Cool, hot, cool

Busy day yesterday; left the OR at 1715.  Thankful that I'd cooked enough the night before to have left-overs ready for the microwave.  Otherwise it would have been a crackers and cheese supper.

The weather took a return to winter temps, i.e. mid thirties to mid forties.  Surprisingly the temps in my apartment have stayed down in the mid sixty range where I have the thermostat set.  This is odd enough to make me think that the management might have turned of the boilers.  To test my assumption, I turned the thermostat up to 67.  The temperature in the apt. was 65, exactly where I had the thermostat set.

I was in bed at 1955, with the knowledge that an early morning start in Geneseo would be better served if I got 8 hours, or there-abouts sleep.

At 2300, when my first awakening came about, I felt warmer than is comfortable for me and so got up and checked the thermostat; 77.  Hmmm.  Got a drink of water and turned on the overhead fan in the bed room and slipped back into slumber land.  At 0200, I was sweltering.  Got up, checked; 81.

Well I guess that answers the question of whether or not the boilers were off.  I opened the sliding door to the deck and the bedroom windows, turned on the floor fan in the living room and drew in some of the 33 degree outside air.  I went back to bed and in no time felt the need to cover up, and miraculously, fell back to sleep 'til 0400 when my alarm woke me.

The same different story

I felt compelled to get to the gym this week since I'd slacked off for 2 days.  Resorted to my old admonition; just go to the gym, get on tread mill and go slow for a few minutes.  It usually works and yesterday was no different.  I followed my on-line trainer's prescription and ran 5 miles on the treadmill.  But the surprise was running at the 9:1 run/walk pace suggested.  Legs were tired but the surge of mental satisfaction was reward enough.

When I returned to the apartment the couch called me again, but it was still early and I was awake just before 5 pm and went straight to the kitchen to prepare a descent supper; salmon fillet, sweet potato, and broccoli.  One, yes only one 7 oz. glass of wine and 1 glass of water.

I felt alert and satisfied so I took up the book I'm reading and read for a couple hours and at 8 o'clock when I should be fighting off the sandman I was wide awake with no sense of sleepiness.  So I picked up a different book and read for another hour,  It's now nine o'clock and I'm worried that I'll get insufficient sleep if I stay up much longer.  I did feel that I might be able to find slumber if I went to bed and , sure enough, sleep came as quickly as ever once I lay my head upon the pillow.

As is easily predicted; I was totally awake at 0324.  6  1/2 hours.  We'll see, but I'm think a nap is in my future.

Let's try this again, and again

Sleep, sometimes elusive, comes upon me like an avalanche; it's 4 pm.  I take to the couch and pull a blanket over me and, instantly, oblivion overtakes me.

6 pm, I'm awake, fully awake, but bloggy (foggy and bleary eyed,) and take 5 minutes to gather my wits.

8pm, wined, fed, and read, now to bed.  Again the fingers of Morpheus touch my eyelids and I am embraced by Hypnos.

12 midnight.  Alert, refreshed, released from restful, dream filled slumber; better get up, no sense laying here with wandering thoughts of dismay.

A glass of water,  a bidet stop and a 15 minutes break.  Perhaps, perhaps.... okay, let's try; back under the sheets and, wondrously, asleep 'til a 4 am alarm jolts me to consciousness from a dream.

A lucky Day for sure.

reassuring fitful sleep

Slept well?  Well, not really, if you define "well" as sleeping for 7 - 8 un-interrupted hours.  But, well, as in a return to normal sleep pattern after recovering from an over indulgence in wine on Saturday night last that adversely affected my sleep for two nights.

I was physically and mentally tired yesterday after work and found the couch quite comfortable for a couple hours.  Of course when I went to bed at 1930, sleep was elusive.  Was awake, still, at 2000 but not at 2030 so must have found my way to dreamless dreamland in between those times.  Awake at 0215, stayed in bed, awake, 'til 0315.  Enough! get up and do something.

Unfortunately, I was also inclined to skip yesterday's workout for lack of energy or mental drive.  I'll make today more productive on all fronts.

a 48 hour hangover

Birthday party Saturday night..
Imbibed excessive amount of red wine.

Inebriated...


water bed temp elevated earlier
To assess thermostat.

Awaken at 0200
sweating, heart pounding.

Move to couch in living room;
Sleep fitfully.
"Awaken" at 0650,
Hungover.

Slow recovery,
But uneventful 3 1/2 hour thruway drive.

A beer, cigar, good book
     "shower, shave."
Then bed.  7 1/2 hours sleep
awakened by alarm at 0400.

Dream: major level one trauma center
New job, Marty Visintainer Chief Nurse anesthetist.

Feeling punkie, un-motivated.

Note once again: limit alcohol consumption!!!

Road trip Fridays

Worked later than usual in the OR yesterday, (add on cases pushed two rooms over) and got to the apartment at 1630. and as easily predicted, was tired.  Too tired, unfortunately to go to the gym and do an hour on the elliptical.

Because Fridays mean a drive home to Morristown, if perchance I finish work early, say before 1400, I try to minimize my chance of fatigue for said drive.  So, I pulled some almost expired egg rolls out of the freezer and heated them in the oven for supper, at 1700, and washed them down with a 7 oz. of merlot.  At 1845 I was too tired to do anything but sleep, and by 1900 was cutting ZZZs.  As usual I awakened at 2230 but not so awake that I didn't drift back to a reasonable slumber.  By 0300 I was wide awake, but satisfied that I could claim 8 hours of restful sleep.

Dreams?  Not often that I have any recall of dreaming.  Last night I remember I dreamed, but not the specifics, (I waited too long to write it down after awakening) but Tom Hutchinson was the main character in the last scene I recall.  (Tom is a childhood chum I haven't had contact with since high school graduation,)

The schedule for today, when I left yesterday, was lite, but that changes with each tick of the clock, so this morning it may look quite different.  Fingers crossed that we finish early today.  If not, it'll be a 0300 A M. drive home tomorrow.

Heat hangover

 I awoke at 0307 with a hangover.
Really?  I had one glass of wine with dinner.
 The feeling of fuzzy headed grogginess was heat induced.  A mental condition I have coined as a "Heat Hangover." 

I've described, elsewhere, the conditions prevalent in a top floor apartment as analogous to an attic in the middle of summer.  To point; the temperature outside last evening, when I retired at 2000, was 60F. while the temp in my apartment was 71.  The temp in my bedroom was 73F. much too warm for me.  So when I awoke, it was not with a feeling refreshed enthusiasm for the day.  In fact, one thing in particular will give credence to this;  I was up and reading for a half hour before I realized I'd forgotten to brew my morning coffee.

Now I ask you, if I had had an alcohol induced hangover, would I have neglected the elixir of caffeine, cure-all to the hangover syndrome?  No, I think not.  My first task after a trip to the bodily waste depository was to open the sliding glass door to my deck and turn on my floor fan to draw in some of the 37 degree Fahrenheit air to cool down the apartment interior.

Within a half hour, or so, the temperature was down to 65 and I was revived, sipping coffee and typing out some of the voluminous words and sentences released from my sub-conscious.

such as this comment on a friend's Facebook page;

the majority are silent and by their silence acquiesce to the vocal minority. Whether from fear, complacency or both they, the majority, let the nattering nabobs of negativism have the lime light and the media are only to happy to promote them.

A summer night in Spring

Unwelcome? No, just unusual.  After a prolonged frigid winter which over stayed it's welcome and impinged upon our Spring, the rush of warmth Sunday and Monday was a welcome reminder of Summer delights, if but a month or two early.

Saturday barely made it into the forties; perfect weather for a long run.
Sunday nudged seventy and provided surcease and a true day to reflect and enjoy nature at her most benevolent self.
Monday, by 1400 was dead in the middle of summer with temps reaching the middle 80s.  Too hot for outdoor exercise, (well maybe swimming, but the waterways are probably still below 40.)  I accomplished my assigned workout routine on the treadmill at the gym.

The apartment, in Dansville, on the third floor, was as hot as I remember the attic being at Aunt Mary and Uncle Tom LaRock's house on Barton Street in Rochester, NY when I was a youngster.

Too hot to contemplate cooking, or even eating a meal, I refreshed my self with a cold beer poured into a frosty glass from the freezer.  It tasted like two, and I decide supper would consist of crackers & cheese with a second cold beer.   The simple pleasures bring beaucoup pleasures.

This, of course, led to the couch and a "short nap," of half an hour.  Still, by 2030, I lay down on top of my bed with the ceiling fan whirling on high to enter the day's rejuvenation period.  I set the alarm with the admonishment to stay there, no matter what, 'til 0400.  Which I did.

The sleep pattern was consistent with the majority of my nights; sleep soundly for 2 - 3 hours and then fitfully from then on 'til rising. Yet I'm   refreshed and renewed, full of words and ready to face the day.

sleep, AWAKE, sleep, awake....Get UP

Yesterday was filled will many of the simple pleasures, which at the end of the day, when the sun sets, you say to yourself; "this was a great day."

I made the attempt to pull the black, soft comfortable sheet and comforter up under my chin by 2000, but to tell the truth, I wasn't all that tired.  Had to take my shower and shave ( a habit change to allow me more time in the morning to write.)but even so, I was in bed and asleep by 2030. 

Awake at 2230.  drift in and out of light slumber and then, poof, wide awake.  Look at clock; what a surprise, 0330.  Talk about circadian rhythm. 

running to sleep

Yesterday was my long run day in my training regimen for the Marine Corps Marathon this coming October.  I did the Jeff Galloway training program; running for 3 minutes followed by a 1 minute walk.  I did that ratio for 10 miles at which point my leg's glycogen stores were depleted and for the last 2 miles I ran when I could and walked when I couldn't. Near the end I was running for one block and walking for 1 block. but lest you think I was slacking off; Galloway says it's completing the distance no matter how.

Why is this pertinent to a sleep journal?  To say I was fatigued after completing this 2 hour and 52 minutes endeavor would be an understatement.  I was certain that I would sleep the sleep of the dead, last night, so deep was my fatigue.  Everyone of my 200+ skeletal muscles was aching for respite.

After the requisite replenishment with a chocolate protein drink, (think Boost here,) a fistful of Motrin, (okay, 800 mg.) and a substantial meal of pure nutrition, ( Salmon, brusssel sprouts, sweet potato, and 7 oz. of merlot + 2 quarts of ice cold H2O) I was ready to slip between the sheets.  Not wanting to go to sleep on a full stomach, I forced my self to stay up and listen to some music on Pandora, and scroll through my Facebook page.  I was literally too tired to read my novel.

At 8 P.M. on the dot I pulled the sheet over my aching body and let the arms of Morpheus embrace me.  At 10:30 P.M. I was awake, still achy and needing to relieve the pressure in my urinary bladder.
After returning to the comfort of my bed, the solace of Hypnos and his brother Morpheus eluded me.  Oh they teased me off and on but never fully embraced me for more than 20 minutes at any one time.
At 0430, recognizing the futility of expecting any further sleep I got up and began my morning ablutions, grateful that today is a rest day in my training.  With a forecast of a warm, bright, sunny Sunday in the high sixties, I see myself outside on a bench reading my book and smoking a rum soaked cigar from Englewood's "Vino Loco" Tapas bar.

To sleep, to dream; 'Tis a consummation devoutly to be wished.

Sleep, elusive sleep

A blog, a journal to amuse myself with thoughts and ideas about my sleep habits, patterns, and /or lack thereof. 

Sleep; I do it well,  As a matter of fact I'm an expert sleeper;  As a child, my parents would take me with them when they went out to party, and the time would come when it was my bed time; they'd lay me down on some one's bed or on a heap of gathered coats and in an instant I'd be asleep and no amount of noise would wake me.  The same held true at our home where many social get togethers lasted well into the wee hours of the morning.  One time, during a firefight in Viet Nam, I fell asleep and didn't awaken until the radio man shook me awake to take my watch.  I'd fallen asleep first, before the enemy engagement, and slept through the skirmish.

Approaching the threshold to old age has altered my abilities in this respect; I rarely, no, I never sleep for 7 or 8 uninterrupted hours.  I still fall asleep almost instantly when I get into bed.  If I don't, I get up and read or something.  I've said, more than once, that when I go to bed I'm asleep before my head hits the pillow.    For the first 2 1/2 to 3 hours  that I'm asleep it is so profound that it would take a major earthquake to wake me.  The exception to the rule, (there's always an exception, right?) is/was when I took call for the O.R..  Then, the fear of missing an emergency call kept me in a twilight state of sleep which proved to be very ineffective rest.

So, I still fall asleep quickly and for awhile that sleep is deep.  Once I awaken, after that 2 1/2 - 3 hour interval, I never get back to that depth of sleep.  I drift in and out of a semi-sleep, awakening fully every 20 to 30 minutes and check the clock.  If, perchance, I've stayed under the covers for 7 or so hours I arise refreshed and alert and energized for the day ahead.  Less than that and the day ahead will be like slogging through a muddy bog.

I must interject here that for the past 20 years, give or take a year or two, I routinely arise quite early by most people's standards; 3 A.M..  I'll skip the reasons, quite valid though odd, for this essay.  I make an attempt to retire by 8 P.M. every evening, and because this is a long standing habit, am usually in bed asleep by 8 p.m. if not ten minutes either side.  My alarm is set for 4 o'clock a.m. and I shut it off between 0300 and 0320.  I've forgotten when the last time I was awakened by m alarm clock.

Most days, between 1500 and 1530, a feeling of overwhelming drowsiness sends me to the sofa for a nap.  that "nap" lasts for 1 1/2 to 2 hours of, again, deeply profound slumber.  However when I awaken after this nap, it takes me 5 to 10 minutes to actually become alert.  And nearly a half an hour to be functionally alert.

One last point for today; because I work a nearly 4 hour drive from my home  of record, I stay in an apartment in the village where I work during the week and drive home on the weekends.  If I leave, for home, on a Friday afternoon, I struggle for the full 4 hour drive to stay awake, ( I swear my brain goes to sleep even while my eyes are open,) which necessitates frequent stops at the interstate rest stops.  If, on the other hand, I leave at 0300 Saturday morning, nary a grain of sleepiness encumbers my alertness and I drive the 3 hour 40 minute trip without a stop.