More medical mysteries unraveling 5


Today I had what I thought was the last in my 2-month string of 16 doctor appointments. It was with the cardiologist/sleep doctor to hear the results of my sleep study and echocardiogram.

I brought Alice and she was WONDERFUL! She was 100% relaxed the entire time. She was just chilling out in the pouch and loving all the pets I was giving her while we were waiting.

Before the appointment I told Brad that I really hoped I had nothing wrong with me on either front (sleep or heart), but if there was something wrong it could only be one thing, right?

WRONG!

On the sleep front, I stop breathing 5 times an hour while I’m sleeping. Apparently, this is not beneficial to my health, so I need a CPAP machine. The doctor gave me a referral to the person who does CPAP fittings, and they will be calling soon to schedule an appointment. Luckily he’s not going to make me do another sleep study just yet! If the CPAP they give me works OK on the automatic setting, then I don’t need another sleep study. But if it doesn’t, then I will have to have another sleep study done to titrate to the right pressure setting. Let’s hope it works on auto!

On the heart front, my ejection fraction is only 45%. Normal is 55% and above. This could mean I have a blockage or weak heart muscle. But it could also be nothing and just a bad reading on the echocardiogram. So that means I have to have a stress test. I am really not looking forward to the stress test! I don’t know if I’ll be able to even complete it due to my hips and feet. They said the stress test will take 2 hours with a 45 min break in the middle. I’ll have to walk on a treadmill a lot. I already can’t walk more than about 15 minutes without my hips and feet hurting, so I’m really not sure what’s going to happen with this.

I am not allowed to wear a dress, and I can’t have my kombucha for 24 hours before the test because it has caffeine. I also can’t eat for 4 hours before the test which is hard because I normally eat every 3 hours. Brad isn’t allowed in the room with me, and I don’t think I’ll be in any shape to be minding a dog while doing the test, so I’ll have to have Brad wait out in the waiting room or van with Alice (she is nicer to hold in your lap than Hestia who stomps around a lot).

So it looks like I’m adding even more appointments onto the books. The stress test is next week, then the CPAP fitting is sometime whenever they schedule it. I see my rheumatologist in a few weeks as well. The follow up with my cardiologist/sleep doctor isn’t until August, though, since he is going on vacation. They said if my stress test shows anything urgently wrong, they’ll schedule an appointment with one of their other cardiologists, though.

We got a couple of pictures while waiting for the doctor to come into the room. The first picture shows me and Alice. I am a heavier woman with brown curly hair wearing a rainbow mask and a pink dress. I have a rainbow service dog pouch with tiny sable and white Alice the Japanese Chin inside. In the other picture Brad is in his power wheelchair wearing orange pants, a black jacket with an orange sleeping fox lapel pin, an orange scarf, a tie with orange foxes on it, an orange hat, and a mask with hamburgers and hotdogs on it.


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