Mayo Clinic: Trip 2, Day 2

Today started by picking Dad up from Mayo a little after 7 when the sleep study was done - which he informed me he DID NOT LIKE! After a break, we headed back to see Dr. Staats for the results and interpretation of the sleep study. Dad does have sleep apnea, but not the typical (Obstructive) S.A.; he has what they call Central S.A. What this means was that a typical S.A. machine (which they used on Dad for the last half of the night) actually made his S.A. WORSE. His S.A. displays a breathing pattern which is usually shown by patients with a certain type of cardiac dysfunction. So, Dr. Staats wants Dad to follow up with his cardiologist so he can investigate this further. In the meantime, Dad has to use a VPAP machine when he sleeps, which should help to even out the breathing, and follow up in 8 weeks. Next, we went to have a CT scan of the sinuses, which luckily didn't take much time at all. Then...the waiting game. We had to wait until 5:00 to see an ear, nose and throat specialist, so we went about wasting 6 hours around Rochester. We then saw Drs. Fama & Pallanch. They both looked into Dad's sinuses with a scope, and asked several questions. Then came the surprise...they both said that the sinuses look good, and the previous surgery appeared to have worked. They prescribed an antibiotic rinse, and suggested that Dad get a local ENT who could run cultures each time Dad gets a sinus infection, and to continue on the prescribed therapy that Dr. Lim has him on. We were expecting, per Dr. Lim, that they were going to give a steriod injection and suggest surgery. I love it when doctors are contradicting!!! So, we shall see what progresses in the next 8 weeks.