The Good News (for a change)

I saw the sleep/pulmonary doctor yesterday. The purpose of the appointment was to go over test results. Again, she spent a lot of time with me - over 30 minutes.

First she went over in great detail the results of the breathing test. As she was showing me the numbers, she wondered aloud why she has wanted me to have this done. I reminded her about the two CT scans of my chest. She turned to the reports and reviewed them affirming that is indeed what prompted her to ask me to have this test.

The results of my breathing (pulmonary function) were all great. My lungs are functioning excellently. On one of the tests that determines the function of the smallest tubes in the lungs, the result was 85. They repeated this after having me inhale some medication. Now 85 is an excellent reading of functionality. After inhaling the medication, it increased to 98. Also excellent. She said it shows there may be congestion in the airway, but that it did not impair breathing or function.

Her conclusion was that if at some point I require surgery to remove the nodule in my lung, the lungs are healthy and functioning perfectly to withstand surgery.

Next we looked at the results of my sleep test. Again, she showed me the graphs and numbers and explained it all in great detail. I wonder if she is this thorough with all of her patients. I wonder if this approach is because she is part of a teaching hospital. Or perhaps it is just because I am such an excellent complier using my machine 100% of the time that she is so thorough.

During the period I slept without the machine, I did not not ever get into deep sleep. I had about 24 apneas per hour. My oxygen level never dropped below 88%, but did hover there while I had no machine. This is a huge difference from my original test, where I stopped breathing 100 times per hour and my oxygen levels dropped to the heart attack zone.

For the portion of the night where I slept with the machine, I also had about 25 apneas per hour. I did get into the deep sleep three times, twice on my side and once on my back. My apneas were no more frequent on my back than on my side ( this is a positive). They kept me at a steady pressure of 8, with no exhale help, the entire time. My oxygen levels stayed high.

Her conclusion is that I have a mild case of sleep apnea now. Although she does not guarantee losing additional weight will completely cure it, she says there are skinny people who have sleep apnea too, she thinks my chances are good, in the amount of improvement I have shown so far.

Another issue was I had a certain amount of leg movement, which cased me to wake up. She said it is not a lot, and could be caused by low iron, low B12, so she sent me for blood work to check my levels.

There was a lab in the next building, so I went right from her office to have the blood drawn.

Unfortunately, she did not have the results of the CT scan of my chest which was done on Monday. She said if I do not hear from her by the middle of next week to call the office so they can follow up on getting the results.

All in all I felt happy with this appointment. The news was all good for a change. The health issues discussed were all improving, which is one of my main goals on this healthy lifestyle journey I am on. As long as I can see some light at the end of this long tunnel, I can continue on with determination. Thank you all for your support and prayers.