Sleep apnea update

I saw my pulmonologist on Thursday for the first time in more than one year. Overall, I'd say the visit was a positive experience and I am very glad I made the appointment. I'm tired a lot, sluggish even, and there's no reason to be tired at 9 a.m. when I've slept six to eight hours the night before unless it's my sleep apnea working its magic.

Here's how the visit went.

"Weight is not everything"

I'm sure my doctor does not remember me, which is fine. He sees, what, dozens? hundreds? of visitors each year and I am just another person passing through. I say this because we had the same conversation Thursday as we did in December 2007, the last time I saw him. He asked me how I lost the weight and I responded through diet and exercise. Then, he said "You didn't have surgery?" and I said no, that I exercised a lot and still do.

He told me that it was great that I had dropped the weight but that my sleep apnea probably did not go away because "weight is not everything." I can attest to this because I'm tired nowadays like I was back in the day before I experienced the wonders of the CPAP.

Sleep Study Soon

I'm supposed to get a call on Friday from a local sleep clinic. I will schedule a sleep study when they call, hopefully sometime early next week. I need to get in and go through with it so the doctor can get the results back quickly and I can get my new CPAP, which I am expecting to happen anyway.

I've had a sleep study done before. If you haven't had one, I'll explain. It's like you are a guinea pig in an experiment. First, you are strapped with all sorts of wires on your forehead, chest, arms, back. Then, you are fitted with a mask. I had to watch a video afterward as well. Finally, you are taken off to your own room, which isn't private though. There are monitors so the medical staff can see you in action. The first half of the night you sleep normally, without any mask. At midnight or thereabouts, you are woken up to put the mask on and then go back to sleep. At around 4 a.m., they wake you up and kick you out... okay, that's harsh but if I wake a guest at my house up at 4 a.m. and ask them to leave, I'd be kicking them out.

Vitals

My blood pressure read 144 over 78. I think the 144 is a bit high and the 78 is good-to-average. Not sure what it means. I weighed in at 189.6. I was happy because it was less than 190. Why was it less than 190? Because I changed out of my jeans and put on some shorts and a light shirt. Had I gone in my jeans, I'd have weighed 191-something and would have freaked. Also, I had lunch about 90 minutes before so I expected the weight to be a bit higher than it was the last time I weighed myself, at the gym recently.

Also, the nurse who took my blood pressure told me my heart rate was 49. I was excited! She said that was kind of low, then measured it with her hand and watch. She confirmed it. As we walked toward the exam room, I told her that I wear a heart rate monitor when I run and that my resting HR is usually at about 60 or so. Then she said "Well, you are in good shape so 49 isn't too low."

Long-Lost... Something

My last name isn't that common. Once, when I substitute taught for a high school class I had a student with the last name Bueno. Another time when I worked as a teller, I had someone come to my window named Bueno. The nurse who admitted me today was named Bueno. She was the third non-family Bueno I've ran into in my life. Strange!