Omphaloskepsis  -

+ 5 - 0 | § ¶Health Update III: Pulmonologist

On Tuesday, September 27, I went to see my new pulmonologist (lung doctor). He did a few more than the usual number of stethoscope measurements, and checked the results of the sleep study and the lung function tests. After discussing the results with me, he said that I would need a BiPAP machine. I'd done a little research, and knew that BiPAP was different from CPAP, which was what I thought the nurse at the sleep study had talked about, but I didn't really know what the differences were.

The doctor explained that the first machine used during the treatment portion of the sleep study (the one that just went over my nose) was a CPAP (Continuous Positive Airway Pressure) machine... this was the one I had difficulty with. The BiPAP machine (the one that went over my nose and mouth) was the one I was more comfortable with. A BiPAP (Bilevel Positive Airway Pressure) machine has more advanced circuitry to use two different pressures of air... one while I breathe in, another while I breathe out. With CPAP, I was struggling to breathe out into a strong wind, but BiPAP relaxes the air while I'm exhaling to make it much easier on me.

The pulmonologist also prescribed me an inhaler for my asthma. The ER doctor, my cardiologist, and my regular doctor had all suggested that I need to lose some weight, and although I've tried adjusting my diet in the past, I've never really gotten too far into the exercise end of things, because of my exercise-induced asthma. Now, with the inhaler, I can use that just prior to vigorous exercise and I should be fine. This is both good and bad... good because I can exercise without worrying about an attack... bad because I have just lost my #1 excuse for not exercising. :-)

Anyway, after seeing the doctor, I went to see the nurse, to take care of getting the proper equipment ordered. Initially, the nurse I talked to was going to order a CPAP machine, since (she said) insurance companies won't usually pay for BiPAP unless it's been shown that CPAP doesn't work. But I explained the results of the sleep study to her, so she sent that information to the medical supply company, who called back a bit later to confirm that the BiPAP was covered in my case.

I was just about to leave (I was all the way out to my car and about to start it) when I realized that I hadn't been given an inhaler or a prescription for one, so I went back in. I checked with the nurse again, but since the doctor hadn't written down what type I needed and he was in with a patient by the time I came back, I had quite a wait before she came back. In all, I think I waited nearly an hour before she returned to the waiting room and called me back into the office area. She showed me an inhaler that was a bit different from the ones I've traditionally seen. With this type, rather than pushing down on something to make a mist, you just put one end in your mouth, flip a lid on top, breathe in and hold for about three seconds, then close the lid and pull the inhaler out.

End result: I got an inhaler, and had an appointment for a medical supply technician to come out to the house the following day to fit me for a mask and install the BiPAP.

davidh

+ 3 - 2 | § ¶Health Update II: Spirometry

On the morning of Friday, September 16, after finishing the sleep study, I went back to take the lung function test (spirometry) at Methodist. This was a more difficult procedure than sleeping. :-)

The technician started by getting some baseline numbers. I breathed through a measuring device in particular patterns (short puffs, blowing all the air in my lungs out, a deep breath in, and so on), just to get some baseline readings. During these baselines, I was completely sealed in a transparent plastic box. (Think River Tam from Firefly, except that I was awake, seated, clothed, and male.) But it was really after that that the fun began.

I was given a tube with a mouthpiece, asked to completely empty my lungs then completely fill my lungs by breathing in from the tube, and hold my breath for three or four seconds. This was repeated five times. Then I did more breathing into the measuring device to see how that solution affected my lungs.

The first tube actually had a saline solution in it, which was essentially a placebo to see if I had any change in breathing that was caused merely by the tube. After that, the technician (who I suspect was a jock when he was younger... not so much because of his build, but because of his attitude when I didn't "give it my all" on a particular breath) started giving me slowly-increasing amounts of some drug via the breathing tube (I think it was aerosolized methacholine) which was supposed to induce asthma if I had it.

I don't know what the units were (probably milligrams, micrograms, or parts per million), but I believe the first amount was 2.5. I used the device again, and registered a 14% drop in lung function from the baseline. This was notable, but asthma is only indicated if there is over a 20% drop.

The next amount, I believe, was 5. I took the test again, only registering a 12% drop from the baseline. The tech got upset that I was being inconsistent in my breathing effort. Alas.

I think the next amount was 10. Another test, and this time registered only an 11% drop from the baseline. The readings were very unusual, because if anything, the number should have been going down, not up.

Then the technician really bumped up the amount, this time to 50, which is about three times the total amount I'd had thus far. This one did it... my readings dropped about 22% from the baseline, past the 20% threshold, and with two nearly identical breaths I confirmed that it wasn't just a "weak effort" on my part, but actual impairment.

Thus, this part of the test was concluded, and the only thing left was to undo the asthma attack he'd caused. I got one last tube, this time filled with albuterol (a drug most commonly found in asthma inhalers), and did one last test which showed that my lung function was returning to normal. And that was the end of the procedure.

So the result is that it has been confirmed that I have asthma. I was diagnosed with exercise-induced asthma when I was a teenager, so in a way this was a re-confirmation.

davidh

+ 2 - 3 | § ¶Housing: Three's Company

Last Wednesday, Joe moved in. This makes the seventh Psi Phi member I've lived with (the others being my dad, Peter, Nate, Aaron, Joel O., and Josh). He's temporarily staying on the (very nice) couch in the basement, but I'm going to need to get the front bedroom cleaned out before too long.

He works a lot of overtime, so he's not home that much, but we get to hang out a bit in the late evenings. He also got an Xbox, which means I can play the games I own that I haven't been able to play since Aaron left last May (Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Buffy the Vampire Slayer (no subtitle), and The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring).

The rent money will also be a nice bonus. :-)

davidh

+ 2 - 3 | § ¶A Change of Status

Last night, Josh and I made a change to our relationship. To cover the extremes: No, we didn't get married, and no, I'm not kicking Josh out of the house.

I'd rather talk to my close friends about it individually before I post here exactly what the change is. I'm mostly posting this as a record of when it happened.

davidh

+ 2 - 3 | § ¶Two Birthdays

Last Saturday, Josh and I threw a birthday party for Xeen. He, Marisa, Joe, and non-Psi Phi member Jim came over and feasted on a roast, mashed potatoes, and birthday cake. Afterward, most of us played Star Trek Uno, a fun variation on the classic game that is enhanced with four "command cards": "Mind Meld" lets you see the next player's hand; "Double Tribble" makes the next player draw as many cards as are currently in their hand; "Live Long and Prosper" lets you re-draw your hand (with as many cards as you had before); and "Beam Me Up, Scotty" prevents either "Mind Meld" or "Double Tribble" from affecting you. Joe ended up winning, though I was a close second. :-)

Then, on Tuesday, I went over to Bloomington-Normal and visited my dad for his 50th birthday. Dad, my brother Dan, and I went out to Fazoli's for lunch, and had pizza (Dan: "It's your birthday, and you want to have the same thing you always have?"; Dad: "Yep.") and spaghetti. We returned to his house for a while; I ended up taking a brief nap, but we also talked for a while about this and that. In the evening, I accompanied the two of them to a Pre-Paid Legal Services briefing, where we watched some propaganda about how good of an idea it is to sell PPLS memberships. (Not that it's a bad idea or anything... I just wonder why people who are already associates (such as Dad and Dan) need to watch presentations on why they should become associates.) I'm already a PPLS customer (legal insurance really is as important as medical insurance), but I have no interest in becoming a salesman.

Anyway... when that was over, Dad and I left to go pick up the birthday cake. When we got to Sam's Club, we also found a delicious-looking pumpkin pie, so I bought the cake and he bought the pie. Then we drove over to Doug and Misty's new place in Le Roy (Doug recently got a promotion to manager of the gas station in Le Roy, which is about fifteen miles southeast of Bloomington-Normal), where we all had cake and pie. While we were there, they had on the season premiere of Nip/Tuck, which I haven't seen before... interesting storylines, but a bit too gruesome for my taste. I also got to share in the feeding of Alayna, which was both fun and messy.

Two fun events over two different days. I think people need to have more birthdays around here. :-)

davidh

+ 1 - 4 | § ¶Health Update I: The Sleep Study

[Entry started Friday, Sept. 16; finished Thursday, Sept. 22.]

I had the sleep study last Thursday night. It was a very interesting experience.

I arrived at the sleep center at Methodist right around 8:30pm, the time of my appointment. Josh and Xeen had accompanied me to the door, but I was quickly whisked away and ushered down a long corridor to the study area. In my room was a nice, soft bed, with adjustable head and foot angles, and an optional soft massage. There was also a table with chairs, a nightstand, a TV hanging from the ceiling, a video camera, and a large portable closet full of electrical equipment. I started filling out paperwork at the table, and watched part of the President's speech on TV.

After a few minutes, the nurse (actually, I'm not sure whether she was a nurse, a technician, a researcher, or something else, but for the sake of this entry, I'll just call her a nurse) came in and explained what was going to happen. I was told that if I showed certain signs in the early part of my sleep cycle, it meant I had sleep apnea, and they could begin treatment about halfway through the night. If I didn't show those specific signs until later, they wouldn't be able to start treatment right away because they'd need at least three or four hours to get good readings on the treatment's effectiveness. She also mentioned that I would be videotaped throughout the night.

There were about twenty sensors at various places on my body. Eight of them were around the top of my head; two more were on my face. There were several on each of my arms and legs, and a few more on my chest and stomach. These measured brain activity, heart activity, lung activity, and assorted muscle movements. An additional sensor was on a finger of my left hand, to monitor how much oxygen was in my bloodstream. What fun. They went on rather easily, though the glue in my hair felt kinda funny.

The lights were turned off right around 10:00pm. I would guess that it took me about a half hour to get to sleep.

Sometime in the middle of the night, the nurse came in and put an air mask on my nose. I woke up at this, and she told me to breathe normally through my nose, not my mouth. Well, I had difficulty with this... I didn't feel like I was getting enough air through my nose and kept breathing in through my mouth occasionally to compensate.

Apparently, I fell back asleep for a while, but I woke back up again a bit later, I again started to breathe through my mouth to feel like I got enough air. The nurse said that I didn't have any problem with the mask while I was unconscious, but when I was aware of it, I started to panic. So next, she tried a different mask, this one going over both my nose and mouth. It was a bit odd, but much better than the nose-only mask, and eventually I got used to it and drifted back to sleep.

When I woke up, sometime around 5:30am, the nurse said my readings had confirmed that I have obstructive sleep apnea. In a person with this condition, the air passageway in their throat constricts while they sleep, sometimes dozens of times a night, making their body struggle to get the passageway open again. While this does not necessarily wake them up, it does pull their brain out of the sleep cycle to handle the problem, which means they don't get the rest, regeneration, and repair that is supposed to happen during sleep.

Among the side effects of sleep apnea are daytime fatigue (obviously), generally diminished health (because the body has a diminished capability to repair itself during sleep), and depression. I've experienced all three (I was diagnosed with clinical depression a couple of months ago, though it seems I may have had it for a long time before that), and I'm hopeful that the treatment will help them all.

davidh

+ 0 - 5 | § ¶Health concerns

[Updated 2:40pm below]

Sunday evening, after returning from a visit to my mom in Normal, Josh and I watched a movie he'd rented, Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle. I thought it was a rather lowbrow movie, but I did laugh in places, particluarly at the horribly-done "riding the cheetah" CGI sequence. I ended up falling asleep downstairs on the couch around 11:30pm.

[Note: the following section is somewhat unpleasant, so you may wish to avoid reading it if you're eating or something.]

(more)

+ 1 - 4 | § ¶Eyes, Labor, Cars, Dentist, Dan, Rocky, and The Return

My pinkeye was cured a while back, though due to my incessant scratching at my left eye, there was a noticeable wound on the eyelid for a while. Fortunately, that's nearly gone now.

Josh and I went to a (Don't) Labor Day party at Joe's mom's house. We met a lot of interesting people, and Joe told many crazy driving stories from when he was 16 or 17.

We got the O₂ sensor fixed in Josh's car yesterday. But it's still got the donut tire for now, so its increased efficiency can't really be tested yet.

Another dentist appointment next Tuesday. Fun, fun.

(I might've already mentioned this at some point, but just in cast I didn't...) Dan will be moving to Carbondale, Illinois, rather than moving in with Josh and me.

Two of the new attendees at last week's Psi Phi meeting signed themselves in as Janet Weiss and Brad Majors. Somehow I suspect these are not their real names.

Josh and Marisa are on their way back to Peoria from picking Patches I up.

davidh

+ 4 - 1 | § ¶Patches I update IV

After thinking; soul-searching; discussing the situation with Josh, my mom, and Josh's mom; praying; and some more thinking, I came to a decision last night.

The tests that have been done so far have not revealed the source of the problem. One that was to have taken place today, which would've cost upwards of $800, had no guarantee of finding the problem, and even if it had, there would still have been the cost of the solution/cure to worry about. So...

Patches I will be coming home. If she is dying (though I truly hope she's not, and that whatever this is will pass, I'm afraid that it may be true), I don't want her to suffer, but I also don't want to have her killed prematurely ("put to sleep" is such a lovely euphemism for death, isn't it?). I will do what I can to make sure her last days are made as comfortable as possible, with love and attention and all of those tasty human foods that she enjoys so much.

davidh

+ 4 - 1 | § ¶Patches I update III

Saturday morning, Patches I still wasn't eating on her own, so we took her back to the vet along with Ronnie, who was scheduled to get his second set of booster shots. They advised us that we might have to take her to the veterinary teaching hospital at the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign, as they have more advanced equipment than any of the local vets. It would give us the best picture of what's going on with her, but it might also be rather expensive.

Well, I thought about it throughout the day, keeping Patches with me in the car as I ran some errands around town. I picked up a little KFC and tried to get her to eat something... she ate several little strips that I tore off the piece of chicken, and she lapped up some of the gravy on the lid of the gravy container. But all in all, it was still a very small amount of food for her. I decided to take her over.

Long story short(er), we left Patches with the UIUC vets, worried but hopeful. After we left, Josh referred to Patches I as "our cat" for I believe the first time (before, she had been "your [David's] cat"). Over the past few days of us taking extra care of her, Patches I and Josh have bonded with one another, and I think they each care about the other quite a bit now.

We've gotten updates over the past few days. Her bloodwork has shown a notable improvement since last Tuesday night, and she's been eating a little bit more on her own (though still not much). She's getting intravenous fluids, and they're going to perform an ultrasound this afternoon to look for abnormalities.

I miss her, and I hope to have her home soon, safe and healthy.

davidh

+ 3 - 2 | § ¶Doug's wedding

My youngest brother, Doug, got married on Friday. I'm so happy for him and Misty!

Before the ceremony, I acted as the unofficial Zoey wrangler (Zoey is Doug & Misty's older daughter, about 1.5 years old). She's really growing up quickly.

The ceremony was held in Fairview Park in Normal, Illinois, from 2:00 to about 2:30. The day was quite warm, and there was no shade, so I'm thankful it wasn't much longer. The minister was a bit offbeat, cracking a few jokes as the happy couple stood before him. Josh had volunteered as photographer, and he got several really nice shots, before, during, and after the ceremony.

Afterward, the guests mingled around the trees where there was shade. I talked to my dad for a while, and we got caught up on a few things. I enjoyed talking to him again.

Between the wedding and the reception, Josh and I went to a restaurant called Biaggi's [/be-AH-gheez/]. They're an Italian restaurant along Veteran's Parkway in Bloomington, and their food was very good, especially for the price. The waitress was very efficient and quite friendly. This was my first visit, and based on this I'll certainly visit again when I can. (When we left, I asked the waitress if their leftover containers were called "Doggy Biags" [/be-AHGZ/]. That got a good chuckle out of her. :-) )

I helped decorate the hall for the reception, which was supposed to start around 6pm. However, since the reception never officially "started" (i.e. nobody ever said "Hey, smokers, put out your cigarettes and come inside because we're about to begin"), things just sort of happened haphazardly, and a number of people just left at various times. There were a few "events", such as the cutting of the cake and smushing of a piece of it into the other's face, and the first dance by the new couple, but there was no structure to the event. Also, there seemed to be a consensus among the people I talked to (and to which I agree) that the music sucked. The head table, which I spent a good deal of energy getting set up and looking nice, went unused. But the reception was not about me... it was about Doug and Misty, and as long as they had a good time, I guess that's all that really matters.

davidh