Learning To Sleep

There are those times when you think you know what you know and there are times when you don't. Apparently I sleep badly, this despite the fact that I fall asleep easily, sleep soundly enough I don't remember my dreams and awake refreshed enough to take on the world.  But no, I sleep in a manner guaranteed to kill me, or something like that. 

Thursday  night I arrived at Mariners Hospital in Tavernier around  seven in the evening for an appointment to study my sleep. My pain doctor says I have an obstructed something in my throat which leads to me not breathing properly or something and the long and short of it was I found myself back in a hospital room for the night. Thank you Cigna for picking up the tab. Thank you Layne for reminding me to pack my green blankie, happy hospital memories under that warm woolly covering.

Sam the technician  got me settled in my  room with my stuff which I promptly dived into and ate my sandwich and fruit. When he came back he then wired me up with monitors all over my chest legs and head. The glue I will tell you leaves your hair matted in a way that could be embarrassing for people with filthy minds and the monitors come off peeling chest hairs like they're going out of fashion. But all that was for the morning after. I sat and got wired up around 9 pm and made the best of a grotesque situation. Never done this before, but as promised it didn't hurt:

My wife followed my progress from Key West and sent helpful pictures of the family enjoying a rambunctious night out chowing down on Cuban food at El Siboney on Stock Island. I much preferred my dinner from my lunch box  thank you. 

Then I was alone with my thoughts and the camera and speaker connecting me to Sam in his office next door where his machinery was set to monitor my sleep. Bleak about covers it. 

His voice sounded advising me to get some sleep and with the phone turned off I was in darkness with my wires and a red light from the camera on the ceiling. Fun. I slept. Until one thirty when Sam came in and took the probes from my nostrils (I told you this was fun) and replaced them with a breathing tube that pushed air into my nostrils. So I have sleep apnea I asked Sam and he replied he was only a technician and couldn't diagnose but clearly I wouldn't be getting the tubes if I didn't need them. 

So then I had the interesting task of falling back asleep after getting over the claustrophobic attachment of  tubes under my nostrils...and apparently I slept a lot better until my final wake up at 5:15 in the morning. No doubt a CPAP machine is in my future but I will let them decide that for me. And that is what a sleep study is all about. One more new and interesting medical procedure I had never much thought about before, just like all the others in my life which used to be hospital-free! 

In case reading about a sleep study is as unexciting as I suspect I am attaching some photos from a family visit to the Key West Wildlife Center yesterday. A good deal more exciting than one more hospital visit.

 Grandfather and grandson enjoying tropical fauna together:

Mountain People

Aidan on the left is almost thirteen and Connor on the right is a bit younger. They live in Asheville and are, lucky them, my nephews. They liked Key West the few days they came and saw the water -"Why is it so blue?" they asked me, their oracle. We took the ferry to Sunset Key and fed the whole brood lunch. It was a success.

Not surprising really. I like Key West and I live here and they came in a cool front that didn't overwhelm them with heat and humidity and respected their delicate mountain sensibilities more attuned to cold and frost this time of year. 

 The Pier House looked just fine under the sun as the waters of the harbor swept through on the tides trawling away impurities and leaving clear turquoise water to bedazzle our visitors. 

 The Coastguard base above, the former rail terminus for Flagler's Over the Sea railroad from Miami. Below we see visitors to the end of the road enjoying outreach beyond land buzzing aound like bluebottles on jet skis.  

I am a subversive soul and I suggested such a tour to my nephew, a fine upstanding father of two who does his part to combat climate change managing a  bicycle parts factory in Asheville while driving a suitable hybrid while living in a self designed home that employs nature for heating and cooling with minimal fuel consumption. However even his eyes lit up as the devil in me suggested a jet ski tour. "No one will know," I said using the age old formula to encourage deviance. What happens in Key West stays in Key West. Jet skis are scourges of course but tremendous fun and Jacob deserves fun as well as responsibility. I like him and his family a great deal.

We arrived at Sunset Key docks and I had my camera around my neck playing the crippled tourist with the walker. I ended up walking enough to make my legs scream by mid afternoon when I had to repair to bed and take a nap. I enjoy being mistaken for a tourist though.

You can understand why Latitudes restaurant was a hit.  The scenery was perfect, the food excellent and they even use cardboard straws to satisfy the Asheville hipster in all of us. My sister-in-law Geeta giving a passable impression of Her Majesty the Queen, Bevin and husband Jacob:

 Jacob:

 Bevin:

 Conner:

 Aidan:

Geeta:

 Brother-in-Law Bob:

 The fight for the lobster bisque:

Danger out sailing in a brisk breeze and looking good. I believe it started life as a Chesapeake skipjack hence the low free board to allow crabs to be brought aboard easily (and tourists to be rolled off if they get obstreperous no doubt!). A lovely ambassador for Key West:

I had a Cuban sandwich just for a change and regretted not sticking with my usual fish tacos which Jacob pronounced excellent. He also finished my sandwich which proved too much for me. The in-laws are a high maintenance crowd questioning the menu and adding things on the side so my wife was blissfully at home. I kept my head down and ordered. 

 And looked around and took pictures. What a day! You should have been there.

 My Cuban with turkey and mojo (Cuban garlic/citrus sauce)

The family was looking forward to a charter the next day, snorkeling and dolphin hunting and a picnic on an island and generally learning why we find it hard to consider living elsewhere. Mountains are lovely for a vacation and Appalachia around Asheville very much so as I have documented here (put North Carolina in the search function at the top to check it out) but, well, this...

 It wasn't  a day without clouds and indeed by the time my wife dropped me off at home to recuperate it was drizzling too but never cold enough for a sweater.

 The trip back...

 ...to Key West.

 Organizing the next event, a downtown walk ice cream and so forth, as you do. 

To be a tourist in Key West is a fine thing. I expect to be mistaken for one many times to come, I hope.