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Author Topic: Jennifer  (Read 60790 times)

Offline mr_90proof

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Jennifer
« on: 19. February 2022, 09:45:34 AM »
Chapter 1.

It hurt.  Jennifer awoke slightly, shifted stiffly a few inches and adjusted the pillow she had wedged under her side before she fell asleep. She then adjusted the pillow under her head.  Instinctively with her other hand, without even realizing she had done it, she reached up and touched the metal on her face.  If she could have turned her head she might have twisted a bit in the pillow to try to get more comfortable.  But as she couldn’t, she adjusted the pillows the best she could and fell back into a uneasy slumber.

It had started five years earlier as she approached 40.  Things just started to hurt more.  At first she thought little of it; getting older brings a few more pains.  Getting ready in the morning took a few more minutes.  There where a few more wrinkles in the mirror as she did her makeup.  But she was a beautiful, independent women with two teenagers, so a little backache or a stiff muscle was not something to worry with.  She was too busy, between work and kids, to let a little ache and a pain slow her down.  But then her back really started to hurt.

It was towards the end of her oldest son’s senior year that her back really started bothering her.  The occasional ache and pain had progressed to the point that she had back pain much of each day.  It was not a debilitating pain, but it was persistent.  It bothered her every day; and it had begun to impact her work life.  At work, she had purchased a lumbar support to put in her chair.  It did not help much.  But it was tolerable.

Jennifer was the accounts payment specialist for a small privately owned manufacturing company.  She had worked there for over ten years, had a good relationship with the owners and her coworkers, and generally enjoyed her job. One of the reasons she enjoyed it was the atmosphere in the office.   Most of her job entailed handling invoices that came in for raw materials, shipping, and all the other 101 things that a manufacturer received bills for.  So it was pretty bland.  But she liked her coworkers and the camaraderie in the office.  However as her kids had gotten older, and as she could do much of her job from her home laptop, she had a lot of flexibility.  She could work from home or from the office.  As long as she got the job done, her boss did not care too much whether she was in the office or at home. 

Offline mr_90proof

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Re: Jennifer
« Reply #1 on: 19. February 2022, 10:25:16 AM »
Chapter 2.

For months, Jennifer bit her lip anytime her back bothered her.  Again, surely this was just part of getting older.  However, at one of the monthly finance meetings her coworker Carla, who was sitting beside her, dropped a pen on the floor. Politely enough Jennifer reached down to pick it up.  As her hand got near the pen, her back objected to this. As she was leaning forward and reaching down to the floor her muscles in her back spasmed.  Perched as she was on the edge of the chair and with most of her weight reaching out awkwardly from the chair, once her back gave out she found herself unceremoniously dumped on the floor of the meeting room.

It happened fast, and several of the seven people in the room rushed out of their seats to see if they could help.  The rest just looked on in shock. 

As Jennifer lay on the floor, her first reaction was embarrassment.  She had basically just fallen out of a chair in the middle of a meeting.  But she was also scared.  She had been having aches and pains in her back for several months and had basically ignored them.   But now that same back had just deposited her face first on the floor in front of a number of her coworkers.  This wasn’t just an uncomfortable inconvenience anymore.

Offline mr_90proof

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Re: Jennifer
« Reply #2 on: 19. February 2022, 10:43:35 AM »
Chapter 3.

As soon as she hit the floor, Jennifer was aware of movement around her.  As she got her bearings she looked up to see Carla and Pete, the owner of the company, at her side peering down on her. Pete told her not to move.  For some reason, this made Jennifer think back to the cpr and first aid class she had taken to become a lifeguard in college.  But that thought quickly went out of her mind, and she told them she was fine.  She sat up against their disapproval.  Between the endorphines and the embarrassment, she was not aware of any pain.  Mainly she did not want to be laying on the floor, the center of attention in a board meeting, because she was a clutz that fell out of a chair.

After repeated admonishments that she was ok, and after threats from Pete to call an ambulance, they all arranged back around the desk and completed the meeting.  However, after the meeting wrapped up and everyone was gathering their laptops, pens and pads Pete discretely asked Jennifer to come into his office.


Offline mr_90proof

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Re: Jennifer
« Reply #3 on: 19. February 2022, 11:15:56 AM »
Chapter 4.

As the others left the meeting room, Jennifer tried to hide in the corner, still embarrassed about what had happened.  Pete, as was customary after all their meetings, was the last one in the room.  He approached Jennifer and asked her if she was really ok.  She insisted she was.  Nonetheless he asked her to follow him into his office.

As they entered his office, Pete asked Jennifer to please sit.  While Jennifer had been in the office many times before and had no reason to be nervous, she was.  Pete closed the door and sat in his chair behind his desk.

“First of all, are you ok Jennifer?  That could have been a nasty spill if you had hit the desk.  My first concern is you”

“Yes, I am fine.  I am just a klutz I guess”.

“No, i don’t believe that.  You have worked here too long for me to think that.  You are sharp.  You are smart.  You didn’t just fall out of a chair.  I have seen you the last few months, I have seen the lumbar support in your chair, i have seen you standing up and stretching, I have seen the grimace you make when you pick something up or just move the wrong way.  Something is wrong.  And while I wanted to say something earlier, I did not want to intrude on your personal space.  But after today, you have to see a doctor.  My first instinct as the owner of this company, and looking out for its best interests from a liability standpoint, was to call an ambulance to check you out today.  But I did not want to embarrass you in front of everyone.  But something is wrong.  You have to see a doctor.  Not today, but soon.  I want you to do this because I care about you.  You are a great person with two great boys.  But also because you are a valuable member of our team.  We need you here, and it would just take too long to train somebody new to replace you”.  And with this Pete gave a nervous chuckle.  “I won’t tell you what doctor to see, but I can recommend a great orthopedist.  When I slipped a disk in my back a few years ago overswinging on a drive at the golf course, he was a life saver.  Would it be ok if I called to see if I could make an appointment for my most valuable employee?”

Offline silver-moon-2000

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Re: Jennifer
« Reply #4 on: 19. February 2022, 11:22:00 AM »
Quite the different start from "normal", I guess.  ;D But I like it quite a lot.
I'm more than thrilled to see, where you are leading this story. Please DO continue!

Offline mr_90proof

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Re: Jennifer
« Reply #5 on: 19. February 2022, 11:38:18 AM »
The end.

I will continue; excuse switches between first/second/third person; and all the other rules I don’t remember on writing “correctly”.

Offline mr_90proof

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Re: Jennifer
« Reply #6 on: 19. February 2022, 11:54:37 AM »
Chapter 5.

As Jennifer sat there, she heard the boss talking.  But she was still mortified by what had happened.  She heard what he was saying but was not really comprehending it.  But when she heard him ask her if he could make her a doctor’s appointment she snapped back to attention.

Jennifer hated doctors.  She had no real reason to hate them.  And she had much experience with them.  But they made her nervous at best, and flat out scared the rest of the time.  But when Pete asked her if he could make an appointment with “his” orthopedist she agreed to it.  She knew something was wrong with her, and she knew she should see a specialist about it.   

Once she agreed, Pete told her he would make the call and let her know the day and time.  And obviously it would be work related and there would be no question of missed work.  With this Jennifer got up and left his office and went back to her desk.  Over the next hour, several people stopped by to check on her and see if she was alright.  She assured everyone she was just fine.

Towards the end of the day Pete came by her desk personally and asked Jennifer if 2 pm the following Thursday would work for her to meet with the orthopedist.  Of course it would she thought to herself, I will just be here at work.  But with that thought in her head she forced a smile and said “Sure!”.

Offline Braceface2015

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Re: Jennifer
« Reply #7 on: 19. February 2022, 17:38:16 PM »
It is nice to have another writer join us. You are off to a good start,

I always try to ask the new writers if it would be okay if I added their stories to TheArchive. TheArchive is my personal collection of braces stories, some of them dating back to the beginning of the internet when dial-up connections and newsgroups were prevalent. In the last couple of years, I have been sharing my collection with other people who like stories and have kept adding more stories to it.

As for the composition of your story, there is nothing wrong with it. Your spelling is good, you have a good flow through the story and it is easy to follow as it moves along. My suggestion is that rather than post small sections the way that you are, write more of the story using another program such as Word, OpenOffice, Google Docs or whatever program you prefer and then copy and paste it to the Forum.

Numbering each part of it also helps so that when we read your story, we don't miss parts of it.


Offline Lithpkith

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Re: Jennifer
« Reply #8 on: 19. February 2022, 19:51:59 PM »
I like thith new appwoach to youw thowy. Maketh me cuwious ath to what happenth netht. Thank you fow wwiting.

Offline mr_90proof

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Re: Jennifer
« Reply #9 on: 20. February 2022, 19:12:19 PM »
Chapter 6.

In the week leading up to her appointment, Jennifer did everything she could not to dwell on it.  On the morning of her appointment, she was filled with a sense of dread.  She wasn’t exactly sure why she dreaded medical appointments so much.  As she got ready, applying her makeup and dressing in her customary white blouse, black knee length skirt and sensible 2” pumps, she wondered why she so dreaded the doctor and dentist.  She thought maybe it was the result of her experience when she was an impressionable teenager with braces. 

In junior high, her parents had insisted she get braces.  In truth, she needed them.  She had an obvious overbite and crowding, even if she didn’t know what that meant at the time.  Being in a small town, there were few treatment options.  Dr. Murphy was her orthodontist.  He was a stern man, ex-military, and the kids undergoing treatment had a secret nickname for him; Sargeant Grump.  In hindsight, her junior high years seemed to have been dominated by orthodontic appointments.  She had received braces when she was thirteen.  To correct her crowding she had had two premolars extracted.  To tame her tongue thrusting she had a large tongue crib installed, which she wore for the first two years of her nearly three year treatment.  She had hated this tongue crib.  It was visible every time she spoke; and even worse it caused her a horrible lisp.  Some of the meaner kids made fun of her, calling her Jennither.  But the crowning indignity was the headgear she had to wear.  Sargeant Grump had fitted Jennifer with a combination headgear that she was supposed to wear twelve hours per day during the week, and 18 hours on the weekends and school breaks.  While she did not have to wear it at school all the time; her mother was very strict with her wear schedule.  She monitored it like a hawk, and several times her mom had insisted she wear it to school to make up for missed time. Of course, as soon as her mom was out of sight she would remove it and stash it in her bookbag.  But as her mom also picked her up after school she had to put it back on as she waited to be picked up.  She did her best to hide, but of course some of the bullies had seen her.  This led to them adding to her nickname; she now was Robot Jennither.  However, this had only occurred a few times.  The worst was the weekends and summer break.  Having to get in her 18 hours, she hid at home much of the time.  That is not to say she didn’t have any social life.  She did.  She had her first boyfriend, she had her first kiss, she went to her first dance all during this time.  But her headgear wear had definitely impacted her social life and schedule.  She thought back to the time her family went to Florida on vacation.  On the agenda were days on the beach, with the highlight being a day at Disney.  Jennifer knew her mom would make her wear her headgear, which would have mortified her 14 year old psyche and ruined her vacation.  With tears in her eyes, she had begged her dad to let her go without it.  After a discussion between her parents, her parents came to a compromise.  Jennifer would bring her headgear on the trip and would have to wear it on the 9 hour car trip down and back, and whenever they were at the condo in private.  But she wouldn’t have to wear it out in public.  She had a great vacation and fell in love with the beach.  In fact, she thought that one week is what led her to take her first job out of college in Florida, where she had been ever since.

Despite her nearly three years in braces, and the pain and embarrassment it had caused her at times. right before she turned 16 she had her braces removed.  She had a gorgeous new smile.  When she turned 16, she passed her drivers test and received her license.  Right before they took her picture, she had removed her retainers and stashed them in her retainer case.  While most drivers license photos are “bad”, Jennifers had not been.  It featured her pretty face and brand new pearly white smile.  High school had been great for her.  She had a car, she was a popular cheerleader, and she was usually dating one handsome boy or another.  As a senior she had made the homecoming court and even been voted best smile. So while her junior high years may have been a little rocky, her high school days had been great.  And she couldn’t help but think that just a little of her high school experience was because of her smile.

Snapping back to the present from her reminiscing, she looked at the clock, grabbed her keys and purse and headed to work.  As she left for lunch, she went by her bosses’ office and knocked on the door.  She received a reply to come in and have a seat.  She told Pete she had her doctor’s appointment at 2 pm and was not sure how long it would take.  He told her to take the rest of the day off and go take care of herself. He repeated how much he had been helped by Dr. Andrews, and that he was sure she would be glad she went.  With that she got up and headed to get lunch before her appointment.  She went around the corner and ordered a salad for lunch.  For thirty minutes she mainly poked around at it.  The butterflies in her stomach had killed her appetite.  At 1 oclock she dumped her salad in the trash can and headed out for the 35 minute drive to Andrews Sports Medicine clinic.


Offline Lithpkith

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Re: Jennifer
« Reply #10 on: 20. February 2022, 20:25:40 PM »
Tho faw, tho good! Intewething chawactew development. I’ll be watching fow mowe of thith thtowy!

Offline Braceface2015

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Re: Jennifer
« Reply #11 on: 20. February 2022, 21:28:44 PM »
Thank you for adding the chapter numbers. And thank you for the longer chapter.

I'm enjoying the story so far, and am looking forward to more of it.

Offline bracessd

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Re: Jennifer
« Reply #12 on: 21. February 2022, 17:24:06 PM »
Nice job!

Offline mr_90proof

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Re: Jennifer
« Reply #13 on: 22. February 2022, 03:27:05 AM »
Chapter 7.

Jennifer pulled into the parking lot of the large modern looking glass and brick clinic at 1:37.  By the time she found a parking space and made it into the lobby she had about 15 minutes until her appointment.  She had arrived early on purpose, anticipating a good bit of paperwork.  She approached the front window in the waiting area, told the receptionist who she was, and received her expected stack of paperwork.  She retreated to a corner chair with a desk, filled out everything, and returned it to the receptionist.  The receptionist thanked her and asked her to wait in the waiting area until her name was called.  As she did she checked her emails, trying to take her mind off the fact she was in a doctor’s office, all the while fidgeting nervously.

After a 15 minute wait, a nurse emerged from the side door and called her name.  She got up, waiving her hand and followed the nurse back.  They stopped at an alcove with a tape measure on the wall and a scale.  The nurse asked Jennifer to remove her shoes and stand against the wall where she measured her height at 5’ 5”.  She told Jennifer to keep her shoes off and set them on a small table and then stepped onto the scale; which read 131 pounds.  The nurse noted both on the chart she was holding, and asked Jennifer to grab her shoes and follow her into the adjacent examination room.  Once in the room and seated on the examination table, the nurse checked Jennifer’s temperature and then her blood pressure, noting those as well.  With the baseline information done, the nurse handed Jennifer a hospital style gown and asked her to change into it once she left, telling her she could keep her underwear on.   She said the doctor would be with her shortly and left the room.

After what seemed like a lifetime to Jennifer, but was actually only 10 minutes, the doctor entered the room.  Jennifer felt very anxious and vulnerable in the thin open backed hospital gown as Dr. Andrews introduced himself and told her he understood her back was bothering her.  He then asked her to tell him what was going on.  Over a few minutes Jennifer explained that her back had been bothering her, and then about her fall that had been the reason for her visit.  He asked her if there were any other issues she had recently noticed, and she noted that she had been tired lately and had been having a few headaches in the mornings when she woke up, something she attributed to her back.  He then asked her what she did for a living, if she could think of an incident or accident that could have caused it, and how often she exercised.  Dr. Andrews nodded, and then asked her if she minded if he took a look at her back.  Of course she agreed, that was the whole reason she was here.  He asked her to stand and pulled the gown back from her shoulders exposing her back.  Over the next few minutes he poked and prodded her back, asking “does this hurt” several times.  Once when he was pushing on the muscle towards the back and under her collarbone she noted some pain.  He then asked Jennifer to do some bending; telling her again to tell him if something hurt.  If it hurt too bad to continue she was to stop and let him know.  Several times she did note pain, but never to the point she quit.  Just as she was wondering when this would end, the doctor asked her to put her gown back on and sit back on the table.  He told her he did want to have some x-rays taken of her back; and once that was done he would be back to talk with her.  He told her a nurse would be in shortly, and got up to leave the room.  Jennifer’s anxiety couldn’t handle this, so she asked Dr. Andrews if he thought anything was severely wrong.  He turned and told her he didn’t think so; but he did want to look at the x-rays.

A few minutes later a radiology tech entered the room and asked Jennifer to follow her to the radiology department. Once there, several x-rays where taken from several different perspectives.  Once complete, the tech took Jennifer back to the original exam room, asked her to get dressed back up and to wait in the waiting area.  Once back in the waiting room, Jennifer could not help herself from googling spine surgery.  What she saw terrified her.  She was fighting the urge to just get up and leave when the initial nurse opened the side door and called her name. 

Jennifer followed the nurse back to the initial exam room, and when she entered she saw Dr. Andrews was already there.  He politely asked her to sit in the chair adjacent to him, not the exam table.  First off, he told her he had almost all good news.  He could not find any injury to her back.  She had no disk or vertebra impairment, and he noted no issues with ligaments, tendons, or muscles.  He did note that he had found some of the muscles in her back very tense.  He continued that he thought the root cause of Jennifer’s back pain was sitting in an office chair all day.  He said he could not tell her exactly why her back had spasmed and locked up, but he said it was most likely simply a cramp caused by dehydration.  He then laid out his treatment plan.  He was going to schedule her an appointment with one of their physical therapy techs to go over some stretching and exercises she would need to do.  He said you don’t need surgery or immobilization, you need activity.  He also told her he was going to, for the short term, prescribe her a muscle relaxant to take if she woke up in the morning and her back was stiff.  Again he noted how bad it was for the back to sit for hours at a time staring at a computer screen. He said one thing he did in his office was have his staff use standing desks.  He continued on, telling her “that is the mostly good news, I do have a little bad news”.  He said when he reviewed her x-rays he had noticed a small amount of curvature of her spine, but it was almost imperceptible in the x-ray.  He asked her if she had ever been diagnosed with scoliosis, and after she said no he told her it was probably something she had had her whole life.  He said it was possible it was late onset idiopathic adult scoliosis, but his gut instinct told him otherwise.  He said he was going to schedule a followup appointment for six months just to take more x-rays.  He said in such mild cases as hers, monitoring was all they did.  He continued on, saying there is one more thing that concerns me.  He noted that she had been tired, and having some headaches in the morning.  He told her he did not think this was related to her back at all.  He wanted her to take a sleep test.  He told her she had borderline high blood pressure, which along with being tired and having headaches in the morning hinted towards her having sleep apnea.  He explained that there was a great sleep medicine doctor in the same medical park they were in now.  He explained that he himself was not some new age holistic doctor, he was basically a back mechanic. But he said, any doctor should know that the building block of health is diet and adequate rest.  He went on, saying her height and weight were squarely in the healthy range, so unlike many patients he wasn’t going to recommend she lose weight.  Just eat lots of fruits and vegetables and lay off the donuts he laughed.  He said he was however worried about the rest she was receiving.   He noted that sleep is when the body repairs itself.  In conclusion he stated, I want to schedule you a sleep test if you will agree.  Jennifer agreed.  He smiled broadly and stood.  He thanked her for putting her trust in him, and said there would be an assistant in immediately to take her by the discharge coordinators desk to get everything wrapped up and get those additional appointments made. 

Offline mr_90proof

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Re: Jennifer
« Reply #14 on: 22. February 2022, 20:07:15 PM »
 Chapter 8.

The next day back at work, Jennifer’s boss came by her desk a little after 8 and asked if she could meet with him after he finished up with his meetings at 2.  At 2, Jennifer went down the hall and asked his secretary Maggie if Mr. Masters was done with his meetings.  She replied with a smile that he was and he was expecting her.  As Jennifer stepped into his office Mr. Masters, or Pete as he preferred to be called, welcomed her in and invited her to sit down.  Pete told her the reason he asked to meet with her was simply to find out how her doctor’s appointment went.  She said it went great, then briefly ran through it.  He told her it was great that it had been so positive, and he was really glad she had everything checked out.  She did mention she had a couple of additional appointments coming up, and Pete told her the company would do whatever it could to accommodate her.

The next week Jennifer had her appointment with the physical therapist.  Over the previous week, she had made it a point to get up from her desk every hour or two and walk around a few minutes.  In addition, she had watched some Youtube videos on back pain and stretching, and had been trying a few of the stretching exercises she had watched each morning.  On the day of her physical therapy appointment, her back felt better than it had in months.  In fact, she felt no pain.  Nontheless, she went to the appointment and was shown a regiment of stretching and back strengthening exercises.  Much of it was very similar to what she had already started doing.  She didn’t think it would be a big deal, it was only a few minutes each morning.  She vowed to herself she would be diligent and do them every morning.  She left the appointment feeling better about the situation than she had in some time.  She did have her sleep study scheduled for the following week, and she was a bit nervous about it.  She had been doing a little research on sleep apnea, and after checking off several of the signs and symptoms as things she had been experiencing, she worried she might have sleep apnea.  She knew that a cpap was the most common treatment for sleep apnea, and she really didn’t want to have to sleep with a mask every night.  But it was so common, she didn’t think it could be that bad.  If they recommended it, she had resigned herself to at least try it.

The following Wednesday after work she headed to the sleep clinic.  She knew she would be early, but she didn’t want to have to drive home, then have to get right back in her car an hour later to backtrack 30 minutes to the clinic. She had a night gown she normally slept in, as well as an overnight toiletries bag, a change of clothes for the next day, and the book she had been reading.  They had explained the procedure, what to expect and what to bring on the phone.  Once she was there and checked in she met with her sleep tech Emily.  She went over everything, took a few measurements of her face and had her try on a couple of cpap masks.  She knew she most look ridiculous in them, but she tried to keep a smile on her face as they went through the process.  Once finished she was escorted to her sleep study room.  It was set up similar to a hotel room, with a bed, a TV, a corner chair and a bathroom.  The tech told her it would be a few hours until they started, so she could relax and watch tv or read while she waited.  She asked her to be ready for bed by 9 o’clock.  Emily also told her there was an intercom beside the bed, and if she needed anything to just call her.  She told her she didn’t have to mash any buttons or anything, she could just talk and they would hear her.  For the next two hours she read, trying to take her mind off of things.  She then got up, brushed her teeth, took her makeup off, cleaned her face, and slipped into her nightgown. 

Promptly at nine the intercom beeped, and a scratchy voice asked her if she was ready to start.  She replied “not really, but we might as well do this”.  A few moments later the door opened and Emily pushed a cart with several machines on it through the door.  If took about 30 minutes to hook up everything up to Jennifer as she sat on the edge of the bed.  She had several different sensors placed on her head, a strap with some kind of box attached to her chest, and finally a little splint like thing went on her index finger.  Jennifer thought she must look like a cyborg with all the wires running off of her.  Emily pulled back the sheets and helped Jennifer into bed.  She explained if might take a few extra minutes to fall asleep wearing everything, but most patients were able to nod off eventually.  She explained they might be in during the middle of the night, and if she needed to get up to use the bathroom, use the intercom and they would come in and unhook everything.  Jennifer told Emily she would do her best to hold it, she didn’t want to have to go through the process of becoming a Transformer again.  At this Emily laughed, wished a good night, and turned off the light as she left the room.

It did take an extra half hour or so for Jennifer to fall asleep.  It wasn’t that anything was uncomfortable, just different and she was very aware of it all.  However, after laying in bed for about 30 minutes she did drift off to sleep. The next thing she was aware of was a voice coming out of the intercom.  Once she came to, she responded.  The intercom voice, who Jennifer now recognized as Emily’s voice, told her she was going to enter the room.  Emily entered the room holding a cpap mask.  She asked Jennifer to sit up and she quickly fitted the mask to Jennifer, hooked a hose to it, and made a few adjustments to some buttons on one of the boxes on the cart.  Emily told Jennifer she wanted her to sleep the rest of the night with the cpap mask.  She told her to expect to feel air on her face once she turned on the machine, and with that hit the button turning on the cpap machine.  She told Jennifer to lay back and go back to sleep.  The mask on her face felt very foreign to Jennifer, but as she was not really fully awake she was able to go back to sleep surprisingly quickly.  Once again, at 6 am, Jennifer was woken by the intercom voice.  It was Emily again, and she said she would be in shortly to unhook everything.  As she undid her earlier handy work, she asked Jennifer how she felt and if she felt rested.  Jennifer responded yes, she had actually slept pretty good despite being dressed up like an astronaut.  She also said she felt well rested, which was not the case every morning when she woke up.  Emily wrapped up and stowed everything on the cart and asked Jennifer to go ahead and get ready for the day and get all of her things packed up as it was time for check out.  She told her there were towels, soap and shampoo in the bathroom, and once she was ready to give them a call on the intercom.  Jennifer showered and got dressed for her work day.  Once ready she called on the intercom.  A foreign voice responded that someone would be there shortly to escort her out.

Shortly thereafter a knock came on the door and a male orderly entered.  He offered to carry her backpack, and Jennifer followed him back into the office where the appointment started.  Behind the desk was Emily, studying some charts and graphs on the table in front of her.  She got up, thanked John for bringing Jennifer in, and asked Jennifer to sit.  She wrapped up the appointment, explaining that one of the center’s sleep doctors would review her results, which usually took 3-5 days.  She went ahead and scheduled a follow up appointment for the following Friday.  As they finished up Jennifer couldn’t resist asking Emily what the study showed.  Emily stated she was not a doctor, and that the doctor would go over the results with her when they met next week.  Jennifer told Emily of her anxiety with doctor’s, and how the wait might kill her.  Emily said she understood, and everything she was about to tell her was off the record.  But based on her experience, she told Jennifer it was clear she had moderate sleep apnea.  She went on that at the followup appointment, the doctor would review her results with her, and and almost certainly prescribe her a cpap machine.  Emily noted that after she had put the cpap mask on her, her snoring had stopped.  Snoring Jennifer thought?  She hadn’t even realized she snored.  Emily continued that she had already sized her face, and the following Friday she would almost certainly be leaving with a shiny new cpap mask and machine.  She said that was one reason she had scheduled the follow up for Friday, so she could get used to it over the weekend. Emily told her not worry though, a cpap was not a big deal at all.  In fact she herself had been wearing one to sleep for the last three years, and it had really improved her quality of sleep and she considered it life changing.  She then repeated however that everything she just said was unofficial, and it would be up to the doctor to determine her treatment.  With that she thanked Jennifer for her time and told her she would see her next Friday.