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...specifically bariatric surgery. He said my sleep would not improve markedly unless I lost at least 80 pounds. He said that since I’ve had such limited success with conservative weight loss in the past, and my BMI is over 40, I’m a good candidate for bariatic surgery, and the sooner the better.

Ever since I actually researched what a gastric bypass surgery was, I was horrified. And I also know of two people who had family members pass away on the operating table during the procedure. I have two people that I’m close to have the lap band surgery in the past 2 years, and both have had great results. But do I really want to pursue surgical options? My insurance will cover the great portion of it…in fact my portion would be cheaper than 6 months on Weight Watchers. Dr. Eye said he has a bariatric surgeon that he recommends, and would give me his contact information at my next visit.

Oftentimes, I’ve wondered if my body was the major trial I was given in this life.