So after we returned home from KFC after the nuclear stress test, I was so exhausted that I fell asleep shortly afterward. I realized I was either seriously out of shape or something wasn’t right, be it with my heart and of course, the damned thyroid.

I thought I would have to wait until I follow up with the cardiologist on the 18th but I got the results online yesterday and it shows no blockages or arrhythmias. But I do have a heart ejection fraction rate of 87% which shouldn’t be over 70%. This means my heart is beating a little too hard, but I doubt she’ll think it serious enough to need medication. It definitely could explain why my heart seems to pound at times. Sometimes I’ll be aware of my heart beating and think it’s racing when it’s not. I guess this can be caused by the heart muscle between the chambers being too thick. The question is how much can it contribute to my fatigue.

Picked up the CPAP machine and mask yesterday. There were three mannequin heads displaying 3 different masks and I chose the minimal one with the smallest mask and fewer straps. He was worried at first that he wouldn’t find one small enough for my tiny nose but he got one and showed me how to use the machine.

I wasn’t able to sleep with it last night and I don’t think I’ll ever get used to this mask. I might have to try something else. It’s too hard to exhale through my nose with it and my ears kind of pop when I swallow. Maybe a full-face mask would be my best bet. I asked Andy, and he doesn’t have any problems exhaling with it. I just might not be able to sleep on my stomach with one. I’ll have to take the guy’s advice and practice wearing it while I’m awake and getting the hang of how to breathe with it. I thought it would come as naturally as breathing without it and that my worst problem would be getting used to sleeping with the thing on my face. I didn’t realize the air pressure would be as strong as it was, and that was on the lowest setting. It automatically adjusts in your sleep. It’s also louder than I thought which would make a good sound machine as long as it wasn’t changing in pitch erratically.

Back to having more burning where I pee and flank pain despite taking a probiotic yesterday and Replensing before bed. Really hope I’m not looking at yet another problem! He really wants to start looking for work this month, and he can’t do that if I have to keep having one appointment after another.

The dishwasher is working again. It was our fault for not keeping up on it and cleaning the filter. He steamed off the gunk that was blocking the sensor and then got some Affresh tablets like what we used to get for our front-loading washer in California. This seemed to do the trick.