Scanner Photo Dump - 2

 

More excerpts from the pile next to the scanner:

Hey, its Matthew’s journal!  A scanner photo dump with a theme….decided to scan in the front cover and the back cover

Scanner Photo Dump - 1

 

The pile of papers and stuff that I sat next to the scanner was growing to unmanageable proportions.  So, finally spent an hour and scanned that stuff in…..and it will be several posts of random stuff as I sort through it.

This is from last year; Christopher’s thoughts on our spring break cruise.

they take a picture at this basketball camp ….I think I posted the pictures of Matthew and Cpher from 2010 but not when Cpher went in 2011

not a good school picture!  Of note is one of Matthew’s best buddies, Eli, in the lower right; he just moved to Maryland.  (sad face here)

2005?  Yeesh….

Matthew’s thoughts on the cruise….

From the Sports Desk

 

Matthew:  A four soccer game weekend (he’s a slacker!).  The highlight was the first game, a 8:30 am game against some U11 TNT kids at soccerzone.  That SZ team moved up (we are now playing in a U12 division; we’re U10) to try and get some better competition.  This team, the Blackhawks, was pretty good, and it was tied at the half.  And then we absolutely buried them….a 12-5 final.  I don’t have any one particular Matthew highlight, but, I don’t have one lowlight as well….he more than held his own against the pressure the other team put on him.

Game 2 was a 12-2 drubbing of the U9 boys on Sunday morning with the TNT team; I missed that but Suzanne reported that there wasn’t much to say about it.  Missed Game 3 too; but, there was a lot to report there.  Back at SZ with the U10 team, playing U12s from Jackson….when I saw Matthew later that day and asked him about the game he launched into a tirade about how dirty the other team played and how badly the referee controlled the game.  We lost, 8-6, but, apparently held our own. 

Heard two stories from other parents later:  1)  that the team was dirty and it was ugly; Matthew took the brunt of one particular incident where the kid seemed to deliberately elbow Matthew in the back of the head as he was falling down and 2) that the team was just a lot bigger, and they looked to ‘dirty’ because they were just trying to figure out how to make their big bodies deal with these little kids.  This parent made a point to say that Matthew was the one, out of all the smaller boys, that didn’t seem to be bothered by this physical style of play and seemed to rise to the challenge as opposed to shrinking away from it.

The last game of the weekend was with the U12 Rec team he’s helping out…won 6-1 I think.

Cpher:  This weekend was Cpher’s basketball tournament:

Pretty easy to sum up this season:  All the teams with more than 6 wins?  We lost to them (didn’t play Dansville).  All those teams with less than 6 wins?  We beat them (didn’t play two of them). 

The losses were competitive; lost by 2, 8, 2, 7, 4.  So, when the bracket came out for the tournament, and they took the top 7 teams, and we were the #7 seed, well, it wasn’t completely without hope

But I’ll admit, I wasn’t too hopeful, and figured our season could end after the first game in the consolation bracket.  Especially since we had lost (and are still without) one of our starting guards.

Had a good week of practices….some discrete inquiries reveal that Dansville has one kid that is 4” taller than Cpher….and he is a large part of their offense.  Two practices, that’s all we talk about, have one of the kids older brother come in to play the role of this kid….we do a good job of slowing him down in practice.

Game 1 against The #2 seed, Dansville, begins and we race out to a 13-4 lead after 1, 19-15 at the half (they actually tie the game up early in the third), 33-23 at the end of the 3, and coast to a nine point win.  Just a totally awesome and incredible performance.

So let’s talk about that; let’s talk me, and then let’s talk Cpher.

The me part is that while I’m the assistant coach, I haven’t been acting as the assistant coach on the bench, I’ve been keeping score for most of the season and have been letting one of the other Dads be the asst.  This has been good (he knows way more about basketball than I do) and not so good (he yells.  A lot.  he yells negatively.  A lot.  He yells things that are different than what the head coach is yelling.)  But his son is the one with the broken finger, and they aren’t here today, so, I’m coaching and someone else is keeping score.  This change has two effects 1) the games are a lot quieter and 2) I’m a little more cognizant of playing time…..so the team that is out there throughout the game is a little more balanced than in the past (it helps that we were missing 2 players, so, only paying 9….easier to shuffle everyone in and out and let them play for a while).

We spent most of the weekend in a 2-3 zone….Cpher usually is one of the down 3, mostly on the outside, sometimes the middle guy.

Cpher, despite his offensive blahs, is still starting and doing a great job with defense and rebounding.  We asked him, and the other big guys who aren’t the offensive focus of the team, to really try during this tournament to keep setting picks and screens to allow the guards to drive in or take open shots.  I’ve watched a fair bit of video from this weekend and have noticed just how much of an effort that Cpher made in setting picks and screens. 

The whole team really played as well as they could have and it showed.

Game 2 was a rematch against Dewitt Blue (the 6th seed); we had lost to them 25-17 earlier in the year in the worst shooting performance of the season.  But, experience makes us wiser, and the Dewitt team likes to pester you (a lot) along the perimeter on defense but that makes them very vulnerable to cutting inside to the basket.  Lead 10-6 at the end of 1, 16-6 at the half (no points for them in the 2nd quarter…woohoo!), 24-11 and then a 31-23 final.  The absolute two best games we’ve played this season; the defense was particularly good here….DB had the ball with 20 seconds left in the 1st and 2nd quarter and we didn’t even let them get off a shot.

No points (again) for the big guy, but, he did set a pick that I’ll remember for a long time.  Click the picture below for the 30 seconds of video…

If you didn’t click on the video, you should….if just to hear the sound that Dewitt kid makes after he hits Cpher.  Might be the best pick we ran all year….too bad his teammate misses the layoup!

So, shockingly, we’re in the winners bracket, 2-0, facing Haslett Gold on Sunday morning.  Two wins on Sunday and we win the title.  My expectations are higher now, but, I said to the players and the other coaches, I don’t care if we win or lose, I just want us to play like we played on Saturday!

Get off to a slow start but play well at 9 am Sunday…..down 6-4 after 1, down 13-12 at the half.  And the roof caves in, we literally can not hit a shot to save our lives after about the midpoint of the third quarter and lose 27-17.  The less said about this game the better.

(technical sidenote:  I finally got a new work computer, so, the blindnutsquirrel blog posts are now composed on this 15” HD screen marvel.  And there are a lot of awfully cool things about it, but, the one that makes the most difference on the non-work front is just how totally awesome the HD video we’ve taken looks on this HD monitor.  Before, I was never able to really get good images off of the HD video because, I now realize, the monitor wouldn’t/couldn’t show me the best resolution.  But now….man, it’s quite an upgrade!)

This is literally the first game of the day; Cpher, unprompted, out setting a pick for one of the guards.

Literally, 10 seconds later, after moving back into his position on the low post, he comes out and does it again.  I really didn’t notice this during the game, but, just really amazed/impressed by the effort he put in here to help make our offense go.  I watched the first bit of the game with him; he had 5 rebounds in the 4 minutes he was in the game…

Losing this game drops us down into the consolation bracket where we face the #1 seed, Williamston.  They lost a heartbreaker yesterday, playing, and beating, the Haslett Gold team they give up a basket with 0.5 seconds left to go into OT and then lose.  So, they have to journey through the consolation bracket.  Play at the same time as us at 9 (and win), play again at 10:30 (and win), play us at noon.  We’ve played them twice this season, lost in OT in the preseason tournament, lost by 9 during the regular season.  They know us, we know them. 

We play a good of a 1st quarter as we have all season.  It’s 4-2 them with about 5 minutes to play in the quarter and we go on a 12-0 run to finish the 1st quarter up 16-4.

Williamston has taken this shot (the ball is heading towards the rim)…Cpher is ready to box out, but, there’s nobody there so when the ball bounces over towads him he collects the easy rebound.

You would think it would be hard to blow this lead, but, at the half it’s 22-13, at the end of three it’s 28-19 and we do not play well in the fourth quarter and it’s tied 30-30.  Ugh. 

Here Cpher is the middle person in the 2-3 zone….and I love it, he’s doing exactly what he should be doing, the Williamston boy with the ball has driven by the other guy in the zone and Cpher has slid out into that guy’s former position and brought him to a dead stop.

The Williamston game also had Cpher’s only 2 points of the weekend.  You can click on the picture below for that 30 seconds of video as well.

this shot goes in!

Overtime is a 2-minute period…..we score and score again; they miss free throws and we win 34-30.

Cpher came over to us on Sunday night, after all this was done, and said something like this.  “Hey Dad, do you remember those free throws that Williamston had in overtime?  When we were standing there watching them shoot I was thinking ‘This rebound is mine….nobody else is getting these rebounds!’”

And sure enough, he got both of them.

So now we move back out of the consolation bracket and play Haslett Gold again for the championship.  We’re actually in the same position as Matthew’s team was in last weekend; we have to beat this team twice to win the championship. 

We play a lot better than we did in the morning….but start slow.  Losing 6-2 at the end of 1; winning 12-10 at the half (sank a three-pointer at the buzzer); winning 22-19 at the end of three.

But we didn’t play well in the fourth.  Haslett has one guy who can kill you, and we did a good job on him for 7 quarters….and let him score 8 points in the fourth and they beat us 32-29.

Proud of this team; they came together and really played well!

That Teenager We Never Mention

 

Germany:  That piece of information I’ve been waiting for to begin this post?  Kevin’s exchange partner.  Meet Lisa:

It’s going to be an interesting two weeks…messages flying back and forth on Facebook.  Lisa’s English is way better than Kevin’s German, which will cause him more than a few problems I’m sure when he goes there (he is the youngest of the OHS group going; the only sophomore as I understand it….ironically, all of the Germans are Kevin’s age..) 

I can’t even begin to imagine how strange it will be to have a teenage girl in a house full of boys.  I shudder to think how we’ll add in another person and activities to what will be going on at that time (Kevin-Musical, Matthew-Soccer, Cpher-Lacrosse)

Many more updates on this over the upcoming months.  The German experience begins April 9th.

Music:  Man, where to start here?  Lots of ground to cover.

All-State:  Way back when we were in Arizona the All-State results were posted…and the organization that runs the auditions apparently lost (in the mail!) all of the high school violin and viola results.  This meant that everybody had to re-audition right after break, and, if you were three time zones away from your viola that week, well, you might be a little behind. 

So, we get back on Friday….and Kevin waits until Sunday to tell us that his viola is at school (we could have gone down on either Friday or Saturday and retrieved it).  And, well, it’s no big surprise that he is not one of the 16 violas chosen; he is honorable mention.  Kevin says his re-audition was the worst he had ever performed those pieces.  Parents mention that might be because he COULDN’T EVEN TELL US HE DIDN’T EVEN HAVE HIS VIOLA AT HOME FOR TWO DAYS.

Grrr.

Luckily, for Kevin, one viola decided not to participate, and he was able to go and perform with the orchestra.  That concert was about a month ago, we just received the CD this week.  Dad very happy with the selections; Copland and Rimsky-Korsakov are clearly in Dad’s Top 5 composers.

Solo and Ensemble:  The other event in viola-world is the performance at the District Solo and Ensemble competition.  Shocked SHOCKED when I hear the piece that Kevin is doing….it’s very different from what I usually see him gravitate to….I mean, this piece has the very fast intricate passages, but, the first two minutes are slow, long drawn out notes that tend to emphasize your musical interpretation and expression, and man I don’t think those are Kevin strengths.

First week of February is the performance….I completely missed it (we were doing the boy-basketball thing…Kevin drove himself) and arrived right as we finished.  Didn’t get the I rating he hoped for, got a II.  Judge was very harsh; said his bow wasn’t in good condition (which sent Dad into orbit…Kevin knew it needed work soon and we could have done that before his big performance of the year!).  But, learned later that this particular judge was very ‘difficult’ as the day wore on, and more than a few very talented kids from the high school walked away with II’s, not I’s for very suspect reasons.

Random Rescued From Facebook Photo 1:  Kevin (and boys) after the performance of Much Ado about Nothing.   Kevin was not in the play, but the girl in the center, Maya, was/is.  We’re good friends with Maya and her family through soccer (Matthew and Christopher have played with Maya’s brother Aidan).

Musical:  Anything Goes is the show this year; Kevin, I think, has indicated that he may have some German-exchange conflicts and while he is in the show he again has a role that’s mostly in the chorus.  There may be some dancing, may even be some tap dancing, involved in this though.  Rehearsals start in earnest this week.

Random Rescue #2:  the kids from the neighborhood, from left to right, Matthew (with cast), Nick, Kevin, Julia, Ashton, Tyler

Academics: Not going as well as his parents would like.  Of course, that’s all relative; most kids would kill for his grades.

Not quite sure how to pull Kevin out of it, and we’re not quite willing to say that “well, that’s a teenager for you”, but, Kevin has a general malaise going on that seems to be affecting just about everything.  One event would be an aberration, multiple events are a trend, and, junior varsity in tennis, honorable mention for All-State, second division in solo and ensemble, and then this shift in grades from high A’s to low A’s with an A- and B+…well, it’s disappointing.  Hope he gets off of his butt soon; don’t like that word….disappointing.

Random Rescue #3:  Kevin studying AP World History with Enya and Drew

Driving:  you know, we’ll save this for another post…it probably deservers more than the 2 paragraphs that I feel like typing now.

From the Sports Desk

Matthew’s weekend will dominate this post.

Matthew Basketball:  The regular season is over.

As you can see, the Chieftains did quite well….I don’t think any of those wins were closer than 15 points.  You may notice Williamston, also undefeated, on the other side of the bracket.  This regular season translated into this end-of-the-year tournament bracket.

The big news was that we were not the #1 seed….and you had to go way down into the tie-breakers to figure that one out, but, we had two common opponents with Williamston and they buried each of those teams by over 25 points each, so, they were #1.

Saturday:  Drive out to Owosso (a 45-minute journey) on Saturday for the first game against Fowlerville….the boys win handily, 37-19.  No points for Matthew but his role on this team since returning after the broken arm has been diminished…he doesn’t shoot or score but plays very stout defense.  Suzanne was a little frustrated at his lack of playing time here (I was still with Cpher at his basketball game.

So, we move on in the winner’s bracket to play Webberville. 

It’s a big generalization, but, I think it runs awfully true at times….the smaller the town, the louder the parents cheer at sports events.  And the Webberville crowd was no exception.  But, man, they crossed the line from cheering to obnoxious pretty quickly…..running down to talk to their kids as soon as they hit the bench, yelling at the refs over just about anything……our parents (on this team, and on Cpher’s team) aren’t very loud at all….as I type this I need to remind myself to ask Matthew if he noticed that during the games this weekend.

Anyway, it’s a close game, we are up by 6 going into the fourth quarter, but, they come back and it’s tied; we’re heading to OT.  They accomplish this feat by playing two or three players the entire game….I credit our coach, it may not have been the right move to win the game, but, he did play our bench quite a bit during the game. 

It’s a two minute overtime….and we lose by two, 33-31.  Webberville celebrates like they’ve won the national championship.  Very over the top, parents jumping up and down…..kind of crazy.

Matthew played ok; he was on the court for most of the fourth quarter and overtime, which I guess shows just what the coach thinks about his play even though his shooting/scoring has almost completely disappeared.  He also has picked up, somewhere, the belief that you can take two steps without dribbling.  And they may not call that in the NBA and on the playground….but they call it here, and he’s gotten called more than a few times for travelling.  And sadly, he was called for it late in OT….we didn’t lose because of Matthew, but he certainly put the blame on himself.

Sunday:  Saturday’s late night loss throws us into the consolation bracket.   Sunday’s first game is against Mason; we had beaten them 2 or 3 weeks ago.  Came out kind of flat, but, eventually put them away 27-24   Have a 90 minute break, and then play the next game, and beat Perry (another previous victim) by about ten…don’t quite remember the exact score.  And that brings about the rematch against Webberville.  We have about a 10 minute break between games, everything for us from here on out is back to back.

The beauty of playing team twice is that you learn what makes that team go….and that Webberville team is a two-man show, #33 and #24 are very good players, and they accounted for 27 of their 33 points the first time.  So, I was reasonably sure our coach, who is pretty sharp, is going to make sure that those two don’t do that again. 

Game starts….and we put on the defensive clamps.  Winning 7-2 at the end of the first…up by seven at the half.  Up by seven at the end of three; win by 4 in the end, but, it was never really close.  Really enjoyed watching the Webberville parents leave the gym.  Quietly.

Matthew’s role has morphed as Sunday goes on….he is the first kid off the bench and typically goes in for the starter (it varied) that had to go to the bench to get a reminder about defense.  Was much better as the games went on on Sunday about soaking up rebounds and scrapping for the ball.  Never out of position; always hustling back, always with his arms up challenging the offense.  His best moment might have been the last moments of the Webberville game; grabbed the rebound after a missed Wville free throw and when they tried to pressure him just dribbled off to the side and down the full length of the court before getting fouled as he went in for the layup, eating up precious seconds and sealing the win.  He made one of those free throws to end the game, we win 38-34.

So, that, after a five minute break, brings us to the long awaited game against Williamston.  The boys play well; really proud of how each and every one of them hustled and worked hard throughout, and the hard work paid off….game is tied after the first quarter, I think we’re down by 1 at half, and down by 2 as the fourth quarter started  I think we were even just down by two as late as 3 minutes to go in the fourth, but, Williamston made shots down the stretch and we didn’t, and they won 25-19.  That OT loss to Webberville hurt….made us play two extra games to get to this point. 

Really happy with how Matthew played……he was always hustling, always going to the ground for balls and after 6 basketball games was scrappy to the end. 

The team

Matthew Soccer:  Oh yeah….like six basketball games aren’t enough, he had four soccer games too!  And unlike basketball, where sometimes he gets shorted on playing time (much to Mom’s consternation…although by the end of that tournament that wasn’t an issue, he played a lot, especially late in the games), in soccer, especially the TNT games, he gets more than his fair share.

First game was Saturday morning at 7 am (ugh!).  TNT against the TNT U10 Girls white team…..and it looked like this would be a blowout, we went up three goals early.  BUT, they had some ringers, one of the girls from the Red team Matthew has played against in those 4v4 tournaments and a taller girl who must have been a U12…..and they made it 3-2, one time taking advantage of a weak Matthew pass to drive in for a goal.

We ended up scoring four goals in five minutes to close out the half to win by a lot (8-3?)….Aside from the one ‘goof’, Matthew played really well, hustling and making great passes and playing great defense.  Suzanne and I have taken to counting his headers…he is up to four or five a game now, and not just balls in the air, if there’s a bounce off the ground he’s not afraid to lower his head and use his forehead and face to knock the ball down so that he can play it.

Game two was Saturday night (after the two basketball games…); the other U10 boys team was short a player or two and they asked Matthew and a few others to help out.  Even after two basketball games the kid was still hustling and working hard.  We lost this game, but, it was nice to see Matthew when he was out on defense helping the other boy (who is new to that team) and telling him where to go and why to go there…..

Game three was at 8 am Sunday…..another TNT affair against the U11 Reds (we are the U10 Reds, the best team at that age group…the team we are facing is the best U11s).  And it was a great morning, without one of our better players we win 4-3 and were never behind.  Matthew scored a goal off of a corner kick and a deflection and did what he did all weekend, hustled, played good defense, and helped out on offense when needed.  Suzanne and I, because we’re those sort of parents, do note that we give up a lot more goals when Matthew is off the field than when he is on the field….it’s why Matthew doesn’t come off the field much in some of these TNT games.  This game was no exception, 2 of the 3 goals happened while he was getting a break.  Header Count = 4….including one where he deflected a line-drive corner kick right out of the goalmouth….Mom doesn’t like when he takes those line-drives off the noggin’…..

Game four was immediately after this over at soccerzone…Matthew is playing with a U12 team with some friends…he scored once and we won 8-4…..he hustled when he needed to here but the game was noticeably slower than other soccerzone games (the team he is guesting on is a rec team) and Matthew definitely slowed down with the pace of the game.

Very proud of that kid; at the end of the fourth basketball game he was hustling like he was at 8 am that morning……

Cpher:  Oh yeah, Cpher had one basketball game.  We lost 29-25 to Haslett Blue…they are a good team and we’ve lost our starting point guard for the season with two breaks to his bone in his pinky finger BUT we were up 25-21 with 90 seconds left……so, that was a really disappointing way to lose. 

Cpher’s playing time is really suffering as the games get closer and we play better competition…in all fairness, he hasn’t earned the time, he’s not a threat to score at all.  The tournament is this weekend; I don’t expect to see Cpher play much, and if we win even one game it will be a pleasant surprise…this tournament will look a lot like the bracket for Matthew’s above….except this time we’ll be the #7 seed.  We’ve played five of the other teams so far, we’ve lost by 8, 2, 2, 9, and now 4.  I know we can beat these teams…hopefully we can pull through this weekend.

From the Sports Desk

I’m still waiting on that one piece of information for a very long Kevin post…..so, might as well post the sports highlights from last week.

Cpher Bball:  A 3-game weekend.  Started Saturday with a trip to Eaton Rapids and a 49-25 win…..I think Cpher had 4 points…could be wrong on this.  I do know it was the first game in a long time where he scored as opposed to missing all of his shots.  I think the refs in Eaton Rapids were paid by the whistle; they called the game tighter than any refs we’ve had so far, and we were in major foul trouble most of the game (we had 15! in the first half).  Had a guy foul out, but, surprisingly in this foul-a-thon, Cpher had none.

The two games on Sunday were back-to-back, and they were against two of the better teams in our league.  We lost to Willamston 38-29…..we played ok, especially on defense, but, the shots didn’t want to fall and we settled for jump shots too often.  Cpher didn’t play much (when we are behind in the fourth quarter we have to press and trap to force turnovers….not a Cpher strength) but he did make a basket as the clock expired in the third quarter (“Dad, was that a buzzer beater?”). 

Lost to Dewitt White 44-42 in the second game.  Lost our point guard with a broken finger; that will make things real challenging down the stretch….think we could and should have beat this team if we were a little less tired (they didn’t play back to back) and we had time to adjust to the injury. 

Matthew Bball:  Played immediately after Cpher’s game…..the team started off very slow….no points in the first quarter.  But, we rallied to win 28-15.  No points for Matthew, no travelling either, so, that’s a good thing.  Think he might have taken a shot or two but no luck there…..still trying to get his shot back in shape…….

Matthew Soccer:  Back-to-back indoor games going on at the same time as Cpher’s games on Sunday……so, I didn’t get to see very much of these games at all.  Matthew chose to play goalie a lot…I think he spent the second half of the first game in goal (a 12-1 win) and he was in goal in the 2nd game when I finally arrived and stayed there until late in the 2nd half (we won 8-1…he finally let in a goal near the end of his adventure).  It looked like he was having a really good time playing goalie….he came out quite a ways at time, threw the ball out, dribbled the ball out, boomed the ball out on goal kicks……did a really good job!

C’mon let me take you on a sea cruise…..

First rule of the ocean; no water in the people spaces….

So yeah, about two weeks before this happened we had decided that we’d take a Mediterranean cruise while Kevin was in Germany.  This encounter with the rocks off the island of Giglio has not changed our minds, but has certainly given Suzanne, me, and the boys something to talk about.

One definite effect of the Concordia is that we’ve seen the prices drop; since Suzanne switched to the early-saver fare (which allows us anytime we see a price drop to apply for the difference) we’ve watched the price go down $250 $500.  That’s ok by us. 

The vacation seems to expanding and expanding though…..the plan had always been if it costs an arm and two legs to fly there to spend an extra day or two after the cruise there.  Then we had always talked about taking the boys to London before the Olympics, and the airfares from Barcelona to London were pretty cheap on the European discount airlines, and I did STILL have left a bunch of Marriott points from FEMA times…..and to use my Delta miles the flights are a little bit awkward, so, it’s going to look something like this……

June 13 – leave Detroit, go to Boston.  Have 5 hour layover in Boston (so we’ll probably leave the airport and head downtown for dinner).  Fly to Paris, Fly to Barcelona

June 15 – begin cruise.  Stop in Marseilles, Florence, Rome, Naples, Dubrovnik, Venice, Sicily, Palma de Mallorca Spain,

June 27 – back in Barcelona

June 28 – fly to London

July 3 – fly home

So, that’s an awful lot of cool things…..and a crazy amount of blogging!

Speaking of cool things…..we’re sailing on a ship with the new car ship smell….

The Carnival Breeze under construction……let’s not scratch the paint!

AHI

There were a few Kevin-related items hanging out there; I’m patiently awaiting one little piece of information before going down that road.

So, let’s talk about me!

Yeah, I snore.  And it’s been a problem for a while (a funny side note; all of the pictures of snoring that I found had the woman on the right side of the bed….Suzanne and I are completely opposite of this…..abnormal?  who knows?)

Recently, Suzanne commented that I seem to hesitate, or start and stop breathing, sometimes.  I have, in the past, dismissed such talk as nonsense…heck I don’t even snore! (Suzanne recorded me on the Iphone one night to stop that talk….) but during the last doctor visit I mentioned this concern, and of course, I ended up being referred for a sleep study.  The doc (and the sleep doc) ask me a few questions (do you fall asleep while driving?  do you fall asleep while watching TV?  I do none of these things….don’t feel overly tired).

Last Wednesday night was the sleep study.  Showed up at 9:30 and for the next hour I have multiple (18?) sensors attached to my body that are going to monitor me as I sleep.  Two sensors on each leg to see if I kick to jump start breathing.   Five around the upper chest to monitor the heart…..8(?) on the head at different spots and then a air-monitoring tube to measure oxygen coming out of my mouth and nose.  And, wired up like a Christmas Tree, I’m supposed to fall asleep.

For the study, I fell asleep on my back…..I typically don’t do this, I know through long-trial-and-error with Suzanne that if I’m on my back snoring is at it’s loudest, so, I try to stay on my stomach and on my sides.  But, for the study, on my back.  And, being monitored like Frankenstein, rolling around like I guess I normally do is out (the tech said at the end of the study I moved to my side only twice….I knew that before she even told me).

But, the next morning, the question was, well, do I have sleep apnea? 

Yeah, I don’t just have it, I have what is classified as severe sleep apnea.  The results of the sleep study are boiled down to an apnea-hypopnea-index (AHI) number….under 15 is mild, 15-30 is moderate, over 30 is severe.  I chart in at 32; to measure an ‘event’ you have to stop breathing for 10 seconds, at my PEAK I had 64 events an hour…the longest was 20.5 seconds.  Oxygen?  Normal levels are in the high nineties….96-98%….at one point I dropped to 82%.

still trying to figure out what means what here….but those big blocks of N3 sleep around 4 am; that’s normal, and that’s when I was on my side.  That mess of lines between 11 and 2 am….that’s me on my back.

So, of course, I get to go back tonight for sleep study part 2.  So they’ll be a follow-up post to this one sometime soon…..