This is an actual picture of my chest x-ray todayAt age 11, I was diagnosed with asthma
At age 16, I had my first ulcer
At age 19, I was hospitalized for a kidney infection
At age 20, I gave birth to my daughter. During that hospital stay, I was exposed to e. Coli in the hospital, went septic, and into ARDS. I was on a ventilator in the ICU for 3 weeks. At the end of the hospital stay, I developed a blood clot in my arm (from fingertip to armpit) and went on anticoagulation therapy for 6 months
At age 21, I had my first migraine and started immunotherapy for allergies
At age 23, I was diagnosed with hypersomnia and sleep apnea
At age 28, I was diagnosed with polycystic ovarian syndrome
And I've basically been overweight since birth, despite numerous dedicated attempts to reduce my weight
Today I went to my new pulomonary/sleep specialist. I have been having terrible sleep luck since October. Usually, I miraculously get by with only 4-6 hours of sleep per night, typically interrupted. I can only recall a handful of times I've gotten more than 7 hours of continuous sleep in 4 months. I've been snoring like a lumberjack, much to my poor husband's dismay. I've also been feeling sick for a week, and was told on Sunday at Urgent Care that it was "just a cold." I've been huffing my inhaler every few hours for a couple of days, and it was a stroke of luck to get into a pulmonologist so quickly.
I did my H&P wth the PA, did a pulmonary function test, had two chest x-rays, and met with "Dr Eye" (his last name starts with "I" but I can't remember his actual name). He said that I've got a pretty advanced case of bronchitis, and he was surprised that I was still working with it this bad. He reviewed my old sleep records, suggested that I resume CPAP therapy, and scheduled me for another overnight sleep study. He also strongly urged me to look into some surgical options to improve my overall health.
Oftentimes, I've wondered if my body was the major trial I was given in this life.
7 comments:
Oh honey...I'm so sorry! I have stupid health issues too, but yours take the cake! I hope you can figure stuff out with the sleep study!
Hi! I'm one of your blog stalkers...hope you don't mind. You're welcome to check my blog out. I actually found your blog thru my friend, Hollie, in SLC. She'll vouch for me - that I'm not a scary person!
Anyhow, I wanted to comment because my full-time job is performing sleep studies. I would be more than happy to answer any questions you may have. Good luck with the CPAP study. No one deserves to have only 4 to 6 hours per night of broken up sleep. Gotta get that resolved.
http://burtcher.blogspot.com
And I thought my health issues were bad!
Still, I understand what it's like to go to doctor after doctor and not get better :(
Feel better!
Re coid, ~Mary (quoter of word verifications)
Lori - no need to be a stalker anymore, now we can be friends. That's crazy that you're friends with my AUNT Hollie (she hates when I call her that) She had left me a cryptic message that she had a friend stalking me, now the mystery is solved. I'd definitely like to talk to you about sleep stuff. This will be my 5th sleep study in 5 years.
Heather and Mary...here's to good health!
Hi Nicole,
You sound like me! Hehe. I have spent more time in hospitals than most people have had hot suppers!
PS This is partner of a pilot, but I can't seem to comment on your blog lately!?
sorry to hear about all you've been through...especially when you had your baby! that must have been pretty terrible. my dad's had apnea for years & has to use the CPAP. the only good thing that's come of it is his ability to sleep sounding like darth vadar & our ability to make jokes about it.
"C Pap sleep."
"C Pap run."
etc. i know, they're lame, but it helped him feel better about it all!
best of luck to you.
My email is lab121600 at hotmail dot com...feel free to email any questions you may have.
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