Getting back in the groove

Unlike last week, this week there’s a Dicebox update–still Not Safe for Work. (permalink)

Hoping I’m not cursing myself by saying that this rough patch should be over. (though I probably am.) Part of what’s been keeping me busy is me doing my bit for the upcoming Stumptown Comics Fest happening on April 26th and 27th. I’ll be tabling with the lovely Dylan Meconis again, selling prints, t-shirts and what have you.

Wednesday already?

Hey, so, here’s this week’s Dicebox update. (permalink) And as promised, it’s Not Safe For Work. Actually, this’ll be true of the next couple-few pages. You’ve been warned.

Aw, the heck with it.

So a page of Dicebox did go up yesterday and pretty on time too. (permalink) Though there is, oh, about another hour of work that needs to be done. I was hoping to finish it off last night but after 15 hours on the go yesterday, it just wasn’t going to happen. Well, it will, just don’t know when.

Anyway.

Taking a test drive

Well, taking it in public after a month of tinkering. Seems I can only really  finalize website stuff when it’s available for viewing, even if no one knows about it per se.

This website is about 99% ready to go, need to finish finessing this and that, finish my link list, put the final touches on the illustration and so on.

I’ll be glad when I declare this done the re-route Jennworks here. ‘Cause nothing brings out my OCD like coding and styling.

I feel pretty, oh so pretty…

Here’s me, all wired up for my sleep study. Actually, I had just woken up and am waiting to be disconnected by my sleep tech, Natasha.

The past week I’ve been boring everyone who’ll listen about my sleep study. My enthusiasm is certainly partly due to the idea that I might get a restful night’s sleep on a consistent basis, but also I have a certain fascination with medical procedures. I imagine this is mostly due to pouring over my mother’s critical care nursing magazines since the age of five, marveling at the glossy color photos of open-heart surgery, brain scans and the like. I found it all fascinating and it helped form a certain base of what I find aesthetically pleasing. I had actually flirted with the idea of being a medical illustrator, but I didn’t, and so here I am.

Anyway. I haven’t slept well for the past several years, which has caused a couple of my doctors to be concerned. And when I found out recently from Kip that I don’t really snore much but have these weird hitches in my breathing, I was promptly referred to a sleep disorder clinic.

With my inherited deformed nasal septum plus several common symptoms, my sleep doctor strongly suspected sleep apnea and so I was scheduled for a split sleep study; first part a straight observation of my sleep habits, the second being a fitting and adjusting of a CPAP machine. To my slight disappointment, that second part didn’t happen. I didn’t meet the criteria of 30 or more sleep apnea episodes per hour.

Whereas I do definitely have sleep apnea, more significantly I suffer from hypopnea, meaning my air passages only close part way. Not significant event in itself, except this continues during my sleep for several hours straight only to be interrupted with apnea episodes–apparently highly unusual and the first case my doctor has dealt with (go me). As far as my doctor is concerned, I have severe sleep apnea/hypopnea, but he and a a sleep analysis have to go over the sleep vitals captured last night to satisfy my insurance company. And I have to go back next week for the fitting of my oh-so-very-sexy CPAP machine.

I consider this all as another step on the road to becoming a frumpy middle-aged English lady who gardens, keeps cats and solves the odd mystery. And perhaps cause a scandal or two–after all, what I prefer to grow in my garden are opium poppies, foxglove and “herbs.”

On a related side note, I enjoyed the irony of seeing a report of how a Cornish man claims new sleepless record on the BBC homepage this morning.