I was hoping that this appointment I was scheduled to have today would magically light a path towards solving all my health problems. So it wasn’t exactly thrilling to hear upon arrival that my appointment had been canceled, and the ENT’s office was assumed to have told me.
Apparently this appointment was simply so the pulmonary specialist could decide whether or not I needed a sleep study, but the ENT had already decided I needed a sleep study, so the additional appointment was deemed redundant.
It would be nice if someone had explained this to me.
Well, at least it saved me the copay.
While I was there I arranged to have my most recent labs faxed to my mom, and I also set up the appointment for the sleep study, which won’t be until October 19 because my insurance has to approve it first. Grr.
So I have to wait another month for a clue into what the hell’s going on.
After that abbreviated visit I went to see Laurie, who recently left my workplace to become the executive director of a nonprofit. She’s very into heart issues, and when I explained my symptoms, she said she wanted me to see a cardiologist. She also said I should fire my GP and get someone who will really be an advocate for my health. (Laurie’s very passionate, which is why her nonprofit is going to go far.)
I left with a couple of names to look into, which I will. Feeling like crap all the time is starting to get old.
Before I went to the appointment that turned out to be canceled, I went through my blog and Twitter for the past two months to get an idea of my symptoms. It looks like I really only started feeling horrible in September. In August I was still functioning normally, though things were going downhill, and occasionally I would have the exhaustion/shortness of breath that has come to plague me.
It is definitely possible that the ridiculous heat and the lack of air conditioning at work compounded whatever issue I was already having. I know that for the entire summer I had been having trouble breathing, and I even had a time when I woke up gasping for breath, but it was an isolated incident. Maybe several things are all going on at once, feeding on each other as they work to destroy me.
Woo.