Share Your World 23rd January

It’s a rare day that I only get to this prompt so late in the week, but we’ve been running around and we aren’t done quite yet.

Do you find it relatively easy to fall asleep at night?

I take medication. I take it and half an hour later, I’m gone for at least a solid four hours. I don’t know where the 8-hour thing came from. I can’t remember the last time I needed 8 continuous hours of sleep.

I’ve finally realized I may not actually need that much sleep. My doctor commented that the “8 hours” think was never based on any scientific evidence. They just decided that was “normal” and we’ve all be stuck with it ever since.

Do you remember your dreams?

I remember then sometimes, but often I remember them when I first wake up, but they vanish very fast — usually in mere minutes.

If you can’t sleep, do you watch TV, read or listen to music in the hope you will nod off?

I’m pretty sure I do my best “nodding off” in late afternoon, right before I get up to create something like dinner.

Everything wakes me up — except television which puts me to sleep. Books, music, everything engages my brain too much to sleep.

Can you literally sleep anywhere (chair, sofa, bus, train, flight etc)?

It depends. Trains and cars, yes. Planes? No.

I fall asleep in the car including while driving. I have medication to keep me awake if I’m driving because the Motor Vehicle department has strong feelings about people falling asleep while driving. They get very miffed about it and take your driver’s license away, refusing to ever give it back.

My inability to stay awake while driving is a much misunderstood problem. It is a form of narcolepsy — from which ironically I do suffer. The problem with narcolepsy is that it’s unpredictable. You can be wide awake one minute and unconscious the next. It was a big problem at work and took years until it was diagnosed.

GRATITUDE

A huge thanks to Nurse Nancy at the Infusion section at UMass. As soon as she understood how difficult it was to find my veins, she did all the right things and turned an event I was agonizing about into something simple.

We do not appreciate these amazing medical people as much as we should. We complain too much and compliment too little. Thank you, thank you thank you Nancy!

Categories: #Photography, #SYW, Anecdote, night, Share My World