I survived the sleep study last night, although I am quite grouchy. Nothing that we were told yesterday occured last night. My questions to the PA; Me - if I can't sleep can I get up. PA - yes, by all means. Tech - no you must stay in bed, the doctor wants you in bed. Me - my back hurts can I sit up. PA - yes, if you are hurting you won't be able to sleep. Tech - the doctor wants you to stay in bed. Me - what is the plan for tonight. PA - half of the night you will spend sleeping without your CPAP, then the other half you will spend with the CPAP on so we can determine the correct amount of air flow. Me to the Tech - when are you going to turn on the CPAP. Tech - oh you don't meet the requirements for the CPAP. When can I leave in the morning. PA - around 7:00 they will get you up and feed you breakfast. Tech at 5:30 - your done you can leave now.
The lesson I learned between yesterday and today is that the yellow brick road leads into and out of the Land of Oz. So far we have not seen the wizard, I am told there is a wizard here somewhere, but so far he is missing and is still hiding behind the curtain. There is hope, I am supposed to meet with the wizard at 10:30 but I really think it will just be the PA again. I am about ready to start walking up to men and asking them if they are the wizard, Marc is not in favor of me doing this though.
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Mayo
It seems like we have been running races today. The first appt. was at 2:30, I met with a young, very tiny, Asian woman, I think she was a physicians assistant. She went over my paperwork with a fine tooth comb. Then I watched a video (yeah hah) about sleep apnea. I had blood work drawn and am now getting ready to go back for a sleep study tonight. At the very least the doctors think my meds are all messed up and want to change them around. She said they think I have chronic insomnia (like I haven't heard that before) and hypersomnia. This is pretty funny when you think about it because hypersomnia means you are tired throughout the day. Duh! I am tired during the day because I don't sleep at night. I guess if you put a big name on something it makes it better. I have a couple more follow up appts. with the sleep dept tomorrow and then we will go sit in the Spine Treatment area and see if they will fit me in. On Friday I will see a doctor in the Arthritis dept and then hopefully we will be back on our way home.
What lesson did I learn today, just because you work at a big fancy hospital and have a big fancy degree doesn't mean you know it all, it just means that you work in a big fancy hospital and have a big fancy degree.
What lesson did I learn today, just because you work at a big fancy hospital and have a big fancy degree doesn't mean you know it all, it just means that you work in a big fancy hospital and have a big fancy degree.
Humility
We made it! What we thought was going to take us only 8 hours actually took us a little over 10. I was only able to drive for about an hour but as luck would have it, it was blowing snow and there was ice on the road. Marc is exhausted and he is sleeping like a baby. That man is too good to me. So the countdown at this point is 8 hours, let the magic begin. They're going to fix me, right? Isn't that what we came here for?
Anyway, I wanted to talk about the life lesson "humility". As I was raising our family I prided myself on being a fairly decent cook and really used to like to cook. One day right before Jacob's birthday I asked him what he wanted for his birthday dinner and he thought about it for a minute and he said chicken friend steak and my lumpy gravy. I asked him what he meant and he said nobody else's gravy had the big lumps in it like mine, and that's what he liked. At first I was a little taken back and tried to explain to him that gravy wasn't supposed to be lumpy. He didn't care what it was supposed to be or that my gravy was lumpy, he just wanted it because that was what he liked. His favorite meal is still to this day - chicken fried steak, mashed potatoes, and lumpy gravy.
Humility is the quality of being humble: modest, not proud, self-abasing. The lesson I learned is that you shouldn't be so proud that you can't make your son lumpy gravy and pretend you do it because that is how he likes it not because it is a mistake.
Anyway, I wanted to talk about the life lesson "humility". As I was raising our family I prided myself on being a fairly decent cook and really used to like to cook. One day right before Jacob's birthday I asked him what he wanted for his birthday dinner and he thought about it for a minute and he said chicken friend steak and my lumpy gravy. I asked him what he meant and he said nobody else's gravy had the big lumps in it like mine, and that's what he liked. At first I was a little taken back and tried to explain to him that gravy wasn't supposed to be lumpy. He didn't care what it was supposed to be or that my gravy was lumpy, he just wanted it because that was what he liked. His favorite meal is still to this day - chicken fried steak, mashed potatoes, and lumpy gravy.
Humility is the quality of being humble: modest, not proud, self-abasing. The lesson I learned is that you shouldn't be so proud that you can't make your son lumpy gravy and pretend you do it because that is how he likes it not because it is a mistake.
Monday, February 22, 2010
Countdown
Well, it is less than 24 hours until we leave for Mayo. Do I have high hopes? You bet! Maybe they will be able to help me at least cut down on the meds.
Anyway, the lesson I want to talk about today is soup. Soup is good and it is good for you. I made myself a solemn promise in October that I was going to make one homemade soup every week until it warmed up outside. So far so good. Last night I made Cheeseburger Soup, pretty good. Not as good as the Taco Soup I made a while back. I like making two batches of soup at one time, one to eat, and one to freeze for later. There is just something about cutting up the ingredients and the smell... Just reminds you of growing up and having mom in the kitchen stirring something good. Today a young lady from the foster care system came by the house to inspect and tell me about the program, the first thing she said was, "oh, it smells good in here, what are you cooking?" I wasn't cooking anything it was from last nights soup. Impressed, I think she was. Anyway, we passed the home inspection, first step of many. So during those times when you are missing home, your parents, fighting with your siblings, think of soup.
Anyway, the lesson I want to talk about today is soup. Soup is good and it is good for you. I made myself a solemn promise in October that I was going to make one homemade soup every week until it warmed up outside. So far so good. Last night I made Cheeseburger Soup, pretty good. Not as good as the Taco Soup I made a while back. I like making two batches of soup at one time, one to eat, and one to freeze for later. There is just something about cutting up the ingredients and the smell... Just reminds you of growing up and having mom in the kitchen stirring something good. Today a young lady from the foster care system came by the house to inspect and tell me about the program, the first thing she said was, "oh, it smells good in here, what are you cooking?" I wasn't cooking anything it was from last nights soup. Impressed, I think she was. Anyway, we passed the home inspection, first step of many. So during those times when you are missing home, your parents, fighting with your siblings, think of soup.
Sunday, February 21, 2010
Medical Information
Paperwork! I have been filling out paperwork for the past couple of weeks for Mayo. It appears that each dept. has their own paperwork they want filled out. So paperwork! I want to share a lesson that I learned the hard way. When my mom's health got to the point that she needed someone to go to the doctor with her I realized that her doctors NEVER talked to her other doctors. Instead of going through her records to find some piece of information they expected her to know. At that point I started taking notes at each appointment. I also asked for a list of the medications that she took so I would know if they were giving her something she wasn't supposed to take. I can't tell you how many times that information I had, kept her from having the wrong medication given to her or having to have blood work or medical tests redone. By the time my dad got sick I knew that I had to do the same thing. I am not saying that mistakes are made by the medical community often, I am just saying that you need to everything you can to make sure that NO mistakes are made. Shortly after that I put together my own medical notebook with the following information in it.
Demographic Information
List of doctors you see with address and phone number
List of medication (I use an Excel spreadsheet so it can be changed or updated as needed)
Medication Doctor prescribed med Date started Dated stopped Reason why
List of medication I am allergic to and what the reaction to the med was
List of medical tests Date done Dr. ordered the test Result of test
List of blood pressure Pulse Oxygen level Date
Weight Date
Paper for notes and questions
Section to add information given
Section about family medical history
I know this sounds crazy but when I go to the doctor they don't even refer to their computers with all of the information, they ask me for the information. God forbid you should ever have a serious medical issue, but if you do this notebook would be a valuable tool.
The lesson I have learned from the medical field is this, don't count on them knowing everything about you, take responsibility for your own medical needs and it could literally save your life. One of the women I work for just put her mother in a nursing home. The mother has all of her cognitive abilities and is very sharp. Before she went into the nursing home she had her doctor list all of the medications she was on and write down what each medication looked like. Last week one of the nurses took her the meds and there was a strange medication. She refused to take the medicine. The nurse got angry and said she was going to report her to the charge nurse. She told her that was fine and she was also going to report her to the charge nurse. Her mother took her list with the description to the charge nurse and proved that the nurse was wrong. The nursing home made her apologize to the mother. Who knows what the medication was they were trying to make her take and what ill effects it could have had.
Please take responsibility for your own health, you are your own best advocate!
Demographic Information
List of doctors you see with address and phone number
List of medication (I use an Excel spreadsheet so it can be changed or updated as needed)
Medication Doctor prescribed med Date started Dated stopped Reason why
List of medication I am allergic to and what the reaction to the med was
List of medical tests Date done Dr. ordered the test Result of test
List of blood pressure Pulse Oxygen level Date
Weight Date
Paper for notes and questions
Section to add information given
Section about family medical history
I know this sounds crazy but when I go to the doctor they don't even refer to their computers with all of the information, they ask me for the information. God forbid you should ever have a serious medical issue, but if you do this notebook would be a valuable tool.
The lesson I have learned from the medical field is this, don't count on them knowing everything about you, take responsibility for your own medical needs and it could literally save your life. One of the women I work for just put her mother in a nursing home. The mother has all of her cognitive abilities and is very sharp. Before she went into the nursing home she had her doctor list all of the medications she was on and write down what each medication looked like. Last week one of the nurses took her the meds and there was a strange medication. She refused to take the medicine. The nurse got angry and said she was going to report her to the charge nurse. She told her that was fine and she was also going to report her to the charge nurse. Her mother took her list with the description to the charge nurse and proved that the nurse was wrong. The nursing home made her apologize to the mother. Who knows what the medication was they were trying to make her take and what ill effects it could have had.
Please take responsibility for your own health, you are your own best advocate!
Saturday, February 20, 2010
The Countdown
The countdown has started, only three more days until we leave for the Mayo Clinic in Rochester. I am a little nervous but filled with a nervous energy. I have such hopes for what they will be able to do for me. One of the things that makes me a little upset is that people don't realize how serious not sleeping can be for people. The other night on the news they were talking about how many diseases they have linked to people with insomnia; heart disease, obesity, cancer. I have now been up since 1:15 and didn't go to bed until 10:30, you do the math. The few people I have told (other than family) that I am going to Mayo act like they don't get it. Comments like, "a lot of people don't sleep" and "what are they going to do there your doctor can't do here". Obviously if my doctors here were doing something I wouldn't be going to Mayo. The Lesson I have learned from this is to keep my mouth shut, it is my business and no one else's. Actually this lesson applies to almost everything in life, I wish I could follow it.
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