Sleep Tight

Due to my 24 hour nursing, I don't get as decent amount of sleep at night as I should be or could for that matter. At night, the nurses come in at least every hour, sometimes even more, to do various things. I get turned every three hours, cathed every two and 120 mL (4 ounces) water flush every hour. That's enough to wake someone up a few times at least.

I try to go to sleep around 10 PM, however, that doesn't always work out. If I had a long day and I'm really tired, I may fall asleep sometime between 8 PM and 9 PM. Falling asleep that early usually means that I will be awake a lot at night. My nurses try to wake me up so that I will sleep later, but that doesn't work too well. Sometimes I'm able to stay awake until 10. I get the best sleep if I fall asleep around 11 PM because then I'm so tired I don't wake up during the night. Most nights I wake up in the middle of the night at least once, if not more; sometimes for 5 to 10 minutes and sometimes for an hour or two. It just depends on the night and when I go to sleep. I automatically wake up between 4:30 AM and 5 AM, no matter what time I went to bed or how much sleep I got. That's when I start my cares in the morning.

Depending on how much sleep I've gotten that night, depends on how much I sleep during the day. I usually take an afternoon nap, but if I'm tired enough I can fall asleep at any time just about anywhere. I actually sleep in my wheelchair very well. It's very easy for me to fall asleep in a car while riding to and from appointments. I also fall asleep in school, while watching TV, and when I'm on the computer; sometimes midsentence. If I fall asleep on the computer with the microphone on, when I wake up I find that my speech-recognition software has typed out the word "him"hundreds of times, one for every breath. I've even fallen asleep while driving my wheelchair (no joke, that's why I don't have a license). Especially after I've been asleep in a car, then I start to drive my wheelchair when I'm still half asleep. I guess it is pretty dangerous when you think about it. Sometimes the nurse has to take control over my chair so that I don't run into anything. Probably a good thing being that the other day I was on my way home from a walk and was so tired I started falling asleep; almost rolled into a ditch. Luckily my nurse was able to wake me up and help me get home.

Jenni