Sunday, August 24, 2008

Entry for March 23, 2008 ~ Two At Once...

I've been getting some, but not alot. Not all at once, anyways. Two, maybe three hours at a time ~ that's it. I can usually get through the day just fine if I got at least 5.5-6 hours the night before.
I'm talking about sleep.
Ever since I broke my leg, I have gotten no more than a couple of hours in a row.
It all started in the hospital. You know how they come into your room, just for a minute at about 9:30 or 10, tell you "It's just for second. Here, take this, it will help you sleep, help with the pain, its for your condition (what ever that is), we just need one more vial of blood, get some sleep, you need to rest now, yadda-yadda..."
And then it's all about interrupting your sleep for the rest of the night. And if they weren't coming in every couple of hours, I was waking up anyways! Let me just say this: sleeping nonstop on your back is very tiring, only not the kind of tiring that makes you want to get back to sleep right away.
And ever since I got home, I have been waking up every two hours or so. With this cast-boot on my leg, which I have to wear all night, it is all I can do to move into a more comfortable position and fall back to sleep right away...usually it takes me another twenty minutes (and only twenty minutes if I'm lucky) to fall back to sleep.
It's really weird, too, cuz lately I can't seem to stay up past 10:30 and then when I wake up in the middle of the night, it's like 1:00 in the morning, I feel like I've had a full night's sleep, and then the next thing I know, it's 3:30! Then, I will be awake until about 4:15, or so, and then again at about 6 or 7...
This has been going on for a month! Woe is me!
If I didn't know myself better, I would be willing to bet that someday soon I am going to turn into some psychotic, sleep-walking zombie with one leg and no sense of balance, aim or direction...and find myself with my head stuck to a wall.
I know I should not complain...there could be much worse things to worry about! I could be having nightmares, I could be really sick here! Heck, I could be President! Then what would I do?!?
But in my own little world, a good night's sleep is a really nice back-up to a day ~ even when that day is spent sitting on the couch.
I have been promising myself that I was going to get some things done while I am laid up here...paperwork, drawing, reading, posting to friends through my laptop, etc. And thankfully, the past couple of weeks I have been doing all that. Even with a lack of more than two hours of sleep in a row, I have been able to function. And, believe it or not, I have not been dozing here, while comfortably ensconced among pillows and a lap blanket! I could be, but surprisingly, I am not.
But what I am wondering is this: what happens in two or three months when I am walking around again and my life is back to normal (as normal as my life gets)? Will I be sleeping better by then? Since this is an ongoing phenomena ~ the whole broken leg, two hours of sleep thing ~ will I be able to go for 5.5-6 hours like I did before all this happened?
It's not like my leg hurts, either. It hasn't really hurt since I first did this. So, it's not that...but there is definitely something going on here.
And some night, while I am lying there, trying to get back to sleep, I might just figure it out. In the meantime, if you happen upon me and find me stumbling along and weaving a crooked line, just remember this: I probably just got done pulling my head out from a wall somewhere, and am trying to find my lost hours of sleep.
So just point me in the direction of the nearest blanket, please!

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