Going Somewhere . . . Finally

Well...I haven't been on in a while. I had some bad news and instead of depressing everybody on here I decided to take a stand. So here is what happened.

After my sleep study I was soooo excited to be done with all of my requirement for my surgery. I celebrated until about 4 days later when I got my results. They were normal. I have mild obstructive sleep apnea (which just means that I am so fat that it blocks my breathing when I sleep and I stop breathing for short amounts of time) and hypoxia (low O2 saturation in my blood when asleep, they don't know why it happens). The sleep lab report said that I need oxygen when I sleep. Fine, I can adjust to this. I faxed these results to my advocate and called her to make sure that she had gotten them. When I talked to her she said that she had gotten them and that Dr. Schlessinger would require me to be on oxygen for at least 6 weeks before he would allow for insurance approval. I was devastated. I cried that I was being put off again.

The next day I went to see Travis, my PCP. I have been having more problems with my abdomen, I had a seroma, fluid buildup, and he wanted me to keep an eye on my temp and if I got over 99 degrees, I had to go see my surgeon, Dr. Greco, again to make sure the infection had not come back. Another hit. If I have another infection I have to have the mesh that was used to repair my hernia removed. Major surgery, recovery and my DS would be put off until cleared from my surgeon.

So I decided to act. I had been taking an antibiotic for a respiratory infection and knew this could help if I was starting to get another infection from the mesh, bonus. And I called and made an appointment with Dr. Schlessinger, it was time to get things straight from him and let him know all the not so professional things my advocate had been doing. I also had an appointment with the pulmonologist and spoke with him about getting on oxygen at night, but he decided that I needed to be on a CPAP machine. This forces air into my nose at night so that I don’t stop breathing at night when I sleep. I have to have another test to get the titration(?) for the CPAP. So we got scheduled with the hospital.

I went in for the titration test at Summit, not White Mountain this time, and did another test that was exactly like the test I had before, no CPAP was used. I asked about it and the tech said that I had to do a split night first and that the titration would come in the middle of the night. After another sleepless night I got up with no CPAP at all, all night. I was a little upset and asked the tech about it. He said that I did not have my first apneac episode until 3 am and it was too late to get a titration. I thought that meant that I would not need a CPAP. Yeah! Not so.

I called my pulmonologist’s office and let them know that I had completed the test and that I had not gotten titrations because they had done a split night. This made the nurse mad. They did the wrong test. It was the exact test that I had done at the other hospital. Agggh. I wonder who prayed for me to have patients, well I am getting a major lesson right now. So we got things cleared up with the hospital and scheduled the correct test for June 1^st.

I went to see Dr. Schlessinger and spoke to him about the advocate and he told me that I was on the right track and told me that I was almost there, I had to get him a copy of one of the tests that I had back in December and get the titrations to him. He also wants me to be on the CPAP machine for 4 weeks before the surgery and then I was set. I have felt so much better since seeing him. So I am back on track for my surgery. WooHoo. I don’t want to get too excited yet.

Sleep Study

So I completed my sleep study test last night. It is kind of a joke. First off, I had to sleep at the hospital. I don't really sleep well when I am not in my bed. I even took a Benadryl before going in. I had to be at the hospital at 9:00 p.m. I arrived a little early and got to read a little. When I got back the room it was larger than I had imagined, there was a full size bed. I changed into my jammies. The tech came in and hooked me up to all kinds of wires. Ok tell me on what planet can a person that has major problems falling and staying asleep, get to sleep hooked up to a bunch of wires? She even put a sensor in my nose. Well let me tell you, I did not sleep. I dozed a little, you know where you are aware of your surroundings, but not totally coherent, and yet not all the way asleep. When I finally got to sleep all the way, the tech came in and said that my O2 sats were low, in the 70 and put me on oxygen. Now remember I already have sensors in my nose, now I have a nasal canula for oxygen as well. Yah, I’m gonna fall asleep now. I tossed and turned and when I finally fell asleep for the second time of the night, it was 5:00 a.m. and time to go home, or in my case work. So again I ask. How is this test relevant at all? How can my sleep be observed if I did not sleep at all. Well, I have major episodes of my oxygen dropping into the low 80s and high 70s for most of the night, but the tech said she did not observe any signs of apnea. BUT I have now completed my entire requirement for my surgery. I just have to wait for my Dr. to receive the Sleep study results, put in for insurance approval and schedule the surgery!!!!!!!!!

ANYWAY . . . I just want to tell everyone that I did something amazing for Easter with my kiddos. We went to El Morro, or Inscription Rock. It was really cool. I had gone once before with my Aunt Lisa when I was about 10. It was neat to see it again and to take my kiddos and hubby too. But I also did something really amazing for me, I hiked the whole thing. It is a 2 mile trail that goes up a 200 ft. rock and comes back down. I know can you believe that. Well you better, I have pictures.



At the top of El Morro