Preop bump in the road: Diagnosed Sleep Apnea

May 14, 2014

I was really starting to get nervous and afraid  and hopeful as my list of insurance hoops dwindles. I thought I was down to only needing the  psych consult and one more month of medical weight management before if was time to submit to insurance. But when I checked my messages last night, I found one from the sleep center asking for a call back at my earliest convenience. Utoh! When I called today the word from the pulmonary doc's staff that the results from my sleep study were in and 1) had sleep apnea  2) and a needed a second sleep study to determine the proper settings for my CPAP machine. No one told me about this second study might be a possibility.

So, I am a little bit upset... No one on my medical team (but me) is surprised at this diagnosis, both the surgeon and the pulmonologist both said they would be very surpized if I didn't have it, but i expected a mild case, nothing to be really concerned about  and hey, what's one more co-morbidity to convince the insurance company that my sleeve is required.  But now I am looking at having to sleep on a machine plus there is now a new requirement for insurance which is something called compliance which I have to demonstrate for a month. I think this diagnosis is early enough if I get the second sleep study in quickly to have a month to demonstrate compliance to contemplate surgery in July.

In a way it will be interesting to see how much fatigue I am suffering because of the apnea and how much is attributed to other causes. I had attributed it to long days 12 hrs 5days a week and age (58) but now I have to face up to the fact that the apnea is a contributing factor.

So, i guess it will all workout. thanks for listening.

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