Answer?
OK, I went to the doctor... the wrong doctor. Last Tuesday I got a call from a nurse that said she was from the Morristown Medical Center and she set an appointment for me to meet with a doctor at their facility today at 2pm. So, today at 1:30PM I left work and went over to the morristown medical center to meet with the doctor. The nurse weighed me in (2lbs down in 2 weeks.. but who gives a shit) and took my blood pressure (higher than last time). Then I sat on the table on the paper and waited. 20 minutes later the doctor comes in and says I'm at the wrong place. She tells me that I had an appointment with Dr. Epstein at the sleep center and that I had missed the appointment and had to reschedule. Furious. So, I get up and run over to the sleep center, take the elevator to the 5th floor and go talk to the receptionist. I tell her my deal and she says that I "probably have to rescedule my appointment." This is where I took a page out of my FC training and said, "I'm not going to reschedule. This is very important to me. I will wait." I was firm and told her exactly what I expected. She then spoke with the doctor and told me that it would be a few minutes to sit in the waiting room.
The waiting room was the same place I watched the video the last time I was there. I sat down accross from a man who must have weighed 400lbs (with a beard... I'll explain later) and read a copy of Time magazine (which I don't like at all) until the doctor came in and got me. He stands a solid 5'3" and couldn't have weighed more than 115lbs soaking wet. He is TINY. So I sit down with him and I expect a 10 minute "this is what's wrong, this is what we're going to do about it" but I get a very different treatment. We sat and talked about a ton of different shit and then he weighed me and took my blood pressure again. He also made me breath fast, hold my breath, listened to my breathing, tapped on my knee with that little rubber mallet, and then went back to talking. It was at least an hour before he took out my results. As it turns out, he said I do have sleep apnea, but I'm borderline. As in it's not so bad at all. Now I'm sweating. Is my lack of motivation and my constant sleepiness just part of who I am? I really thought my greatest fear throughout this whole process was going to come true. Then he went right back into questioning.
He said, and was the 5th person to tell me, that alcohol made this whole thing worse. Finally I had the balls to say, "So if I want to be a healthy and happy person I have to stop drinking 100%? I don't think that's fair. There has to be something else stopping me from sleeping besides the beer I'll drink every so often." "Well, I have more questions for you first."
We went over stuff like how much I exercize, how much I sleep, what I do for a living, my family, and all sorts of other shit that had some connection to the situation at hand. Finally, we got to solutions. He told me that because my sleep apnea was not severe, it might not be the sleep apnea stopping me from resting and asked me if I had ever been diagnosed with any psycological problems. I said no, and he changed the subject. There are 3 options he proposed. He said surgery is difficult, doesn't work, and is not something he'd persue. As I've said, I was hoping that would be the solution, but he really didn't think it'd help. Then there is a mouthpiece similar to the one I wore playing football that would move my jaw foward while I sleep and stop my fat neck from closing up, but it costs a grand, must be paid for up front, and doesn't always work (especially because of the way my teeth are situated according to the Doc). Option 3 is the CPAP mask. He told me like this, if I come back and run another test and the mask fixes the apnea problem, I go home and get used to it over a couple weeks, and I feel like a new man then I can say with certainty that the apnea is the problem and we can try the mouthpiece. If it doesn't work, then the apnea's not the problem.
Uh oh. If it's not the apnea, do I just live with it? Well, I didn't get a chance to ask that question because he was rushing me out the door. When he was filling out a prescription for someone else I got a second to ask, "So, if it's not the apnea, do I just have to live with it?" "No, it's blabalagblabalaglakhsgasdfklhg nagoiaghaogihdna;' ang;'sdklgyhagoh and it's very common among healthy young females. In that case, we use medication." So, from my research, I'm either a middle aged, overweight man with a fat neck or a healthy young female. Interesting. I don't know which one is worse.
I have no idea what to think at this point. All I know is that I have to go back on December 5th for another sleep study only this time I wear a CPAP thing on my nose while I sleep. It seems like one way or the other I'm going home with a CPAP machine, I don't see why they didn't just order me one today. I guess they want to know for sure that it's going to work first.
When I was setting up the next study I tried to use a little charm on the ladies I was short with before and it worked. I was being nice to them and when she said december 5 I was like, "That's the earliest? Are you sure you couldn't sneak me in a bit earlier?" "Well... we have a ton of cancellations, would you want to be brought in earlier on short notice?" "I live on the other side of the green. You give me 7 minutes notice and I'll run over and sleep here instead." "OK, I'll let you know." So hopefully I'll get in early, but it looks like the saga continues to the 5th of December.
In other news, I left my cell phone on my desk and didn't want to go back at 5 and get it. I am always expecting a call, but I rarely get any, so it's really bothering me that I don't have it. The people I want to hear from are normally on AIM anyways, so I'll just have to do my chatting online tonight. I do enough on the phones as it is I guess, but it's KILLING ME that I can't reach out and grab my phone. I need 100% availability 100% of the time or I feel like I'm going to miss something. bleh.
The waiting room was the same place I watched the video the last time I was there. I sat down accross from a man who must have weighed 400lbs (with a beard... I'll explain later) and read a copy of Time magazine (which I don't like at all) until the doctor came in and got me. He stands a solid 5'3" and couldn't have weighed more than 115lbs soaking wet. He is TINY. So I sit down with him and I expect a 10 minute "this is what's wrong, this is what we're going to do about it" but I get a very different treatment. We sat and talked about a ton of different shit and then he weighed me and took my blood pressure again. He also made me breath fast, hold my breath, listened to my breathing, tapped on my knee with that little rubber mallet, and then went back to talking. It was at least an hour before he took out my results. As it turns out, he said I do have sleep apnea, but I'm borderline. As in it's not so bad at all. Now I'm sweating. Is my lack of motivation and my constant sleepiness just part of who I am? I really thought my greatest fear throughout this whole process was going to come true. Then he went right back into questioning.
He said, and was the 5th person to tell me, that alcohol made this whole thing worse. Finally I had the balls to say, "So if I want to be a healthy and happy person I have to stop drinking 100%? I don't think that's fair. There has to be something else stopping me from sleeping besides the beer I'll drink every so often." "Well, I have more questions for you first."
We went over stuff like how much I exercize, how much I sleep, what I do for a living, my family, and all sorts of other shit that had some connection to the situation at hand. Finally, we got to solutions. He told me that because my sleep apnea was not severe, it might not be the sleep apnea stopping me from resting and asked me if I had ever been diagnosed with any psycological problems. I said no, and he changed the subject. There are 3 options he proposed. He said surgery is difficult, doesn't work, and is not something he'd persue. As I've said, I was hoping that would be the solution, but he really didn't think it'd help. Then there is a mouthpiece similar to the one I wore playing football that would move my jaw foward while I sleep and stop my fat neck from closing up, but it costs a grand, must be paid for up front, and doesn't always work (especially because of the way my teeth are situated according to the Doc). Option 3 is the CPAP mask. He told me like this, if I come back and run another test and the mask fixes the apnea problem, I go home and get used to it over a couple weeks, and I feel like a new man then I can say with certainty that the apnea is the problem and we can try the mouthpiece. If it doesn't work, then the apnea's not the problem.
Uh oh. If it's not the apnea, do I just live with it? Well, I didn't get a chance to ask that question because he was rushing me out the door. When he was filling out a prescription for someone else I got a second to ask, "So, if it's not the apnea, do I just have to live with it?" "No, it's blabalagblabalaglakhsgasdfklhg nagoiaghaogihdna;' ang;'sdklgyhagoh and it's very common among healthy young females. In that case, we use medication." So, from my research, I'm either a middle aged, overweight man with a fat neck or a healthy young female. Interesting. I don't know which one is worse.
I have no idea what to think at this point. All I know is that I have to go back on December 5th for another sleep study only this time I wear a CPAP thing on my nose while I sleep. It seems like one way or the other I'm going home with a CPAP machine, I don't see why they didn't just order me one today. I guess they want to know for sure that it's going to work first.
When I was setting up the next study I tried to use a little charm on the ladies I was short with before and it worked. I was being nice to them and when she said december 5 I was like, "That's the earliest? Are you sure you couldn't sneak me in a bit earlier?" "Well... we have a ton of cancellations, would you want to be brought in earlier on short notice?" "I live on the other side of the green. You give me 7 minutes notice and I'll run over and sleep here instead." "OK, I'll let you know." So hopefully I'll get in early, but it looks like the saga continues to the 5th of December.
In other news, I left my cell phone on my desk and didn't want to go back at 5 and get it. I am always expecting a call, but I rarely get any, so it's really bothering me that I don't have it. The people I want to hear from are normally on AIM anyways, so I'll just have to do my chatting online tonight. I do enough on the phones as it is I guess, but it's KILLING ME that I can't reach out and grab my phone. I need 100% availability 100% of the time or I feel like I'm going to miss something. bleh.
posted by NJX70 at 5:19 PM
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