Wednesday, May 27, 2009

The Wait

Ok, I know it has been a while since I have posted and I have a lot to catch you up on. Right now, I am waiting for the Insurance Company to get back to the Dr's office with either my approval or an initial denial. I turned my case over for submission on May 15, so I am not going to call the Dr until Friday.

What has happened since the last time I wrote, well, a lot. On March 9th, I was poked, prodded and pictured. I had most of my testing done on that day. It started with my checking into the hospital for out-patient procedures. My first appointment was the lung test. I had to prove that my lungs were strong enough to handle all the ventilators.

Then the ABG test. Ouch. That is the Arterial Blood Gas test. The stuck a big needle into the artery on my left wrist. The actual taking of blood did not hurt, it was the pressure stopping the artery from bleeding out into my arm that hurt. I mean really hurt. I had a bruise there for over 2 weeks.

Then I had to wait for my turn with the X-rays. I had to have three chest x-rays. That was not painful at all, but the wait was well, you know. The final test of the day was a quick EKG. It took longer to set me up that to actually run the test.

I as in and out of the hospital in under 3 hours. And I took the day off of work for this? Well, I got to go walking, took myself out to lunch and then enjoyed a nice nap in the afternoon.

That ended almost all of my testing. I had blood work to do, and another lung test. Both were done at the ACL clinic in Erie. After all my testing and meetings and doctor appointments, I feel really good about this decision. Now it is a waiting game.

I have been trying to keep active in the process. I am walking almost every day. Either at our local zoo (I have a membership) or out at Presque Isle State Park. When I am at the zoo, I am doing about 35 minutes and around about 1.5 to 1.75 miles. The peninsula walk is 2.2 miles in 45 minutes. Thank goodness they track their paths.

Well as soon as I hear something, I will let you all know. I promise.

Till then, take care.