"I'd go to Lincoln to visit my daughter and I'd have to pull over by the side of the road to fall asleep because I was so tired. I would come home from work and the first thing that I wanted to do was fall asleep," said Cech.

So Ann agreed to go to the Sleep Disorders Center at Midlands hospital. Under a doctor's direction and the watchful eye of a video camera, Ann settled in so the experts could figure out why she was tired all the time.

"What we're looking at is to see if their sleep is disrupted," said Dr. Harvey Hopkins. "A normal person will go to sleep at night and go through various stages of sleep. People who are tired all day long often will have disruption of what we call sleep arcitechture. I've seen people waking up as often as 150 times an hour without knowing it."

Find out more about Dr. Hopkins.

And that's what was happening to Ann. She was actually choking in her sleep. A mask that keeps her airway open solves the problem. Now, no more restless nights.

"I began to realize what I've been missing, what I used to be and what I could do, that I could socialize.  I could get out and be a normal person again," Cech said.

Normal now means drinking coffee because she enjoys it, not because she needs it to stay awake.