Pulmonary exam and Liver Shrinking Diet

I had an appointment with the pulmonary doctor today and he cleared me for surgery.  He seemed to think that I was having some issues breathing so he gave me an inhaler that I have to use twice a day.  I made an appointment to come back in three months.  Now, I don't feel like I have any respiratory issues,  I get winded if I climb more than one flight of steps or if I really exert myself exercising (doesn't happen very often, don't worry) but, in general I feel fine.

I had never been to a pulmonary doctor before so I didn't know what to expect as far as testing.  I had to take a copy of my Chest X-rays and I figured he'd listen to me breath and that would be it.  But NO, that was not it.  The nurse came to get me, I was weighed and my height was measured  then she had to take blood.  I can't remember exactly what she called it but she said something about gasses ... testing my blood for oxygen levels I guess?  Anyway, they have to take the blood from an artery in your wrist.  It HURTS!  I don't think it hurt because of the nurse, but just because it's a painful place to be stuck with a needle.  My whole wrist hurt for a few hours afterward.

Then I was taken to a room where the nurse measured my breath intake.  This part was horrible.  Whoever came up with these tests should be forced to sit with a clothes pin on their nose while breathing through scuba gear for the rest of their life.  I had to put a clip on my nose and put some kind of mouth piece in my mouth and breath through a tube.  Who can breathe like that?  They didn't just test normal breathing, you had to take a deep breath then then force it out or let it out slow.  While doing these tests I was sitting in this round thing which closed up kind of like a phone booth.  I was  getting that claustrophobic feeling so I think that is why my test scores were kind of low.  I will take the inhaler like I'm supposed to though, I just really don't think I need it.

The doctor also told me to start using my C-Pap machine again and to take it to the hospital with me.  I really hate that thing.  I hate having all that crap on my face.  How do people sleep like that, I could never get accustomed  to it so I stopped using it but tonight I will set it up and try again. 

So, 10 days until surgery ... I'm excited and a little scared.  I'm worried about waking up with that breathing tube crammed down my throat.  I started the Liver Shrinking Diet on Sunday.  I kind of half did it on Saturday too but Sunday was the first full day of it.  Sunday wasn't too bad but I started getting a caffeine withdraw  headache about 9pm and it stayed with me all day Monday.  I got some good rest last night though and today I feel better.  Monday I was hungry all day so today I had a protein shake for breakfast (Monday I had jello) and that helped so much with making me feel full.  When I was weighed at the doctors office today I had lost 6 pounds since my last visit on Dec. 30th, assuming the scales work the same.  I'm going to count that in my total pounds lost, seems fair right?