I'm going to kick your ass if you weenie out on this, way. I want this to as much if not more than he does. The thought of him not breathing during the night scares me. The risks of high blood pressure, heart attack etc. as a result of the apnea is terrifying. He's too young to have that hover over his head. Our family needs him. I need him. I will not accept anything less than his best effort on this.

I love you, honey, hang in there! Wake me up if you need to!

Days 0 thru 4

Ok, so, my husband decided to be a polyphasic sleeper. Friday March 24 was day 0, his first day of naps and the naps themselves went fine. He was a little twitchy, meaning the adrenaline made him super intense pretty much the whole day and his excitement could have been scraped off him it was so evident.

What were the results?

Day 1 Saturday morning - the kitchen floor was swept twice, mopped twice, the dishwasher was run, 4 or 5 loads of laundry were done and folded, waiting the trip upstairs to be put away. He was a little glazed looking in the morning, but his first nap of our day cleared alot of that up.

judgement - 10! he's happy, he's no worse off than normal, my workload hasn't increased signifigantly and the house is cleaner than normal.

Day 2 Sunday morning - he looks and feels more tired but the night still went well. The hardest part for him at night is that it's boring. One problem, he can't just sit and watch TV, it's too hard to stay awake. A nice bonus is that he gets up with sick kids because HEY HE'S ALREADY AWAKE!!! More laundry was washed, not as much this time but the dishwasher was done again and put away. It's getting harder for him to get up on his own, but luckily, it's sunday, so I just wait a little longer, 30 rather than 20 min, and then check up on him. I told him he should consider napping in the car for all his naps since he seems to be better able to wake up there ;)

Day 3 Monday Morning - ok, now it's definitely showing. He didn't get all of his naps in quite right last night and he had the additional work of our 3 yr old throwing up many times. Laundry was all washed again, simply from necessity, but his other cleaning projects were barely done (because of the 3 yr old's interruption) Jeremy looked pretty bad, is definitely punchy and mildly annoying at times. He is the most awake immediately after a nap and right now his best time of "day" is about 4am when he's awake and conversational.

Day 4 Tuesday Morning - so far, the hardest day. He's sleeping through his alarm, his backup alarm and is capable of simply nodding of at any point. He's got that "whaaaa..." look on his face when you wake him up and he has almost no idea he just slept, sitting straight up in front of Scooby Doo and the legend of the Vampire (both of our boys, 6 and 3 have been sick now and are home from school, resting, watching the big TV) I'm concerned with letting the kids stay home with him while I go to work for my route this afternoon, but thankfully, they are sick and have their own little "whaaaa..." looks going on. yep, Daddy's boys. I think I'll take the baby girl with me though. Who knows what she'll get into with the three of them "resting"

there are fewer benefits today. No dishwasher, 2 loads of laundry, only half folded, none ready to be run upstairs. The foyer floor is swept, but the mopping wasn't done yet. Jeremy is down right tired, but according to the "research" this is SUPPOSED to be the hardest day. He's still encouraged and I guess I am too. No real suprises yet. Cleaner house over all and he's eating healthier!

I still give him a 10 for effort, perseverance and down right stubbornness. my workload is still at the same level (is that a good or bad thing?) so the bad effects aren't hitting yet.

wish us luck!

Ok, so this is my first blog. I feel pressure to put SOMETHING up since my crazy husband is doing this polyphasic sleep thing, bloggin every day etc. with his progress, his thoughts, feelings etc. The idea of blogging appealed to me when he mentioned that a husband/wife combo were blogging about the husband's polyphasic success. The reason? well, SOMEONE has to tell it like it is and since he's CRAZY enough to try this, with weeks of research and preparation leading up to Day 0 as he likes to call it, he is definitely a bit partial.

So, what did I think when he told me he was seriously thinking about doing this? Well, honestly, I didn't freak, I didn't think "you crazy idiot" I actually listened to his reasons and then took a deep breath and tried to focus on the positives.

What are those?
1. Well, my husband, Jeremy was diagnosed with obstructive sleep apnea about 2 years ago. (what is that? well, I'll find a link and figure out how to put one of those in my nesxt post, ok? I'm new at this, so sue me) He has tried the c-pap machine (forces air into his lungs while sleeping) and the bi-pap machine (similar type but supposedly less intrusive) had corrective surgery for a deviated septum, cleaned out his turbinates (upper sinus above the nasal passages) and even bought a dental mouth guard to hold his jaw forward. So far, the apnea numbers are IMPROVED with these efforts, but he still doesn't get much restful sleep. He actually seems better after short naps more than a full nights sleep.

2. He's going to have to stay busy to stay awake which means a honey do list! I started working on that IMMEDIATELY and I have to say, if your husband is willing to clean up the house, mop, do laundry and load/unload the dishwasher while he tries this, even if it's for a short period, SAY YES! Anything to get more out of them!

3. Better sleep for me! I get a queen size bed aaaaall to myself, no snoring, no reminders to have him turn over (to which he usually argues with me about in his stupor, yet has no memory of) no worrying about him not waking up in the morning etc.

so, I have to say, even the "honey, I am going to change to a vegatarian diet" didn't phase me. I was only focusing on the tasks he could accomplish! So far, he has not let me down!

what did everyone else say when we told them?
his mother "WHAT?" in a nice sharp, incredulous voice that only a mother can have
his sister "That's just crazy" in an equally sharp, disbelieving pitch
another sister "what?" with an innocent blank look on her face like she had just put her hand in something terribly yucky but not sure what to wipe it on
his brother "good luck to you man" in a rather laid-back, I just smoked a joint kind of bobbing head approval
my mother "he's what?" it took about 15 minutes for her to fully understand it, and she's truely hoping it works
my sister "now that's just STUPID" in her judgemental, I know more than you voice

our friends were privy to the whole idea from the beginning. several helped him find the "tests" he mentions, more are trying to figure out how his new staying up all night can help THEM lol. I told them we can have a "rent a polyphasic sleeper" company and send them to people's homes for nightly chores :) So, we've laughed, we've cried, and we STILL went ahead with this.

I truely hope that it works. If it doesn't, the only really option left is for Jeremy to have MAJOR surgery I wouldn't wish on my, oh, sister! lol ok, maybe I would, just for her ;) but I'll describe that another time when I figure out this whole blog thing more.

for now, I'm just proud I got through the "setting up your own account" part of this! yea me!