Ambien Strikes Again!

You (depending on how well you know me) might remember that Tommy has a back injury that brings him much pain. And you might deduce that pain disturbs your ability to sleep. From that you should be able to expect a person going through that would have resorted to sleep aids out of desperation. Since sleep aids don't address the CAUSE of insomnia, they are not the best approach and don't work as well as we would like. And when this happens, we look for more potent aids. This is what Tommy has done more than once.

A few years ago, he obtained a prescription for Ambien from whichever doctor he was seeing at the time. He would take one of those pills and in 5 minutes, he was no longer among the sane conscious. Frequently, he would just fall asleep where he sat.

Well one night, he fell asleep next to me on the sofa. I was dreading having to guide him to the bedroom, so I just let him sleep a little bit. The kids were all up and watching tv with us, so they quiet as their daddy slept. I got to thinking about it though, and I realized this was becoming a pattern for him,...so I started decorating him. I put little toys all over the man,....I mean ALL OVER HIM! He had a parade going down each arm and a little rally happening on his legs. I even put a few things on his shoulders and something on his head. He didn't notice until the kids got to laughing loud enough to wake him up. I think he learned a little from that experience, because then he started taking his Ambien and giving it a few minutes to work, then he'd go on to bed. If he waited too long,.....it was going to be a rough night!

A rough night consists of Tommy becoming a 300 pound zombie. Nope! He doesn't weigh 300 pounds, but somehow he would become dead weight and I swear he found a way to double every pound he DOES weigh so that he would be nearly impossible for me to get to bed! I managed to have him lean against me, which made me lean over and walk "elephant style" with a man sleeping on my back till I could guide him to the bed. He wouldn't know where he was really, so when I told him to sit on the bed, he would sit right where he was standing. I learned to have him turn around so his butt landed on the bed and not the floor (he was HARD to pick up out of the floor!) and then I learned to have Manti stay up with me and help me-just in case! Maneuvering him around the end of the bed seemed like extra work too, so I finally started having him sit on my side of the bed and roll towards his pillow. Depending on my own condition, I would either hop on the bed to help this happen, or I would run like lightning to the other side to catch him. (He always would roll too far if I didn't.)

And then there were the nights he wanted to talk. Oh my goodness, the things he would say! Some I can't even post online...they were a bit colorful! There were times he insisted on feeding pencils to first graders. He got so funny one night that I grabbed my journal and a pen and I would write while he chattered nonsensically!

So why am I telling you all this?
Because he got another doctor to give him ambien. I forewarned the doctor that Tommy+Ambien=Halucinations & no sleep for me. Tommy doesn't remember these things, so it wasn't a big deal to him,....and he got his prescription. The doctor did pity me a little though and gave him a prescription for something else that should counteract the goofiness from the Ambien. So far, it's been working ok,.....until last night......

This time I've got video evidence! It's of Tommy in bed last night, so I'll have to review it and give it some thought before putting it online for the world to look at and laugh,...but chances are that I'll find 60 seconds in that long 45 minutes that I can share! :D

Just like a few years ago, he started dozing on the sofa. Problem here is that Manti had already gone to bed and it was just me and Mesa! She tried to help though, thank goodness! We managed to get him on the bed, and then the antics began. He had his eyes closed the whole time and he would snore a little between "spells",...and he washed a pig and he talked about the chickens that wore shoes. He wasn't sound asleep,...which is unnerving,...and I know this because he could hear us talking to him and would respond a bit, but in some very nonsensical ways. When Mesa was laughing about chickens with shoes, he heard and he said "uh uh! The sheep wear shoes! Chickens have pants!" He went on and on about who knows what. He said liked women and when asked WHAT women, he got a 2 year old smile on and said "my wife"......lucky man! He directed a symphony too it looked like, and he would snap himself straight up in the bed. He nearly dove out of the bed headfirst a couple times but we managed to catch him and make him lay back down. He wrestled with the bedding and he sang without his lips opening up until I thought I was going to have to knock him out so I could get some sleep.

*sigh*....don't you wish you had moments like mine?