Owen felt slightly ridiculous showing up at work the next day with his overnight bag packed with, among other things, his pillow - kind of like a little boy heading out for a slumber party. The directions from the sleep clinic, however, had been explicit. He was to bring his own pillow unless he wanted to use theirs, and he had handled enough hospital pillows to know that was not a viable option. He already had enough trouble sleeping in his own bed with everything he needed in place. A crunchy pillow would definitely keep him awake.
"Going on a trip, Dr. Hunt?" Alex asked as he saw Owen enter the double doors with his small duffle.
"Uh... no." Owen had no desire to discuss this, and just continued on his way, leaving Alex behind with a perplexed look on his face.
The day passed swiftly enough. Avoiding caffeine became a bit onerous as the afternoon slump hit him, but he figured those instructions made sense. Missing a cold beer after work was more of a problem. When his shift was over, he went out for pizza and returned around 8pm to shower before checking himself into the sleep clinic. He had enjoyed a small chuckle over the prohibition on hair gels, which could potentially interfere with the electrodes they would be placing on his scalp. He knew a couple of other doctors at SGH who would probably have had a stroke over that one. Fortunately, he did not indulge, so there was nothing to worry about.
Owen never slept in anything, and he had puzzled over what to wear for bed. In the end he brought along a light-weight button down shirt and some scrub pants. He would have preferred a T, but the instructions specified button-down so that all the electrodes could be attached easily. He hoped he wouldn't need to wear it at all, but didn't want to be empty-handed in case a shirtless male patient made anyone uneasy. As he mentally reviewed his checklist for the evening, it gave him a moment of contentment to imagine that he'd probably thought of everything from every angle. Being prepared lessened the anxiety over the procedure, which he knew wasn't painful or even terribly unpleasant, but still made him uneasy. It's a stretch to be the patient instead of the doctor for a change, that's all. Not a bad perspective to remember when he showed up for work the next day and had to deal with anxious people who probably never expected to land themselves in an ER.
It took almost 40 minutes before he was completely hooked up, at which point he wondered how anyone could sleep with so many electrodes and straps attached to them. In addition to the ones all over his face and scalp, they were glued to his chest and legs too. Most annoying, though, was the little tube attached just below his nose. He didn't think there was any way in hell he would make it through the night without yanking that one off in his sleep. Since it was meant to measure sleep apnea, and he was relatively certain that was not one of his problems, he tried to get them to leave it off, but the orders had been for a full work-up and the technician wasn't comfortable deviating, so Owen let it go.
After an uncomfortable half hour trying to catch up on some medical journals, he gave up and turned out the light, and somehow he managed to close his eyes and drift off. He got in a few hours, which was typical for him these days, and didn't recall anything unusual about the night. Even when he was in his own bed, he typically woke up several times and stared at the ceiling, sometimes for hours, and this night was no exception. No one looked at him strangely as he exited the clinic, so he figured nothing too terrible could have happened during his stay, and as he left he breathed a sign of relief to have one more hurdle overcome.
Derek had pulled a few strings on his behalf, and rather than the usual 1-2 week wait for results, Owen had an appointment that day for interpretation of the study. He would come by over lunch and meet with Dr. Davies, supposedly the best sleep guy in Seattle. He hoped he would get some good news to carry him through the weekend. Monday was his appointment with Dr. Wyatt.
One step at a time, things were definitely moving forward.