Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Organ Recital

This is an actual picture of my chest x-ray today

At age 7, I started seeing a dermatologist for eczema

At 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:

Hizzeather said...

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!

Lori said...

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

Mary P said...

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)

Nicole said...

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!

Anonymous said...

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!?

lynsey said...

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.

Lori said...

My email is lab121600 at hotmail dot com...feel free to email any questions you may have.

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