I'm a Bit Discouraged

Hi, everyone I'm trying my best to have the gastric bypass surgery before school starts, but it seems that's not going to happen anytime soon. My sleep apnea test is not until August 8, and the pulmonologist is not seeing me again until August 24; summer's going to be over by then and we go back to school!!! I'm sooooooo frustrated right now I could cry. I thought I was doing so well with all of my other appointments being scheduled for the same week, and now I'm at a standstill. My surgeon won't see me either until he has all of the test results in. The sleep center where I'm having the test done has different locations in New Jersey, and I'm wondering if I have the option of choosing which location I want to go to. Actually, when they called me today for the appointment they assigned me to a location which is closer to me, but at this point I don't care if I have to go to the Moon as long as this test can be done much sooner. I would be wasting two weeks of precious time doing absolutely nothing. Does anybody have any suggestions for me?  The pulmonologist's office called me early this morning to tell me that I needed to have an ultrasound of my left leg, done. When I had my second child, 13 years ago, I ended up with a blood clot in my left leg which landed me in the hospital for 6 days. A week after I had the baby I had a bad cramp in my left calf that wouldn't go away. I thought it was just a bad cramp, but it turned out to be DVT, deep vein thrombosis. That wasn't fun and I was in pain and bed ridden for 6 days. As soon as I received that call, I immediately scheduled an appointment to have that done, and I was able to go in this morning at 11:00 a.m. You see, I am on top of things and doing everything in my part to speedy up this process, but can I do now with this sleep apnea test scheduled for next month? Nereida

hi nereida i truly believe that everything happens for a reason -- slow down and just go with the flow -- your stress level will kill you :)  i wanted surgery as soon as possible -- started in june 05 -- started the 6 month diet and was in a car accident -- ok that's cool -- then i was looking at the begining of 06 -- ended up having medical treatments -- not just 1 or 2 treatments -- that would have been too easy!! 28 weeks worth of treatments starting in march -- was approved in june 06 -- scheduled surgery for october after my treatments -- slow down again -- was anemic still from my treatments -- no surgery yet -- had to wait until november 06 -- so much for thinking i was having it at least 9 months earlier haha  but looking back -- i'm glad it was slowed down -- it gave me time to research the surgery some more -- i was able to get more knowledge from the people here on the board -- i watched my husband go thru the surgery in may 06 -- when it was my turn i breezed right thru it -- i knew what to expect -- and it was good for me  i hated waiting!! i was planning things around my vacations -- i was doing the dr appts and all -- and YES i was frustrated!! but what could i do? not a dam thing but educate myself some more -- and that is what i did -- it was out of my hands on when i could schedule anything  so i feel your pain and frustration --  but it's happening for a reason -- the best of luck to you :)  take care roberta

Roberta, thanks for your words of encouragement. My frustration stems from the fact that I have two months vacation where I can have my surgery done, and now I'm going to have to use sick days to get this done. I would hate to be out of work so soon after returning from summer break. I won't even have time to set the tone in my classes with the students. It's this sleep apnea test that's making me pull my hair out. Nereia

yup i can understand that!! i was already out on medical leave when i got my approval -- think i could have won out and had it then??? NOPE!! had to use sick time and vacation time -- and i work with people with developmental disabilities -- i hated to go back to work the middle of july after 3 months and then be out again at thanksgiving for a couple of weeks -- i felt like it really threw my guys for a loop -- here she is -- nope she's gone -- here she is again -- then i applied for a better position and left the day program in january -- there she goes again :) and i didnt' have much hair to pull out after my medical treatments lol i'm VERY grateful it's growing back in now :) good luck to you :)  Roberta

Roberta, you're too funny. You made my day. Come what may. I'm going to call the doctor's office on Monday and ask if I can have this test done at a different location, if not, then I'll just take everything in strides. I've read so many posts in this forum where people have had the surgery done in such a short amount of time, and I've read where people have had to wait forever to have it done. I should've started all of this much sooner, but I didn't decide until May. I was so scared to go ahead with this and that's why I kept putting it off, and now I kinda regret the fact that I took so long to make up my mind. Nereida

I agree with Roberta - everything happens for a reason.  I found out Wednesday that the day I thought was going to be my RNY surgery is actually going to be my hernia repair date.  I will have to wait at least six weeks to have the RNY.  I also agree that using the time to learn more about the surgery is a great thing to do. I feel I am going to be much more successful because I know what to expect. 

do u have any history of sleep apnea?? i refused to go for that test for much the same reason, the scheduling would have backed me up for two months.  i ended up just having a pulmonary function test, and the docs were satisfied with that. i dont know your medical history, so maybe u do need the sleep apnea, but look into it. so much is up to the insurance companies too.  mine did not actually require that particular test. also, im not sure which pulmonary doc u are using, but i switched docs during the process, because the first one i went to wanted to send me all over creation for tests i did not need, including to a cardiologist, where i had no issues that required me to see one.  his answer to my question of why i should see one, was well you are 57!  that was a really stupid answer in my book, and i went back to my surgeon (dr. noyan in hamilton) and asked for the name of another pulmoary specialist. well anyway, good luck and you keep pushing these docs, they can be a royal pain. but please, if u do have any real issues, get them all checked out before surgery, because u want to come thru this with flying colors and healthy, which is very important. hugs and good luck, jacki

You see, that's the thing. I don't know if I have sleep apnea or not, but I think I do. I remember one time not too long ago, when my oldest daughter actually put her finger underneath my nose to see if I was breathing. She woke me up and asked me, "mom, are you breathing?" I wake up in the middle of the night for no apparent reason, I'm sleepy during the day (sleepy enough for me to take loooong naps during the day) many times I wake up with a headache, and I snore big time. The test is being requested by my surgeon, not the pulmonologist. I don't mind getting this test done. It's the long wait that's making me miserable because I want this done before summer's over. That's my dilemma. Nereida

im so sorry, but if your surgeon thinks you should, go for it. but, phone around and check with your insurance, maybe u can find someone who can perform the test sooner. hugs, jacki

Hi Nereida,       I don't know where you live but I live in central jersey and had my sleep study done at St Peters. I had an appt. within a week. I actually had to have 2 sleep studies. The first one was to confirm that I had sleep apnea and the second one I was put on the c-pap machine to see if it lessened my episodes of "not breathing". I don't want to be the bearer of bad news but that may be something that you will have to do as well. Check around and see where you can get in and if your ins. will cover it. Best of luck. If I can help anymore....just ask.                                                                        Judy