Year: 2004

A few weeks ago, I accidentally fell asleep on the couch one night. When I woke up around 6 am, I felt more refreshed than I had in weeks.

The very next day I insisted that Mike make an appointment to see the doctor for his snoring.

But I know I’m not completely innocent here, with the whole sleep moaning thing. So I decided to make an appointment for myself too. We both went in to the doctor last week (together) and got to have scopes put up our noses.

A scope. Up my nose. Oh, what FUN that was. (Ugh.)

Fortunately, the doctor said that about 90 – 95% of my problem stems from problems with my soft palate, and a UPPP (also known as Uvulopalatopharyngoplasty) or a LAUP (done with a laser) should resolve most of my problems. Mike has slightly different issues though, so our treatments in the end will probably be different.

Before the doctor can decide what the best treatment is, we get to do sleep studies. Last night was my turn. Around 11 pm, the technician came to my house and hooked me up to all sorts of monitoring nodes – things to check my breathing, record my snoring, monitor the flow out of my nose and mouth, and check the oxygen level in my blood. Once we were all done, I got to stay up for awhile (I’m never really tired at 11pm), and then when it was time for bed – I got to connect myself to the machine. Just two cords, and I was being recorded.

The tape holding the mic on my neck was sticky, and by the time I went to sleep I wanted to rip it off. The electrode thing under my right arm was jabbing into my ribs while I tried to fall asleep. And that monitor on my index finger? Healthcare may cover it longer if you meet in person with your doctor, and your doctor documents in your medical record that the CPAP Machines therapy is helping you. I’ve had that before at the hospital, and I forgot how frustrating it is to suddenly have no use of your index finger. It took me forever to fall asleep last night – much longer than usual. I had to have a minimum of 6 hours of recording time though (otherwise we would have had to repeat the study), so I told Mike & Jason to be sure not to wake me up this morning – and I ended up sleeping until almost noon! Eep!

The technician just came to pick the machine back up, and once he downloads the data he will send a report on to my doctor. Thursday night, it’s Mike’s turn.

(Related links: Brian’s snoring surgery (non-medical perspective), Information on UPPP and LAUP, and a book on apnea and snoring.)

The conversations in our house can often be quite amusing…

Christine (to Mike): What time is your dentist appointment tomorrow?

Mike: That’s right! I do have an appointment tomorrow. I guess I should find out what time, huh?

Jason: Welcome to reality, population 10 Billion.

(Ok, ok, so it’s more like 7 billion, but still…)

I’ve discovered something this week. It turns out that I am much more in the Christmas spirit from December 24th through the New Years celebrations than I am during the time leading up to Christmas. Maybe it’s because everything is done and you can relax and enjoy the time instead of worrying about shopping, wrapping, etc. I don’t know – but I’m enjoying my lovely Christmas tree (with lots of new ornaments!), the stockings hanging by the fireplace, and all of it so much more.

We had a fabulous holiday. On Christmas Eve, we got snow. Snow! In Houston! I think it was the first recorded snowfall here on a Christmas Eve. Fabulous, and it was a nice addition to the holiday. We went to my parent’s house for Christmas Eve and hosted Christmas day at our house. Our family tradition is to open family gifts on Christmas Eve, and Santa gifts on Christmas Day. (Santa brings gifts for everyone at our house.) This year, instead of hauling things over to my parent’s house, we opened the presents from them while we were there, and everything else at our house.

This was torture for Jason, who really wanted an X-Box. It wasn’t at my parent’s house though – he had to wait until Christmas morning to receive it.

We baked, we cooked, Mike made a holiday feast for Christmas day. The food was wonderful, and the company was even better. We all had a really great time.

My Dad was tired though by the time Christmas day was winding down, so he went home and the plan was that we would just drive my Mom home later. Instead, when we realized it was almost 1 am, I just found her some pajamas and she spent the night at our house – and didn’t go home until midnight last night! It was nice having her here to visit. Plus she helped us with the fudge and peppermint bark that we made, and she gave me a refresher course in how to crochet.

This year, we all exchanged handmade gifts. It was a nice twist, and in some ways we all put more thought into those gifts than the others. (With the exception of the Xbox and all the goodies that went with it.) I made a set of coasters for my Dad, a cute set of notecards for my Mom, and a photo album for Mike. My Dad made us a Christmas tree shaped cheese tray and a carved “fishing boy” (my request). My Mom had contacted Mike’s mom and created a cookbook for us that has family recipes and some of the stories behind them. It’s fantastic and I love it!

All in all, a very good holiday!

As we left to drive to my parent’s house, I saw it. I stood beside the car, very confused – it took me a minute to figure out what it was. Then I realized … it was SNOW!!! We got SNOW!!! Snow, snow, snow! I made Mike get out of the car so he could watch it with me. I photographed it (see the Flickr photos in the sidebar), of course. I’m so giddy – we have snow!

By the way, it’s not an amount of snow that you can measure. It’s a dusting of snow. But I don’t care … we have SNOW for Christmas! Wheeeee!!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO EVERYONE! From Houston, with the rare Christmas snowfall!

According to the Weather Channel, it was snowing earlier in parts of north Houston. I live in north Houston. Where is my snow? Huh? Come on! I want snow for Christmas!