Greg wrote:
Mortimer, I just read the AOPA site again, It says that weight loss
is not an acceptable treatment for sleep apnea. How did you get away
with that one?


I don't know. I don't have sleep apnea any more. I'm told I snore loudly at
times but I don't stop breathing. I don't fall asleep during the day. Anyway,
my medical history is quite involved and it might have gotten lost in the
details. I'm not inclined to bring it up.

Maybe the FAA feels guilty for screwing me out of 15 years of flying because of
their unreasonable requirements. Back in 1990, I was asked to submit to a
cardiac stress test because of something they saw on my EKG in Oklahoma City.
Nobody here saw anything wrong with my EKG. But pleading did no good. I didn't
have the money for the test... I was working as a cargo pilot and was living
hand to mouth. I just walked away from the industry and went to nursing school
instead.

To make a long story short, I was being worked up for surgery in 2003 and had
another EKG. This one was abnormal and suggested I'd had a heart attack
sometime in the past. (You'd think I'd have noticed something like that.) That
led to a stress test (TA DA!!!!), this time paid for by my HMO. That led to a
heart cath where the cardiologist pronounced my coronary arteries completely
clear.

I've been a multi trauma and have had (I think) 18 surgeries... mostly fixing
fractures with hardware, I&Ds (cleanups), multiple skin and bone grafts, a hip
replacement and a gastric bypass. I was being treated for the sleep apnea,
hypertension, and non-insulin dependent diabetes.

Screw 'em.... I walk without a limp, take no meds for anything, and I'm back
flying again. I'll never do it for a living again since I've found a more
lucrative line of work but I do get to go every so often.

I think I just beat them down.


--
Mortimer Schnerd, RN
mschnerdatcarolina.rr.com