Blogging, tachycardia and root canals

Posted on April 23, 2009 by ruthek

As part of my blogging class I found I had to clarify my ideas about why I blog and make it part of my fourth class lecture. I began blogging almost four years ago in Live Journal, when I found I was going to move from New Jersey to Pittsburgh. It is a record of my feelings and the events leading up to my move. After I was settled in Pittsburgh I began this blog to record my adjustment to and exploration of the city. I saw the blog as a way to express myself and to combat the feeling I am invisible that I've had since I was in my fifties. Today I see the blog as a way to show what it's like to be 70 something. Next month I will be 75.

I want to be on record as someone who remains active, curious and interested in the world around me. I also want, to some extent, to write about the problems that have come with age, not as a qvetch, but as a matter of fact. What I did not write about all week is the echo cardiogram.

I was doing fine with the stress test until the last full minute when they increased the speed and elevation of the treadmill and got my heart rate over 120 or maybe it was 140. Dr. G said my heart rate recovered quickly, was back down to 100 by the time they got me back on the machine. He thinks the pictures showed a possible blockage. This is a separate problem from the tachycardia part of the reason for my pacemaker. So we're back to the medication my insurance didn't want to cover. The substituted medication wasn't controlling my heart rate. Dr. G thought the original stuff would also be be useful for the blockage.

It seems that the generic version of this stuff has been back ordered for several months. I had a three month supply before I went to Asia and was able to renew it in January, so hadn't realized it wasn't available. We finally got the insurance to cover the name brand stuff. It's an old drug, not very expensive. I was ready to pay for it myself if necessary.

I'm not happy about the idea of getting a stent, the next step, and I'd like to see if I can have a cat scan or some other non-invasive test to find out what's really going on. My next appointment will be in June, time to see if the meds do anything.

My hard won medication is doing well: I haven't had another bout of tachycardia since I began taking it. I had three or four episodes in the ten days I took the other stuff. But getting older you fall apart bit by bit. Now it's a tooth. I've been very lucky with my teeth: they are still all my own, even though drilled, filled, filled again and a few root canaled. There is something wrong with the last root canal and my dentist suggested gum surgery would be the easiest option. I am appalled.

Pacemaker update

Posted on April 1, 2009 by ruthek

I was sure there was nothing wrong. All my life, whenever I went to a doctor with a complaint there was nothing wrong. I fully expected my buzzing to be in the same category. So, I was shocked when they called me Monday morning and told me they weren't certain but it looked like something was wrong with the pacemaker and I should come to the office this morning. I spent a very uncomfortable two days; being more open to suggestion than I care to admit. I was very tired and couldn't bring myself to walk more than about a mile and a half each day. I blamed it on the dog, who spent another weekend with me and kept me up half the night on Sunday, but I wasn't sure. And I was worried that if it was the pacemaker, I might have to have surgery to replace it.

The pacemaker technician comes with a machine that reads signals from the pacemaker. It's quite amazing; she knows when I've had trouble down to date and time. The pacemaker was good; it was doing its job. My heart was not behaving properly: too many incidents of fast heartbeat. Some of my medications will be changed, or increased. I have to go back for an echo cardiogram, but evidently that's not urgent. They wanted me to come for it on Monday, but agreed to put it off until I return from New York.

I'm finding it very hard to believe I really have heart disease. When I first got the pacemaker the doctor said I could easily live another twenty years and the pacemaker should not make any difference in my life. I chose to believe that, but I'm beginning to wonder.

Walking with my “fat child”

Posted on March 9, 2009 by ruthek

Something I saw on Facebook this morning made me start thinking about fat children; my fat childhood came with me on today's walk. My brother and I were both fat children and both of us hated being fat. It left us with scars that affected our entire adult lives, in fact, probably killing my brother three years ago.

Here is my kindergarten picture. I wanted to be one of the skinny girls on the right, not one of the fat ones on the left. Obviously, life in the fat lane began before I entered school and continued until I was sixteen when I took control of my life and finally managed to get to a "normal" size (14). I hate to blame my mother for this, but who controls the eating habits of a three, four or five year old, or even a 10 year old. My mother expressed love with food and most of her communication with us involved food. She controlled how much went on our plates and always urged us to clean those plates. "Think of the starving children in Europe."

If I wanted to eat a packaged cookie, which was in the house, she yelled at me. But she was an excellent baker; most of the time there were home-baked cookies or cakes, which she urged us to eat. Looking at the photos, and there aren't many, brings back lots of memories: the dresses I couldn't buy because there was nothing to fit me. Sometimes I was frantic about it. Chubbie sizes were introduced at some point when I was a child, but there never seemed to be anything for me.

This is a picture of Arvin, about ten years old. He was beautiful, but all he saw of himself was his fat, well disguised in the photo. He was four years younger than me.

I wasn't allowed to buy milk in school. They used to give us half pint bottles before recess for a milk break. They cost a penny or two. It wasn't the pennies: it was my mother's effort to keep me from getting fatter. It made me always the outsider.

And let's talk about exercise. I was a tomboy. There were lots of boys living in the apartments near us. They were my favorite playmates. The only real exercise I got was running around with them. My mother always objected. I shouldn't run around with the boys; I shouldn't run around.

Nice girls didn't exercise. Jewish girls were nice. Therefore, Jewish girls shouldn't exercise. How's that for a syllogism. My mother's idea of a perfect girl child was someone who sat at home and read. If no new books were available, the perfect child would sit and twiddle her thumbs. I don't remember when I began my rebellion; probably with the thumb twiddling and continued through most of my mother's life. As I got older there were several times when she would get really angry at me if I lost weight. I guess I was insulting her.

My exercise now is like a moral imperative. I can't say I love it; I think it's very important and helps keep me moving.

Walking

Posted on March 1, 2009 by ruthek

I would like to lose another 10 pounds. Going back to Japan for a month would do it for me, but it's not going to happen anytime soon. I've decided the answer is more walking here. It's not as interesting, but I feel like I have to do it. On Thursday I walked 4 miles. Friday I sat on a bus most of the day, which was harder on my legs than walking. Yesterday I went to a film at a private school here and walked to the school, about three miles away. Today I walked to East Liberty to the Walgreens, another three mile round trip. I am feeling wiped out and my legs ache. That's how I felt most evenings in Japan. Maybe a month of this will do it for me.

The bus trip Friday was run by the Osher program at Carnegie Mellon University. We went to the Westmoreland Museum, lunch at the Pike Run Country Club, then the Museum of the Southern Alleghenies. It was a nice day, except for the bus, which was uncomfortable. I'm not big on bus trips; probably won't take another one for awhile.

Numbers rule my life

Posted on January 16, 2009 by ruthek

The sun is shining; there is snow on the ground and it is minus six degrees here in Pittsburgh with a high of four degrees predicted. Yesterday was similarly cold; I don't remember seeing the sun. My class was canceled yesterday. I thought about going to work out, but never got there. Today, I'm not even thinking about it. Instead I spent about a half hour doing my leg exercises.

Exercise has become very important to me. I lost about 15 pounds while I was in Asia because I was doing so much walking. I confess I was not on a diet. I ate very well in China and frequently had chocolate or other candies. In Japan, I ate a lot of bread, sweet rolls, and other no-no's. For most of those two months I walked most of every day. I don't do that here. On days like today, I won't walk at all.

I don't want to gain back the weight–altogether too easy for me to do. So I have no nosh in the house. I have food; I'm not going hungry. There is tofu, spinach, another kind of tofu, tomatoes, clementines, but no sweet rolls, scones, cookies, not even popcorn. It's driving me nuts. I've been working on my China book with breaks to continue organizing my work room. Every so often I get up, walk into the kitchen, remember there is nothing I want to eat and go back to work. It's very difficult. Tomorrow it is supposed to get up to 19 degrees–I'll go out and walk.

Coffee

Posted on January 6, 2009 by ruthek

I couldn't fall asleep last night; probably because of the cup of coffee I drank in the afternoon. I intended to have decaf, but I think I just asked for coffee. I tossed and turned, got an inspiration for a difficult email and got up to work on it, closed the computer and my eyes and still didn't fall asleep. I think it finally happened about 4 am, but I was up before the alarm rang at seven, couldn't open my eyes and stayed in bed listening to NPR for an hour.

I usually drink tea, although I love coffee. Twenty years ago, while I was in Alaska with Raja, I began to feel very ill–upset stomach type ill. I couldn't figure it out–this never happens to me. Finally I realized that while I was shopping I was drinking the coffee available in each shop we entered. It seemed a great way to warm up and the coffee smelled wonderful, thick and black. I stopped drinking it, felt much better, and finally switched to tea. I still drink coffee, but only very rarely and usually only when I am assured of a good cup. Since I moved to Pittsburgh and started back to school I find the coffee very attractive. Somehow school and coffee seem to go together, but I guess it's another practice that has to stop.

I will be teaching a class about blogging for my University of Pittsburgh Osher program, beginning March 21. As I prepare for the class I will post some of my thoughts about teaching and creating a blog on Silver Streakers. I'm not too happy about posting to a third blog. I started Silver Streakers at the urging of Len Zapler, a fellow Osher paticipant, but he seems to have lost interest and the blog has had no action since last summer. If you have any interest in teaching blogging, come visit me there. I would be delighted to have your input.

Health and the Environment

Posted on September 25, 2008 by ruthek

I took the day off from planning my trip (and writing about the last one) to attend a conference on "Women's Health and the Environment." What a worthwhile day this was. Although I often worry about cancer, my family has an extensive history of it, I never thought much about the part the environment plays, or the part it must play in autism and ADHD. This was really an eye opener for me. Being a lazy writer and reporter I rely on you to follow the links I'm providing. This is an important subject; we should all seek to have a better understanding of what is going on.

The conference was sponsored in part by Teresa Heinz, who also gave the opening address. She was marvelous. I was immediately captivated when she declared: "The more we can ask the more we can make healthy choices, and here's
why: ignorance kills and knowledge saves lives. Preventive medicine is
part of knowledge." She stressed the importance of preventative medical care for all, and talked about how our healthcare system was broken, one of my favorite topics. For more of what she said go here.

The theme of the conference was: New Science, New Solutions. The keynote speaker, Nancy Nichols, talked about growing up in Waukegan, Illinois, and how, as children, she and her sister played on the shores of Lake Michigan on what later was identified as tons of PCBs and at least three huge superfund sites. Both of them developed rare cancers when they were in their forties, her sister dying from a rare form of ovarian cancer. Needless to say, I was probably drinking the water in Chicago that came down from Waukegan.

An "Air and Water" panel and a "Food and Personal Care Products" panel gave us more information than I really wanted to know, about how our food is produced and how chemicals found everywhere in our lives are never tested for safety. It almost makes me want to stop eating–a very big statement for me.

I'm not going to tell you everything I learned. The conference website will have podcasts of all of the speakers. I'll let you know when they are posted and hope you will listen to them. And I'll talk about this again.

Keratoconus

Posted on July 26, 2008 by ruthek

That’s the name of the condition I have in my eyes. If you don’t want to read all about it here, and I don’t blame you, just know that the word means cone-shaped cornea. You can see the world as I see it at this website. It also means that even with contact lenses, the remedy of choice, and glasses, my vision often leaves a lot to be desired. I usually see multiple edges on things, sometimes multiple things, particularly high contrast things; the contact lenses often bother me since I usually keep them in for too many hours; and sometimes using the computer gets difficult. I often keep the TV on so I look away from the computer occasionally and focus at a longer distance. In spite of all this I am grateful I can see relatively well, most of the time. I can drive, I tolerate the contacts well and I don’t have too many problems.

Keratoconus tends to be progressive and often leads to corneal transplants. When I was first diagnosed, more than 25 years ago, I did not know how bad it would get. My mother also had this condition and had transplants in both eyes, not with great success. She came close to being blind. Fortunately my condition is fairly stable and I doubt I will ever need transplants. More than any other sense I take pleasure in what I see. I travel to see beauty, to see art. The thought of losing my sight was horrifying. Before my condition stabilized and I was finally comfortable with lenses I spent many days and hours worrying.

This morning I went to an information meeting for keratoconus patients.They showed little videos of transplant surgery. They talked about some of the most common problems and some of the possible treatments being studied. I found it interesting and a little scary. But, more than anything I realized how important it was to be informed and to be “smart” about your own body. Medicine today presents us with so many options and requires that we make our own decisions.For the moment, I am grateful everything remains the same.

Update

Posted on June 5, 2008 by ruthek

I feel good again today, but I wouldn't want you to think it's been an easy week. Tuesday morning–6:30 Tuesday morning, I woke up with palpitations that continued for two hours, then suddenly stopped and everything seemed back to normal. I waited to call the cardiologist until after having a lovely lunch at Frick Park Cafe with old friends. The nurse told me to come in the next day and get a 24 hour halter monitor, which I will return to them in another couple of hours.

I don't know what the monitor will show. I didn't feel great on Tuesday, but that may have been fear (and guilt that I didn't call the Dr. immediately). I didn't feel so great yesterday either. Today I feel terrific again. I have already done my leg exercises, cleaned my kitchen and accomplished several other things I've been putting off. So the monitor may not show anything. The next step would be a smaller monitor I would wear for a month. Since I can't shower with this one, I can't imagine how the other one will work. Hope I don't have to find out.

Getting back to normal

Posted on June 1, 2008 by ruthek

Thanks to all of you who left comments and sent emails. I'm doing just fine–getting back to my normal routine. According to my doctor the only thing I shouldn't do is raise my right arm over the shoulder–not so easy as it sounds, but doable. Doesn't want me to drive yet; Robin is chauffeuring me around. She's been wonderful, doing everything she can with much love. Daughters are good, that one, anyway.

If the blog looks strange to you, it's because Typepad has given me some extra features. There is only a fine line between features and bugs. My discussion with them is ongoing. Sometimes one ought to leave well enough alone.

Did you catch the item on the news about the latest crane that fell in NYC? It's 2 blocks from Renee's apartment. We decided when we first saw it to avoid that corner. It looked risky even to us non-engineering types.

There is construction everywhere you turn in NYC. Here are some pictures of work on the Second Ave. Subway, just down the street from us.

Whatever the truck is hauling is part of the subway construction, although I certainly couldn't tell you what it was. Caused a huge traffic tieup as he kept jockeying for position.

One of my favorite things in NYC is a street fair. I've been to so many they've actually gotten a little boring. I keep going for those Mozzarrepas–a round corn arrepa sliced horizontally in the center with mozzarella cheese between the slices, then grilled until the cheese melts. It's obviously another thing I shouldn't eat, but I only get it once or twice a year. Here is a slide show of street fair pics.

100 Books Before I Die

Ruthe Karlin

Category Archives: Health