Gadgets, electrodes and cameras

I snore. I also have impressive tonsils. I learned the first to be true from my husband and the second from my otolaryngologist. Because I’d like to have a rested, happy hubby, and because I’d also like to be healthy, we decided it best for me to seek out a solution. The first step toward a solution is an appointment at the sleep clinic. This is not a “visit” to the sleep clinic. This is not a few hour nap at the sleep clinic. This is an ENTIRE night at the sleep clinic. My night occurred on Thursday of this week.

 I arrived at the clinic with a positive attitude...an “I can sleep anywhere” attitude. Well, here's how the night went. Arrived 8:30. Filled paperwork and then had about 45 minutes of electrode attachment. Legs. Chest. Head. Then a gadget was inserted into my nose with a stiff attachment that hung over my mouth. A microphone attached to my throat. After this procedure, the technician disappeared to test out the devices. Over the intercom he gave me commands to follow. “Close your eyes for 30 seconds.” “Blink five times.” “Look left. Look right. Look up. Look down.” Wiggle your right leg. Now your left.” Throughout the night, I was told I would be monitored. Cameras were focused on the bed to record my movements. The microphone recorded my every noise. The electrodes recorded my eye movement and brain activity. Even my pulse and breathing were monitored. If I needed anything during the night, I only had to speak and the technician would hear and accommodate my request.

When I went to the bathroom before bedtime, I looked like a person on life support! Anyway, I decided I was tired at 10:30, so the technician plugged me in and turned the lights out. Amazingly, it took only about 15 minutes to fall sleep. And then...ZINGA...at 11:45 I woke up like a lightning bolt had jolted me awake. And so it was for 3 hours. Wide awake! Mr. Sandman was in my eyes, but could I find a way to fall back asleep? Not a chance. When I did finally fall asleep somewhere near 3 a.m. it felt like a really light sleep.

During that entire three hours I did not ask for assistance. I did not speak out other than to mutter an expletive in frustration at about 2:30 a.m. Even though I knew I was in good hands, with someone watching over me for the duration, I chose to work it out on my own. Those were three mighty long hours. Looking back, I wonder how things might have gone if I’d only asked for help. Had I asked for lights, I might have been able to get sleepy by reading. Had I asked for the tv, maybe I would have fallen asleep to a boring program. Did I ask the expert who could have offered assistance? No. I had to do it my way. And so it was that I chose to suffer alone, in silence.

You and I share a great technician. Sometimes it’s hard for us to remember that we  have someone who is totally plugged into our lives. Someone who knows about our movements and our brain activities. Someone who cares about our struggles and our sufferings. Someone who is waiting for us to whisper his name and ask for assistance. He does not want us to suffer alone. In fact, God waits for us to seek him out. He tells us if we seek him, we will find him. In Luke 11:9-10, Jesus says, “So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.”

In one of the most beautiful Psalms, David tells of God’s constant presence, everywhere! I encourage you to read the whole of Psalm 139, but I’ve shared selected verses below.

1 O Lord, you have searched me
    and you know me.
2 You know when I sit and when I rise;
    you perceive my thoughts from afar.

7 Where can I go from your Spirit?
    Where can I flee from your presence?
8 If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
    if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
9 If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
    if I settle on the far side of the sea,
10 even there your hand will guide me,
    your right hand will hold me fast.

11 If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me
    and the light become night around me,”
12 even the darkness will not be dark to you;
    the night will shine like the day,
    for darkness is as light to you.

23 Search me, O God, and know my heart;
    test me and know my anxious thoughts.
24 See if there is any offensive way in me,
    and lead me in the way everlasting.

Comfort. Assistance. Love. All it takes is a whisper. He is waiting.