Word: mcmahon
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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Stakes says that this patient has the worst case of apnea he has seen in "quite a while," and the lab technician. Margaret A. McMahon, agrees. McMahon monitors the sleeping patients, making sure that the readings are of the highest available quality...
This evening, the chest movement monitor has been strapped on the man incorrectly so that the graph is not as clear as it might be. Shortly after midnight, McMahon goes into the room followed by Stakes, to adjust the strap around the patient's chest. It needs to be moved further down his body because he appears to be breathing less with his chest than with his abdomen...
...McMahon will spend the rest of the night making sure the patient is still wearing all of the mechanical devices he should be and recording his blood's oxygen saturation reading Displayed on a digital readout, the oxygen saturation measures how efficiently the body is inhaling and distributing oxygen. A normal saturation is around 95 to 97, but this patient's seldom exceeds 80, and drops as low as the low 40s during apnea episodes McMahon noting the reading every few seconds, will mark it in felt-tip pen as the paper rolls along...
Sleep apnea victims are "the most difficult patients to monitor." McMahon says, jotting numbers constantly. She seems unperturbed by the continual struggle going on in the darkened cubicle. The only sounds are the scratching of pens on paper and the occasional bushed voices of the doctor and the technician...
...McMahon says her favorite type of patient to monitor is the victim of "sleep terror," the "most interesting and scariest" disorder she's seen since she began to train as a technician at Mass General 13 years ago. Such a patient will awaken from non REM (rapid eye movement) of non dream sleep, in terror for no apparent reason...