When does it get better?

 

My mom and I spent a long time on the phone this morning because I think we are all slightly flummoxed by the less than favorable outcomes of my last two surgeries.  The goal at the beginning of this summer was to get my bowels taken care of so that I would not constantly be in the hospital with bowel obstructions and then one additional surgery to take care of one of my reconstructed breasts that is oh so pitifully painful.  As you can tell, things NEVER go according to my plan.

Yes, this is actually what I do!

After I had the bowel resection/lysis of adhesions I finally felt great but had to IMMEDIATELY address the issue of the “big ugly ovary”, it has been removed.  Since the second surgery I have been miserable with a lung infection that will not go away and the issues with my stomach continue to be a nuisance.  I had not planned on being back on a soft food diet so soon, but here I am…unable to eat regular food again.

So, after two major surgeries that happened and two minor surgeries that got cancelled (one for my bladder and one for my boob) I am officially unable to keep up with the following daily activities in my life: eating solid food, peeing, pooping, breathing, and having a pain free chest.  HMMMM….this is probably not great.

My pulmonology appointment got changed due to Frankenstorm Sandy and I cannot get back in to see him until late next week.  I kept explaining to his scheduling secretary that I needed to see him this week to get a better nebulizer or inhaler as I had a 50 Kilometer race this weekend.  She kept trying to tell me not to run…let’s repeat that for the folks in the back row, SHE kept TRYING to tell ME, NOT to RUN???!!!???



There will be lots of running, which is basically the same thing!


Needless to say my response did not win me any star patient points nor did it get my appointment moved up to this week.

So THIS is the crux of my rant…

Why is it that if I were to lay down on the sofa and say “I can’t breathe fix me” I would get seen in under a week but when I run everyday while coughing up handfuls of bloody mucous I cannot get an appointment?  If I really wanted to see the pulmonologist it seems the perfect plan would be to take up smoking again and do a lot of not moving to get my lungs good and goopy.

Or the lady at Aetna who continuously explains that they will not cover orthotics for my shoes unless I have a diagnosis of diabetes, I’m sorry Aetna lady but my healthy diet and continuous exercise are specifically designed to combat my hereditary predisposition to diabetes and heart disease (FREAK), obviously my badass healthy diet and exercise did not work on the myriad of other genetic health issues I have but I do what I can where I can.

When the Aetna lady won't stop talking...

My abdominal surgeon is another funny one, after my surgery he was AMAZED by my ability to heal so quickly (practice makes perfect sir), but also by how much of a BEAST I am.  He said I had six internal hernias that would have sent any one of his patients crying to the emergency room but I only showed up when I had an out and out bowel obstruction (there were no false alarms or maybes when I finally would get to the ER, I was always MESSED UP).  He kept asking me what I was doing for pain control that whole time since I refused to take pain meds (honestly I don’t take them because I cannot run when I’m on them…I’ve tried, they make me run slow and stumbly), I was all an a$$hat… “I don’t know Dr. I guess I’d just go for a run or something when I was in pain.”  Given his reaction to that statement, I think he is still kind of laughing about it a little bit.

My general concern is that as a community and a nation we preach exercise and nutrition but our healthcare industry does not cater to those who follow this ideology.  (Life insurance companies certainly do, so we know that it IS in fact possible to identify and monetarily quantify risk factors and behaviors.) 

Given the state of healthcare today, we may as well. 
It's actually the only way we'll get an appointment.

So, any bets as to what I get dealt next?  I’m kind of afraid and might just sleep with two eyes open…

Have you ever been put down for exercising too much?

Eating too healthy?

Do you feel like we cater to those who lead an unhealthy lifestyle and just expect the exercisers to stay healthy?