Help! O2 monitor won’t stay on!

[SinkGirl]

Argh. Recently did a sleep oximetry study for DT1. They called the next day to say that it had come off part way through the night and they didn’t get enough data so they’ve given it to us over the weekend so we get more goes.

Waited til he was asleep, stuck it to his big toe (it’s one of those stretchy plaster ones that wraps round). He didn’t pull it off, it just fell off- I guess his toe got sweaty?

Waiting for him to go back to sleep to put it back on, they need six hours of data (and I guess it needs to be uninterrupted?) so need to get it back on ASAP but if he’s awake he will remove it.

They’ve only given us three sensors, about to use the second!

I’ve found some micropore so could add that on top? I can’t put a sock on because of the cable, he has ASD and sensory issues so I know he would go for it. He’s in a sleeping bag

The readings I saw over the last two hours have me worried so it really needs to be done. Any advice?

Give his big toe a really good wash with hot water and soap , rinse , dry well .
Put the sensor on the toe but with the cable positioned on the underside of his foot going backwards towards his heel . Put a long strip of Micropore around the cable and arch of his foot then put his socks back on . I hope you both get a good night's sleep .

Warm , not hot .
Tsk . Silly me !

He’s still bloody awake.

Have had a fucking dreadful week with no rest and a lot of stress and I just want him to go to sleep so I can put the sodding thing back on and go to sleep myself (unless the other twin wakes up, in which case we are all screwed).

I am very close to completely losing my shit.

Thank you, that makes sense.

If he ever goes back to fucking sleep, I will do that.

Why do they always do this at the worst possible time? He’s been sleeping well for a while now - of course this is the night where he wakes and will not go back to sleep!

So finally got it back on at 1:15am

Set an alarm for 3:45am and it was off again

Put it back on, lasted 10 mins

So it’s been on for another hour now and I’m giving up and going to sleep. Hopefully he’ll sleep another couple of hours and there’ll be enough data.

By any chance does anyone know if it needs to be six hours straight? And whether, if I do it again tomorrow night whether it will overwrite tonight’s data?

I haven’t been watching it that much, just for short periods to make sure it’s on and I’ve seen it drop below 90 four times, once to 84 and once to 81. I’m really worried about him so it’s so important we get enough of a reading.

Hey there @SinkGirl .
How's things ? Has it been a better day and are you doing the oxygen monitoring again ?

Sleep studies are an effing nightmare - sympathies! Is doing an overnighter in a hospital sleep unit an option? Then keeping the monitors on is the sleep technician’s problem and not yours!

So tonight we went out for dinner and got a babysitter (haven’t been out since August!) and I got the monitor on and it has stayed on! Weirdly tonight his levels seem much better - 97 generally, rarely dropping although I haven’t been watching it closely, I did see one drop to 91.

I don’t understand how it could be so different to last night? Very confusing!

I honestly don’t think he would even go to sleep in a hospital - let’s hope we don’t need to do that, will Cross that bridge when we come to it!

If it wasn't properly placed you could be getting false readings.

I think it was placed properly - I checked it several times, plus each time I had to put it back on the readings were similar.

He’s also sleeping much more quietly tonight - very little snoring compared to last night, or most nights actually, so I guess that adds up. Hopefully they’ll be able to see all the data so they can see what they think.