Sleep study complete...

Now, we just await the results, and find out what's next.  I hope the sleep study comes back normal, but truthfully, it was hard getting to sleep that night.  I was super tired, but there were so many outside distractions that I usually don't have to worry about.  When I got to the hospital, it took about an hour to hook me up to all the wires.  I contemplated taking a pic, but decided not to…should have, it would have been funny.  There were wires everywhere.  I had adhesive everywhere!  They had about 4 or 5 wires attached to my head, 2 on each leg, some on my chest and abdomen, and about 6 or 8 on my face and neck…weird.  I remember thinking, "how am I supposed to sleep normally in this contraption of wires?"  I started falling asleep quickly, but outside, I could hear a barking dog.  I mean, it was in the 30s; who leaves their dog outside all night when it's freezing?!?!  I felt so bad for him.  Also, I could hear the train coming through.  Finally, I was able to sleep.  Once I fell asleep, I slept pretty well.  Or, as far as I know, I did.  It's weird having a camera staring down at your bed.  I guess the word of the day is 'weird', lol.  At 6am, she woke me up to get ready to go home.  Really?  I couldn't sleep in?  I think that would have helped the study, really…but anyway, I got dressed, filled out a survey about my night of sleep, and came home.  I thought that since it was 630, I'd go back to bed.  So, I climbed in bed, and as soon as I did, I heard, "hi mama"…Rianna was up…she's an early bird.  

The sleep study tech said that the sleep specialist will go over my results within 5 to 7 days, analyze them, and determine if I need to come back for a further test.  If everything was normal, I have to go to my cardiologist and see if she can figure out what's going on.  Last night, I worked, and I had a few (quite a few) heart palpitations.  I figured it's because I was moving around a lot last night, and I'm off my heart meds, which slow down my heart rate.  So maybe that was the problem.  I felt fine, I just had the fluttering in my heart and got a little nervous.  

Also, I'm debating on whether or not to post pics of my zipper scar, from new to now.  I'll let y'all know what I decide.  

Oh, by the way, I need to shout out a very special message to my baby boy.  HAPPY 7TH BIRTHDAY GAGE!  MAMA LOVES YOU SO VERY MUCH!!!!!  I bought him a super large cupcake and of course, he couldn't finish it.  But it made him happy!

Another setback

Dr. Lane's nurse called me today.  She received the EKG printouts from the telemetry people and she saw some "pauses" that are questionable.  So what I have to do is put the telemetry monitor back on for 30 more days, go off all my heart medication (the Metoprolol and Amiodarone), and go for a sleep study.  I have no idea why we need a sleep study done.  I called Cardionet, and I still have to send the equipment back bc it's been deactivated.  Then Dr. Lane has to reorder it, and they will resend it back out.  I'm so aggravated…and scared.  I am so exhausted over all this…I'm hoping that the meds are the culprit for the pauses, and then maybe I can just quit taking those permanently, but I'm not holding my breath for it…

I really hope that it's not anything too serious.  I don't know how much more I can take.  So here I am, waiting for the doctor to call back, find out when I have to go for the sleep study, and finding out what's going on.  I have to go to Trinity Hospital overnight, and I hope it doesn't interfere with work or school.  I don't need anything else to get in the way of school, bc something always does.  

Ok, well, I am going to do some googling or skimming through old anatomy texts to find out why I am needing this sleep study, bc I don't like surprises or suspense, and I will update when I hear something else.  

News!!

The telemetry monitor is gone!  Whoo-hoo!  I'm currently not attached to anything.  It deactivated this morning, and I'm totally happy.  Now, my doctor reads the EKGs and then determines if I need the defibrillator implanted.  I doubt I will, bc I didn't need to record too many "events" during my long 30 days of wearing it, just the occasional arrhythmia, and we all have those.  So fingers crossed that she doesn't see anything questionable, and that I can basically be free from tests, besides my annual echoes.

Next step-hoping my skin heals well after all these sticky electrodes have been on there for 30 days, 24/7…ugh!  I'd have to stick them in different areas, but in about the same region every day, and there are not many different areas on my chest and ribs that they can go.

After 2 weeks in the hospital with their telemetry on me 24/7 besides shower time and x-rays, and 3 months with that portable defibrillator, and now these last 30 days of the telemetry monitor, I am Fa-reeeeeeeeee!

I am super duper happy (I know, who says duper anymore, but whatever), and just wanted to share it with everyone…small news can be good news.

In case anyone was wondering, this is what it looks like:

                                                       thanks google images

Now, this handsome devil is not me, I'm a girl, but this is what the system looks like.  I had that cord around my neck for 30 days, the 3 electrodes and wires on my body every day, and that little awesome 90s-esque cell phone looking thing in his hand?  Well, that was attached to my hip…fun stuff…

Cardionet is the provider of this telemetry system, and the customer service was pretty awesome.  What was cool is that they sent out about 30 or so batteries, bc the batteries had to be changed every, single day.  The monitor thingie had to be charged a lot.  One of the things I hope they improve on is the monitor.  It lost its charge within a few hours, and lots of times, I couldn't recharge until I got home.  And they also could, and I think they did, improve the stinking size of it.  We have little iPods, and now iPad minis, but this huge thing?  Actually, I saw a recent pic of what their newer machines look like, and I was thinking, "why the heck did they send me something so huge and dated?"  Apparently, I'm not special enough to have received the more convenient one.  So, to end, I'm super happy that I got rid of it, the customer service people were pretty helpful and nice, but the actual monitor itself left something to be desired.

So, yeah, happy dance for me!