Yeah, so we’ve hit a snag. I was trying to have all my doctors appointments for pre-surgical testing done before November 6th, when I’m supposed to see the nurse who runs the surgical program. If I could have everything done by then, we could have moved up my follow up with the surgeon, and bumped the surgery up to the end of November, rather than the first week of December.
However, after seeing the pulmonologist, we have hit a snag.
The good news is, he read my results from the sleep study, and while I do have mild sleep apnea, its so mild as to not need treatment. (Apparently, there is a numerical scale of apnea. 1-5 is none, 5-whatever is apnea and depending on how bad it is, the number gets higher. I scored something like 5.6.) What little apnea I do have should clear up as I lose more weight. This is good, very good. It means that for the most part, I breath while I sleep!
The bad news is, the doctor says I have a wheeze, and he wants to treat that before he clears me for surgery. Apparently, 8 years of smoking is bad for you! Though he says it might not be from the smoking – I did have asthmatic bronchitis at least once as a kid, and I was notorious for wheezing when sick.
He has me on two different inhalers to try and fix things. They are: Advair Diskus 250/50 (fluticasone propionate 250mcg and salmeterol 50 mcg inhalation powder), which I take before bed and when I wake up. The doctor also said to make sure I rinse my mouth out after I take it, or I can get oral thrush! Isn’t that fun? Since I’m allowed fruit or yogurt every day, I’m going to opt for the yogurt, just in case. For added fun, this inhalor makes my mouth dry and gives me a headache.
The second one is: Maxair Autohaler (pibuterol acetate inhalation aerosol), which I take whenever I detect a wheeze. This one makes me feel nervous and dizzy, and oddly hyper.
I can’t blame anyone but myself of course. I was the one who chose to smoke. I’m quitting, but its hard…I *like* smoking. I just don’t like the not breathing well part. So yeah, I’ve been good with the quitting. Hopefully the fact that I’m no longer smoking will help me get this wheezing under the control by my two week follow up appointment.
Other than that, things are going well in the pre-surgery area of my life. I’m doing well with the diet, and tomorrow I have an appointment with the nutritionist for a weigh in, to check with her how the optifast is going, and to talk about what I need to keep doing.
I’m also going to get a stress test at the cardiologist’s office. This time I’m going to check if he’s married – that is one hot piece of cardiological ass. He’s also funny! And, totally did *not* freak out when I copped to smoking pot. He even joked with me about how uptight my surgeon is (he knows him).
Anyway, I should try to actually get some sleep before this thing. My sleep pattern has gotten whacked out while staying at my parents this week. I’ve been staying up late watching crazy movies I downloaded, and working on my sewing. (Yes, I am an old lady. No cats however, since they fuck with the sewing). I’ve also been pretty…I won’t say depressed, because it not depression, but sort of sad. I’ve been stupid about boy, and I hate that. My date earlier this week sort of made me realize that. I had an ok time, but wasn’t all that interested. It just made me realize that the whole time I’ve been single, since Franklin broke up with me, I hadn’t really met anyone who caught my eye when it comes to the idea of warm fuzzies and a relationship that was more than hot sex and friendship. Bah. I’ll just stick to writing about my weight loss here.
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