More Medical Tests

I'm trying to get some updates on my garden production this year (poor), and food preservation written and posted, but then I have several more medical tests scheduled the 2nd week of September at UVa Medical Center up in Charlottesville. I'll be gone a few days, so there will be another lull in posts. Sorry.

Some of my scheduled tests are just long-overdue but routine updates, like a bone density scan. Others, like an overnight sleep study, are new to me. I didn't know that sleep disorders can raise the risk for heart disease, high blood pressure, stroke, and other medical conditions. However, thinking about oxygen levels in the blood, it makes sense. I also know I snore, which often accompanies or at least indicates there may be a sleep apnea problem. Now that I've seen all the equipment they use, I wonder how anyone can sleep hooked up like that!

Drawing from the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute here

"Sticky patches with sensors (electrodes) are placed on the scalp, face, chest, limbs, and a finger. During sleep, these sensors record the brain activity, eye movements, heart rate and rhythm, blood pressure, and the amount of oxygen in the blood.

Elastic belts are placed around the chest and belly. They measure chest movements and the strength and duration of inhaled and exhaled breaths.

Wires attached to the sensors transmit the data to a computer in the next room. The wires are very thin and flexible and they are bundled together so they don't restrict movement, disrupt sleep, or cause other discomfort." Source

Sound like fun?