Just a wee update:
1. Weight holding at 219; ergo diet about right; under 2000 mg sodium by half most days
2. Ambling around the house sans cane
3. Went up and down the few steps into our great room with aplomb
4. Drove the Mazda to the repair shop in Logan on Monday
5. Sleeping prone (no angle) for the first time in many years and getting near 8 hrs a night
6. Going through entire days without naps
7. Getting stronger every day
8. Looking forward to the cardiac rehab workouts!
It's all good!
Wednesday, June 29, 2016
Monday, June 27, 2016
grayson and janet's not-so-excellent adventure
Well faithful followers, an eventful week has passed. Let me first provide a couple personal details that I am not sure appear earlier. When I had on 25 lbs of water weight at the beginning of the current crisis, I was 262 lbs. Today a few weeks later, I am 219 lbs (and in total absence of muscle tone). You do the arithmetic. I am putting some weight back on though eating less than 1800 cals per day. I have been a little dehydrated and the heart failure team has upped my daily H2O to 86 oz which I am not doing. I am finding it easy to do the 2000 ml--around 67 oz though and usually end up the day near that. I don't recommend my experience as a way to lose weight! I am probably rehydrating, accounting for some of the weight gain.
We drove to SLC last Wed to attend my first clinic in the Cardiac Failure unit there at IMC in Murray UT and stay the remainder of the week in SLC with Lisa.
I am really impressed with the people I have met there. But I have bamboozled the clinic. They have dc'ed all but one heart med--a nasty, side-effect laden drug called amiodorone. In addition, I am on a coumadin-like drug called Eliquis (see the TV ads). I take a staten still and now a sleep aid called trazodone at bedtime. Myself, I have discontinued the boat load of supplements I had built up over the years. Life is simpler on that front. I am getting occasional edema in my lower extremities after being on my feet a lot, but it dissipates over night. If that doesn't totally go away with my recovery, ie no daily build up at all, I anticipate a continued association with lasix and potassium. But let's not go there yet. Life is simpler without them. And, my rehab program has not yet begun.
So, they are data gathering. I am wearing--for 30 days--a three-lead heart monitor. The leads hook up to three sticky paper electrodes (?) a new group of which I install, post-shower, daily. The wires go into a battery-powered unit about a half-inch thick by 2" on a side, like a deck of cards cut across the middle. That slides easily into a front pants/shorts pocket. It is accompanied by a several-generations-old cell phone in my other pocket on which I am to report any symptoms. The phone has been re-purposed to do this. There is a choice among 10 or so--dizziness, pain, etc. I have only called in once to clarify whether I should report being light headed, since that is not on the symptom list. (They made a note.) Any light headedness I am experiencing usually follows my pill taking about an hour or so in the a.m.. Other than that, I have reported nothing, since there has been nothing to report! The idea, as I understand it, is that the company supplying the equipment--the crafty devils--gets the monitor data and sends it to the hospital along with points on the data chart, if any, where symptoms are reported so the symptoms can be correlated with the heart data. I just have to keep the phone within 15 feet of the heart monitor during use, so it resides next to the bed overnight and I carry it all during the day. There are the appropriate batteries and charging schedules to make sure the stuff has the juice to go 24-hrs per cycle. Change over today will follow the close of this post. At the end of the 30 days the entire show goes in a handy mailer, remembering to take the batteries out of the monitor so it doesn't go beep in the p.o.
Other than that I have an appointment to see the clinic again in a couple weeks at which I believe I will get an electro-cardiogram. They are interested in a normal sinus rhythm data set, since the one that led me into the hospital was taken during a-fib. I am interested too, since I desperately want to see what my ejection fraction looks like during recovery.
In the meanwhile it is 2000 ml of liquids, less than 2000 mg of sodium, and 1800 or less calories daily for this kid for the foreseeable future. On which I am happy, because my lovely wife is inventive and a recording fool.
The Not-So-Excellent Adventure. On the way home on Sunday afternoon we were proceeding north on the 15 at speed, about 70 mph when Jan was forced to run over a large piece of what looked like cattle guard or some such iron structure, maybe six inches high, four feet across and maybe six-nine feet wide. We hopped up on it and off it with the left side of the car. The front wheel was impacted and we awaited bad outcomes. But nothing immediately happened. We got into the far right lane and proceeded. It wasn't ten miles and the left rear tire blew. Fortunately we were at the 12th street exit ramp into Ogden onto which we limped with flashers going. We pulled off the road but left the affected tire on the pavement.
This being Utah and it being Sunday a couple nearby tire shops (Les Schaub; Jack's Tire and Oil) we knew would be closed. The rear of the car was filled with perishables for me. No O2 if we stayed somewhere nearby. (I am using O2 at night through my bipap machine.) We were driving away from the dealership in N SLC where the car would need to go.
But this is Utah. In 10 sec or so a car parks in front of us and asks if we need help. We say yes. He says, I'll change the tire for you. Empty out the rear, get out the donut, jack up the car, all of which he did in jig time. I said how fortunate for us that the person who stops is adept. He had a nicely trimmed, salt-and-pepper goatee, and full sleeves for those of you who know the terminology. He said he was going home to change out brakes on a car there. He also said that if it were his mum and dad out there, he hoped that someone would help them. I thought who the hell is he talking about. That's the doddering old fool I've become. Of course, the reference was to the 77 and 75 yr old he was helping. He would take no money. In no time we were driving the 89 North--no freeway that--at the sedate speed of 50 mph. And safely home 90 minutes later. Now I have to call the dealer (90 miles), and the insurance company to see how to proceed. I am not sure we can get to the dealer without being on the freeway and we are endangered there at 50 mph. Oh well, it will all work out.
Henry Hawk and His Relatives. Hawks are falling into our bed room chimney. We had one last week. They usually tend to be kestrels and I have no idea why they do that. The chimney is capped with an arch so perhaps they mistake it for a hollow tree. We usually give them a couple days to quiet down and open the flue and they drop into the fire place which is fronted by a heavy duty screen behind which they attempt to attack us. Then Jan or I throw a towel over them and release them out our bedroom door. We did that with Henry, a mature kestrel, this week on Mon. In any case, what was unusual with this last episode was that another drops down in there on Tues and we let it sit over night--we are leaving for SLC--see above, in a couple hours. We open the flue. This one doesn't want to come down. Well, this is rural Utah. The animal control guy knows us from a nearly annual visit to pick deer carcasses of those who have not survived the winter. He's there in 45 minutes reaches up and grabs the hawk. It turns out to be a young one and it further turns out that as a boy he used to trap them and train them to bring back bits of hamburger they would throw out--all highly illegal, of course.
All for now...hopefully a quiet couple of weeks during which I have nothing to report of consequence.
We drove to SLC last Wed to attend my first clinic in the Cardiac Failure unit there at IMC in Murray UT and stay the remainder of the week in SLC with Lisa.
I am really impressed with the people I have met there. But I have bamboozled the clinic. They have dc'ed all but one heart med--a nasty, side-effect laden drug called amiodorone. In addition, I am on a coumadin-like drug called Eliquis (see the TV ads). I take a staten still and now a sleep aid called trazodone at bedtime. Myself, I have discontinued the boat load of supplements I had built up over the years. Life is simpler on that front. I am getting occasional edema in my lower extremities after being on my feet a lot, but it dissipates over night. If that doesn't totally go away with my recovery, ie no daily build up at all, I anticipate a continued association with lasix and potassium. But let's not go there yet. Life is simpler without them. And, my rehab program has not yet begun.
So, they are data gathering. I am wearing--for 30 days--a three-lead heart monitor. The leads hook up to three sticky paper electrodes (?) a new group of which I install, post-shower, daily. The wires go into a battery-powered unit about a half-inch thick by 2" on a side, like a deck of cards cut across the middle. That slides easily into a front pants/shorts pocket. It is accompanied by a several-generations-old cell phone in my other pocket on which I am to report any symptoms. The phone has been re-purposed to do this. There is a choice among 10 or so--dizziness, pain, etc. I have only called in once to clarify whether I should report being light headed, since that is not on the symptom list. (They made a note.) Any light headedness I am experiencing usually follows my pill taking about an hour or so in the a.m.. Other than that, I have reported nothing, since there has been nothing to report! The idea, as I understand it, is that the company supplying the equipment--the crafty devils--gets the monitor data and sends it to the hospital along with points on the data chart, if any, where symptoms are reported so the symptoms can be correlated with the heart data. I just have to keep the phone within 15 feet of the heart monitor during use, so it resides next to the bed overnight and I carry it all during the day. There are the appropriate batteries and charging schedules to make sure the stuff has the juice to go 24-hrs per cycle. Change over today will follow the close of this post. At the end of the 30 days the entire show goes in a handy mailer, remembering to take the batteries out of the monitor so it doesn't go beep in the p.o.
Other than that I have an appointment to see the clinic again in a couple weeks at which I believe I will get an electro-cardiogram. They are interested in a normal sinus rhythm data set, since the one that led me into the hospital was taken during a-fib. I am interested too, since I desperately want to see what my ejection fraction looks like during recovery.
In the meanwhile it is 2000 ml of liquids, less than 2000 mg of sodium, and 1800 or less calories daily for this kid for the foreseeable future. On which I am happy, because my lovely wife is inventive and a recording fool.
The Not-So-Excellent Adventure. On the way home on Sunday afternoon we were proceeding north on the 15 at speed, about 70 mph when Jan was forced to run over a large piece of what looked like cattle guard or some such iron structure, maybe six inches high, four feet across and maybe six-nine feet wide. We hopped up on it and off it with the left side of the car. The front wheel was impacted and we awaited bad outcomes. But nothing immediately happened. We got into the far right lane and proceeded. It wasn't ten miles and the left rear tire blew. Fortunately we were at the 12th street exit ramp into Ogden onto which we limped with flashers going. We pulled off the road but left the affected tire on the pavement.
This being Utah and it being Sunday a couple nearby tire shops (Les Schaub; Jack's Tire and Oil) we knew would be closed. The rear of the car was filled with perishables for me. No O2 if we stayed somewhere nearby. (I am using O2 at night through my bipap machine.) We were driving away from the dealership in N SLC where the car would need to go.
But this is Utah. In 10 sec or so a car parks in front of us and asks if we need help. We say yes. He says, I'll change the tire for you. Empty out the rear, get out the donut, jack up the car, all of which he did in jig time. I said how fortunate for us that the person who stops is adept. He had a nicely trimmed, salt-and-pepper goatee, and full sleeves for those of you who know the terminology. He said he was going home to change out brakes on a car there. He also said that if it were his mum and dad out there, he hoped that someone would help them. I thought who the hell is he talking about. That's the doddering old fool I've become. Of course, the reference was to the 77 and 75 yr old he was helping. He would take no money. In no time we were driving the 89 North--no freeway that--at the sedate speed of 50 mph. And safely home 90 minutes later. Now I have to call the dealer (90 miles), and the insurance company to see how to proceed. I am not sure we can get to the dealer without being on the freeway and we are endangered there at 50 mph. Oh well, it will all work out.
Henry Hawk and His Relatives. Hawks are falling into our bed room chimney. We had one last week. They usually tend to be kestrels and I have no idea why they do that. The chimney is capped with an arch so perhaps they mistake it for a hollow tree. We usually give them a couple days to quiet down and open the flue and they drop into the fire place which is fronted by a heavy duty screen behind which they attempt to attack us. Then Jan or I throw a towel over them and release them out our bedroom door. We did that with Henry, a mature kestrel, this week on Mon. In any case, what was unusual with this last episode was that another drops down in there on Tues and we let it sit over night--we are leaving for SLC--see above, in a couple hours. We open the flue. This one doesn't want to come down. Well, this is rural Utah. The animal control guy knows us from a nearly annual visit to pick deer carcasses of those who have not survived the winter. He's there in 45 minutes reaches up and grabs the hawk. It turns out to be a young one and it further turns out that as a boy he used to trap them and train them to bring back bits of hamburger they would throw out--all highly illegal, of course.
All for now...hopefully a quiet couple of weeks during which I have nothing to report of consequence.
Monday, June 20, 2016
whoops there or 2 steps forward etc
So things are going along swimmingly. Getting stronger everyday. Eating good small meals, dealing with daily 2000 ml liquid restriction and 2000 mg sodium, getting in 1000 steps yesterday. All the right steps.
Last night my evening bp began to be normal = 119/84, for the first time in a couple weeks.When that happened I was to add into the chemical mix, lisonopril at bed time. I did. It's a very small dose of the stuff (2.5 mg) but I think it is time released.
This morning I arose feeling as though the meds were whacking at me. More powerful than even in the hospital. I had breakfast, did the whole shower thing and settled into the living room while our house person cleaned the bedroom. I felt very tired, put my head back and (probably) passed out. When I awoke a little later it was to stars and an inability for a couple moments to clear my head. My O2 saturation was in the 70% range and then all over the map as we got the in-house O2 going. A call to IHC's team said to get to the hospital, so out came the emergency troops, and in my 78th year I finally rode in an ambulance.
There went the morning. Full assays, room O2 vs cannula O2, etc.
Verdict: back on O2 while home all day--I have only been using when sleeping--and no more lisonopril until I see the docs on Wed in SLC.
BP at noon was still a respectable (for me) 94/63. That's where it has been for awhile.
Hopefully, I will not be writing this again. Back onto the O2 now.
Last night my evening bp began to be normal = 119/84, for the first time in a couple weeks.When that happened I was to add into the chemical mix, lisonopril at bed time. I did. It's a very small dose of the stuff (2.5 mg) but I think it is time released.
This morning I arose feeling as though the meds were whacking at me. More powerful than even in the hospital. I had breakfast, did the whole shower thing and settled into the living room while our house person cleaned the bedroom. I felt very tired, put my head back and (probably) passed out. When I awoke a little later it was to stars and an inability for a couple moments to clear my head. My O2 saturation was in the 70% range and then all over the map as we got the in-house O2 going. A call to IHC's team said to get to the hospital, so out came the emergency troops, and in my 78th year I finally rode in an ambulance.
There went the morning. Full assays, room O2 vs cannula O2, etc.
Verdict: back on O2 while home all day--I have only been using when sleeping--and no more lisonopril until I see the docs on Wed in SLC.
BP at noon was still a respectable (for me) 94/63. That's where it has been for awhile.
Hopefully, I will not be writing this again. Back onto the O2 now.
Saturday, June 18, 2016
It's alive!!!!
Where to start? Almost 2 weeks have gone by since I last posted, most of which were spent in the Intensive Care Unit of the Heart Failure Institute at Intermountain Health Care's flagship hospital in Murray, Utah. Murray is a suburban community of SLC, and is, most fortuitously only 5 min from our town home, where Lisa abides.
The docs in Logan decided I needed to be there and at the time of day, and the digression of having to go through Emergency to get an ambulance, we would be best served by driving ourselves. We did. That was Tuesday June 7. We arrived before dark, but not much, and they had a full team on me in no time. I was there until late afternoon, Thursday June 16. It was determined that I was in full a-fib on arrival (and probably had been for some time). The next day I was scheduled for an internal cardio-version. (The shock doc was a beautiful, incredibly smart woman.) They put me out, stuffed the tube down my esophagus and gave me two shocks, a big one followed by a small one. This put me back in normal, sinus rhythm. Some time during this I was catheterized and they began siphoning off all the water I had accumulated (and wasn't getting rid of with oral Lasix.) by IV drips. When I began the oral Lasix on May 31, I was 262 lb. Today I am 220 lbs. 42 lbs in 2 weeks. I don't recommend this as a weight loss procedure!
I did a follow up day in Intensive Care and then down a floor to the regular heart failure folk. Sometime in that period, I jumped back into a-fib again and they returned me to Intensive Care and the shock doc. This time they did an external cardio-version and I was in normal sinus and have been since.
Finally, they scoped the arteries and veins of my heart, with me awake. After that it was down to a room with a more private shower and toilet to wait out the residual water loss. That took a couple days and we are still on a di-uretic, But today I believe we are there--root, bottle and branch.
Out of the hospital on Thursday, June 16 we repaired the five minutes to familiar surroundings and set up home there for a couple days. We are finally home today in Hyde Park--where Jan will be guarding the door against well wishers. In any case, we will be back down to SLC quickly for followup clinics and will take our time going back and forth. (If Hyde Park gets too warm, we can head for the ac in SLC.)
Significant findings. I have a severely weakened heart that has no physical damage. At this time there is nothing to do except live to make it stronger. In medicine, the shock doc says. "Slow wins." I am still on blood thinners, vasodilators, diuretics and a couple woo-woos (adiodarone) I don't know how to classify but are specifically for ventricular function. My heart healthy diet will be laid on a substrate of no more than 2000 ml (about 64 oz) of water and no more than 2000 mg of sodium, daily. (There will never be another Big Mac.) Really, from here on out, no prepared foods. The water restriction was the most onerous thing about the hospital stay. Well, hold that, the catheter was a close second. Well, hold that, the constipation was a close third.
After not being able to walk into the hospital, I am today without a walker, getting up and down more easily each day. With all of the vasodilators and such I must guard against sudden BP drops but that hasn't happened yet.
Optimism rules!
The docs in Logan decided I needed to be there and at the time of day, and the digression of having to go through Emergency to get an ambulance, we would be best served by driving ourselves. We did. That was Tuesday June 7. We arrived before dark, but not much, and they had a full team on me in no time. I was there until late afternoon, Thursday June 16. It was determined that I was in full a-fib on arrival (and probably had been for some time). The next day I was scheduled for an internal cardio-version. (The shock doc was a beautiful, incredibly smart woman.) They put me out, stuffed the tube down my esophagus and gave me two shocks, a big one followed by a small one. This put me back in normal, sinus rhythm. Some time during this I was catheterized and they began siphoning off all the water I had accumulated (and wasn't getting rid of with oral Lasix.) by IV drips. When I began the oral Lasix on May 31, I was 262 lb. Today I am 220 lbs. 42 lbs in 2 weeks. I don't recommend this as a weight loss procedure!
I did a follow up day in Intensive Care and then down a floor to the regular heart failure folk. Sometime in that period, I jumped back into a-fib again and they returned me to Intensive Care and the shock doc. This time they did an external cardio-version and I was in normal sinus and have been since.
Finally, they scoped the arteries and veins of my heart, with me awake. After that it was down to a room with a more private shower and toilet to wait out the residual water loss. That took a couple days and we are still on a di-uretic, But today I believe we are there--root, bottle and branch.
Out of the hospital on Thursday, June 16 we repaired the five minutes to familiar surroundings and set up home there for a couple days. We are finally home today in Hyde Park--where Jan will be guarding the door against well wishers. In any case, we will be back down to SLC quickly for followup clinics and will take our time going back and forth. (If Hyde Park gets too warm, we can head for the ac in SLC.)
Significant findings. I have a severely weakened heart that has no physical damage. At this time there is nothing to do except live to make it stronger. In medicine, the shock doc says. "Slow wins." I am still on blood thinners, vasodilators, diuretics and a couple woo-woos (adiodarone) I don't know how to classify but are specifically for ventricular function. My heart healthy diet will be laid on a substrate of no more than 2000 ml (about 64 oz) of water and no more than 2000 mg of sodium, daily. (There will never be another Big Mac.) Really, from here on out, no prepared foods. The water restriction was the most onerous thing about the hospital stay. Well, hold that, the catheter was a close second. Well, hold that, the constipation was a close third.
After not being able to walk into the hospital, I am today without a walker, getting up and down more easily each day. With all of the vasodilators and such I must guard against sudden BP drops but that hasn't happened yet.
Optimism rules!
Tuesday, June 7, 2016
bad news
Well, the internist called last evening with the echocardiogram results. There is a major number they use to determine overall strength of the heart. It is based on how much blood the left ventricle moves to the lungs with each stroke. It is called the ejection fraction. In a normal heart this is about half the blood in the heart so the fraction is set as a percentage, eg, 55%. Normal range is 55-70%. MY EF IS 15%. In other words I have a failing, if not already failed pump.
I think Mike was dumbfounded. I believe that he thought I had a strong heart. He might have even said that the EF from my last echo-c-gram was normal. I asked about pacemakers. Too late, they are based on a healthy heart. He mumbled something about looking at outside veins and arteries but that doesn't sound productive. I will hear more today after he and the cardiologist consult. I am guessing that once that left ventricle is injured it stays injured.
My own sporadic numbers reflect the downturn. More O2 readings below 89%--way below with HRs in the 30s,
I haven't yet asked the critical questions: how long? what kind of terminal event? etc.
I think Mike was dumbfounded. I believe that he thought I had a strong heart. He might have even said that the EF from my last echo-c-gram was normal. I asked about pacemakers. Too late, they are based on a healthy heart. He mumbled something about looking at outside veins and arteries but that doesn't sound productive. I will hear more today after he and the cardiologist consult. I am guessing that once that left ventricle is injured it stays injured.
My own sporadic numbers reflect the downturn. More O2 readings below 89%--way below with HRs in the 30s,
I haven't yet asked the critical questions: how long? what kind of terminal event? etc.
Monday, June 6, 2016
how are we doing?
Answer: Not so hot! My stamina is now at the point where I can barely walk across the house. Having a shower takes a tremendous act of will. I am too tired to read--the book keeps falling on the floor. I have zero appetite. I force myself to eat a quarter of a sandwich. Jan has been making fruit smoothies. They taste good until I have had maybe a couple ounces. We've invested in Ensure. The lasix is doing its work: occasional good whiz and dropped about 7 lbs of the 25 I put on.
The Sleep Study. The sleep study was same old, same old, but conducted beautifully. They tried a number of masks and of course the only satisfactory one was the full face. They had the supplemental O2 if needed and full oximetry with pulses. They reported that I was not in less than 90% saturation territory long enough for them to turn it on. Between times they were bugging me I seemed to sleep well and was surprised to see one of them by my bedside. With light out by 9:30, I was finished by 5:30. So, if they had a good tight sealing mask that I could not defeat, they were able to drive me by those periods when I usually jerk awake. It may also have helped that I did a full tab of the trazodone to start the proceedings. 5-7 days before official results on this. Sleep last night was wholly in bed--no chair for almost 8 hrs. It was interrupted,though.
Echo Cardiogram. Nicely conducted in the Cardiology Lab, this morning. Took 84 pix. Interesting share: SVTs all over the place some as high as the 180s? Those numbers equate with what I have seen on my little Wal Mart oximeter. No effort in breathing! Didn't seem to make any difference: there were SVTs. This will be read in 48 hrs and distributed.
Fall. I fell last night turning to sit in my chair and the chair squirted away dumping me on my lower back. This has led to further back weakness today and the cane is back with me for a while. Couldda been worse.
My Honey. In two days Jan and I will been married for 54 yrs. What a very special person she is. I could not have gotten through these past few months without her. We will have to find a special occasion once this mess concludes.
The Sleep Study. The sleep study was same old, same old, but conducted beautifully. They tried a number of masks and of course the only satisfactory one was the full face. They had the supplemental O2 if needed and full oximetry with pulses. They reported that I was not in less than 90% saturation territory long enough for them to turn it on. Between times they were bugging me I seemed to sleep well and was surprised to see one of them by my bedside. With light out by 9:30, I was finished by 5:30. So, if they had a good tight sealing mask that I could not defeat, they were able to drive me by those periods when I usually jerk awake. It may also have helped that I did a full tab of the trazodone to start the proceedings. 5-7 days before official results on this. Sleep last night was wholly in bed--no chair for almost 8 hrs. It was interrupted,though.
Echo Cardiogram. Nicely conducted in the Cardiology Lab, this morning. Took 84 pix. Interesting share: SVTs all over the place some as high as the 180s? Those numbers equate with what I have seen on my little Wal Mart oximeter. No effort in breathing! Didn't seem to make any difference: there were SVTs. This will be read in 48 hrs and distributed.
Fall. I fell last night turning to sit in my chair and the chair squirted away dumping me on my lower back. This has led to further back weakness today and the cane is back with me for a while. Couldda been worse.
My Honey. In two days Jan and I will been married for 54 yrs. What a very special person she is. I could not have gotten through these past few months without her. We will have to find a special occasion once this mess concludes.
Saturday, June 4, 2016
i"m awake!
Last night I had another good first half to the sleep cycle, maybe 4-4.5 hrs. Then it all went to hell and I was up and down the remainder of the night. Compounding my worry about the sleep study night in the lab tonight is the fact that I am so exhausted now that when I stop typing even, I begin to fall asleep. Yet if I allow myself that luxury then I won't have a full night tonight. I have one ace up my sleeve however. Today I began to wonder if I am getting one half the sleep cycle it is because I am taking 1/2 a dose of the sleep meds. May logically follow. Anyway under their close supervision (Yeah a bunch of grad students) I should pop a whole tab tonight and get lucky.
I think that they get EEG data tonight, but I don't recall whether they get concurrent EKG. Seemed there were plenty of electrodes that last time I did this. And are they getting basic functions: HR, pulse, O2 saturation in real time? All will be revealed. Oh, did I mention the conduction gel?
I think that they get EEG data tonight, but I don't recall whether they get concurrent EKG. Seemed there were plenty of electrodes that last time I did this. And are they getting basic functions: HR, pulse, O2 saturation in real time? All will be revealed. Oh, did I mention the conduction gel?
Wednesday, June 1, 2016
retention of water and other facts
Last post I neglected to tell you the gory weight details. If you return to the very first of these posts you will note I put my weight out each post so I (we) could determine progress. I think I started treatment for my cancer in Oct 2011, I was 232 lbs. At that point I was worried about losing too much weight during the chemo. Well, that didn't happen. Not quite sure where I ended up (238 lbs?) and I have not seen 232 lbs since. But it has always been my implicit initial goal, to recover that weight. I got as high as 252 or so, and then I have been working to bring that down slowly. (I lost the records from my old phone when I upgraded to the new iphone 6.)
The records I do have show me at 245 in May 2015 dropping gradually to 237 May 12, 2016--about 8 lbs lighter than the previous May. (Until I started this a moment ago, I didn't realize that I had a year's data in here.) I weigh at the same time of day each instance, about every two weeks on a Weight Watchers' scale. Imagine my horror when 12 days later I am a whopping 249. One week after that (May 31, yesterday) I was 262! So, I have risen 25 lbs in 19 days. Surely, cause for concern.
These data attracted the attention of my Internist with whom I visited last evening to be prescribed the famous, lasix, or some cheap version thereof. It did start the process as several, normal whizzes occurred after I took a pill. But today they have subsided, so it is not like just opening a door permanently, this will require the whole prescription. But even that little bit shows a teeny bit of skin definition where there was none the day before, eg ankles. Still morbid however. I am to weigh every day. Lasix is good for the edema produced by congestive heart failure, kidney failure.
About the causes of the edema, see below, but before that, I am scheduled for Sat June 4 for sleep studies in the lab at the hospital. I hope I can get enough hours that they can get the required data. Appropos that: I believe the trazodone is beginning to work as I had several good hours last night. None of the bliss yet, however, of sleeping a full 8 hrs without rising. I was there before the damn pneumonias started in 2015, maybe never to return?
The Internist wants to get me with the Cardologist sooner than June 10. I think, he thinks, though the office data don't support it, that my heart function is in some jeopardy (congestive heart failure?). He reiterated the possibility of a pace maker. Hopefully, there is no rush to judgment while some of the other stuff works out. But the chicken and the eggs are all in this together! I know that a few good nights' sleeps will give me some perspective.
The records I do have show me at 245 in May 2015 dropping gradually to 237 May 12, 2016--about 8 lbs lighter than the previous May. (Until I started this a moment ago, I didn't realize that I had a year's data in here.) I weigh at the same time of day each instance, about every two weeks on a Weight Watchers' scale. Imagine my horror when 12 days later I am a whopping 249. One week after that (May 31, yesterday) I was 262! So, I have risen 25 lbs in 19 days. Surely, cause for concern.
These data attracted the attention of my Internist with whom I visited last evening to be prescribed the famous, lasix, or some cheap version thereof. It did start the process as several, normal whizzes occurred after I took a pill. But today they have subsided, so it is not like just opening a door permanently, this will require the whole prescription. But even that little bit shows a teeny bit of skin definition where there was none the day before, eg ankles. Still morbid however. I am to weigh every day. Lasix is good for the edema produced by congestive heart failure, kidney failure.
About the causes of the edema, see below, but before that, I am scheduled for Sat June 4 for sleep studies in the lab at the hospital. I hope I can get enough hours that they can get the required data. Appropos that: I believe the trazodone is beginning to work as I had several good hours last night. None of the bliss yet, however, of sleeping a full 8 hrs without rising. I was there before the damn pneumonias started in 2015, maybe never to return?
The Internist wants to get me with the Cardologist sooner than June 10. I think, he thinks, though the office data don't support it, that my heart function is in some jeopardy (congestive heart failure?). He reiterated the possibility of a pace maker. Hopefully, there is no rush to judgment while some of the other stuff works out. But the chicken and the eggs are all in this together! I know that a few good nights' sleeps will give me some perspective.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)