Category Archives: Heart Disease

Sooo tired

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Last night, about 8:30, I gave up and got ready for bed. I never do this. I slept until 7 this morning, more than 10 hours in bed. I had a busy day, yesterday, but it wasn't that bad. This is one reason I'm willing to have the cath, as they call it. I want my energy back. The doctor wouldn't promise me anything, he's very cautious about what he says, but I keep hoping.

I'm still having issues with my Adobe software, but nothing that keeps me from working. I sent them an email–hope to get an answer soon. I really don't want to call again. I probably spent 3 hours on the phone with them on two calls. I'm sure they have a support document that would help me. I found one, but it's not entirely clear. In the meantime I can live without Acrobat 8 Pro. I'm still working on the Japanese Garden book.

Cardiologist again

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For many years I largely ignored the state of my health. Yes, I went for checkups. No, there was never any concern. Them days are gone forever. I was supposed to go to the cardiologist at the beginning of May for another pacemaker check, a stress echo test and whatever. They were supposed to call me with an appointment for the test. This week, since I hadn't heard from them for a couple of months, I called and suddenly found myself with an appointment for all of it this morning.

My pacemaker is doing fine. My afib is much decreased (I knew that). The stress test was abnormal, for the second time with this doctor and another time with the previous doctor. So he recommended I go in for a catheterization and possibly the insertion of a stent. I'm not too unhappy about this, although I think I'm really allergic to doctors and hospitals. But I've been very unusually tired lately. I hope, if they find I need a stent, it will help. I'm scheduled for a week and a half from now. In the meantime, I have to take more blood tests, stop the coumadin, start taking Plavix and get mentally prepared. I'll keep you posted.

BTW, my Adobe fix didn't work. I called last night and spoke to someone in India who gave me a similar but slightly different fix. It didn't work either. I'll try again tonight. This is really annoying.

Lots of little things

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My refugee student passed his citizenship exam. Three cheers. He wants to continue learning how to read. I'm very proud of him.

Most of my classes are finished for the year. I have one last one tomorrow, but I think I'm going to pick up Eli from the airport instead.

I've been going to the health club and doing more organizing in my workroom. It's a long way from finished, but I'm making progress. I have a very old drafting/light table. It was useful when I was taking lots of slides. Now it's just another surface to clutter. As soon as I finish removing the clutter I'm going to try to sell it. It's really an antique.

I fixed two pairs of pants that needed repairs and took apart two jackets that need altering. I hope I still remember how to do it.

My new doctor told me to get one of those medical alert bracelets because of the Coumadin. It arrived yesterday and I'm wearing it. I feel like I've crossed a line between health and chronic illness, although nothing has really changed.

A tale of two doctors–NOT a healthcare rant

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One of the most difficult things, when you move to a new city, is finding new doctors. In New Jersey I had five doctors in eight years; some years I didn't go to a doctor. When I got to Pittsburgh Steve recommended a geriatric practice, and I've been very satisfied with them. Fast forward to my heart problem, which I am still trying to manage. I was in the ER in what I thought was probably the best hospital in the 'burgh, (it was the hospital of choice for the recent former mayor,) hooked up to several beeping machines and my heart did it's thing, stopping for eight seconds. Within minutes I had a cardiologist, a diagnosis, a surgeon and a few hours later, a pacemaker. I left the hospital with instructions to return to the cardiologist's, Dr. C1, office and medications. The pacemaker keeps my heart from going too slow or stopping; the meds keep it from going too fast. Shortly thereafter I went to China and Japan reassured that everything would be OK.

Unfortunately, it was not, although I got through the entire trip without any problems. In the year since, I've been told I may have some blockage, which was not a surprise, and I have afib–atrial fibrillation, not a good thing. Dr. C1 gave me a bunch of scenarios and and then assumed I rejected all of them. I was just confused. After a couple of visits, which added to my confusion, I asked Robin to come with me to an appointment; she concurred–he was not being clear about what I should do. I had the feeling I needed to make the decisions–I don't know enough to do it. I like Dr. C1. He's charming and has a great bedside manner. But I needed more guidance. I got a referral from my primary care doc and another, very strong recommendation, from a doctor friend and went for a second opinion.

To some extent this was prompted by a bad experience I had on one of my walks. I set off for a two to three mile walk. By the time I did the first mile I was having a bad time with afib. I went into Trader Joe's and got a drink and bought something I needed–I don't remember what. Then I went into Mellon Park and sat for about twenty minutes. The afib didn't abate, but I began to feel somewhat better and finished walking back home. I would have been happy to take the bus, but there wasn't one. I didn't like this at all, and it made me begin thinking about what else I could do for myself. I'm not ready to slow down.

The new cardiologist, Dr. C2, asked for copies of my records. My PCP's office sent the records. When I called the C1 office they wanted a letter to release the records. I immediately sent it, noting clearly that I was looking for a second opinion. A few days later I received a letter from Dr. C1 saying goodbye and wishing me luck. Somehow it seemed to exemplify all of my problems with him.

Dr. C2 is now my cardiologist. He has no charm and seems to have the personality of a drill sergeant. But he is a model of clarity and has let me know exactly what he expects and what I can expect. Tomorrow I go for another stress test to investigate the possible blockage. He's got me on Coumadin, which I was resisting with Dr. C1. (Did you know that stuff is rat poison?) I'll keep you posted on what happens next.

Musings

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I almost turned off the computer without posting. I guess it wouldn't be a tragedy, but I'll try to hang in there.

No classes today. I took a two mile walk. It was beautiful when I began then the sky slowly began to cloud over and it got cooler. I wasn't properly dressed, having decided I'd be warm enough without a coat. When the bus conveniently arrived I got on, cutting a mile off my walk.

I've gone through about six chapters in My Stroke of Inspiration. I can't say I love it; I'm not sure why it was recommended, but it has an excellent description of a stroke. Since this is what my doctors are always warning me about–high cholesterol and afib–and since I frequently don't understand what constitutes a medical emergency, it's good to read about this in detail. After I fell a couple of months ago I realized it had never occurred to me to use my cell phone and get help. It didn't matter, since help came my way fairly quickly, but I feel remiss that I never gave that phone a thought. I'll write more about this book when I finish reading it. I feel like there are important lessons to be learned from it.

Latest news

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I returned the event monitor yesterday and I'm thrilled to be without it. What a nuisance. The doctor said he got enough data from it; he wants to talk to me next week. I have a feeling this will be more reason to get a stent.

Wednesday morning I will give a talk at the Pitt Osher program about my experience in China with Cross Cultural Solutions. I want to have the book finished to show at the talk so I'll be working all weekend. I've been taking pictures as I go along. With any luck I'll be able to show it to you early next week. Since I've been taking that stitchery class I've been using hand embroidery on this one. I'm not very good at it, but it will do.

This is also a Darcy weekend. My family went camping today. I'm going to walk the dog and bring her back here in a few minutes. I'll be celebrating my 75th birthday on Sunday…with Darcy. I think I've reached a new low.

Head, heart, art and earrings

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There were no bids on the pictures. I would have been very surprised if they had sold. Several people asked how I found out about it. I don't spend my time looking at eBay. In fact, that was probably only the second or third time I have ever gone there. What I have working for me is Google Alerts. Some time ago there was a piece on NPR about the internet being used to slander or malign people. Their expert suggested setting up a Google Alert with your own name. Being the daughter of someone who was extremely paranoid this sounded good to me. Google alerted me to the pictures for sale.

Stacie of Nomadic Creations is living here in Pittsburgh for five weeks. We met on Sunday and it was really fun. I had to cut the visit short because I had another commitment, but I felt like we could go on talking for a long time. We never had a chance to talk about her jewelry or the wonderful earrings she gave me. And we did not get to walk in Frick Park. Come back Stacie.

The heart monitor continues to irritate me. I just spoke to the dr's office and they will get back to me. Maybe I can quit. At least I now know the dr has been getting reports.

I've been watching the HBO series on Alzheimer's Disease. You can see it on the computer, thank you HBO. It's very depressing. I can't help but wonder if I'm headed there. Robin assured me not, but I still worry about it. My mother may have had it; she was never really diagnosed. The doctor guessed it was small strokes, but who knows. She was always a little vague, and I have to admit I can't remember when I understood she was no longer with us, before she didn't recognize me, or only then. She told my father he was the man who took care of her, but he was not her Morrie. That really hurt him. Ironically, as we all suffered with her loss of memory she became a happier woman. 

Heart and art

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My heart monitor was silent for more than 36 hours, making me think it was broken. It has two recording modes: I can press a button and the loop (tape?) is recorded, or it can decide it has detected something and retain the recording automatically. In the ten days I've had the thing I have pressed the button three times. It has found the need to record several times each day, with the exception of yesterday and last night. Ringing after it records is extremely annoying. The ring tends to startle me and we won't take about how I feel when it rings if I am in a class. Transmitting the signal stops the ringing, but I can't always get to a phone; using my cell phone doesn't give a good transmission. Before I go to a class I push the transmit button, but don't erase the tape. It seems to remain silent, at least for the length of time of a class, then I actually transmit when I get home. If I was trouble-shooting this as a device, I'd be very suspicious of that silence.

I don't fully understand this thing. I've talked to people in the dr's office, the techs who answer the phone and even managed to get to an engineer (or salesman) for the company. I get a slightly different story from each person I speak to. I have pretty much figured out how to live with it, but I have no idea if any useful data is coming from it.

I am now taking Osher classes at both Pitt and CMU; I'm very busy. I'm taking a drawing class, a stitching class, a class about Pre-columbian and tribal art, a mystery reading class, a class that visits private art collections and artist's studios, and tai chi, of course. I really love the stitching (embroidery) class and the visits to the art collections. Last week we went to a fabulous private home with an interesting collection of contemporary art along with a huge collection of Palissy ceramics. This is certainly a way to get into places I might not otherwise see here in Pittsburgh.

Heart disease technology

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I am going to become an expert on technology for diagnosing heart disease. Last month I wore a Holter monitor for 24 hours to see if my heart was behaving properly. It was not. After a stress test I was put on a double dose of the beta blocker, which seemed to take care of the problem until two nights ago. Now I have an event monitor to wear for 30 days. Fortunately it's much smaller than the Holter monitor, although after only three hours with it, I can tell it's not going to be easy to deal with.

The Holter monitor, which records your heart beat (activity) for the entire 24 hours, was huge. You wear it hanging from your neck with straps or clipped on to your bra. I wanted to go out the night I wore it so I wore a long scarf around my neck that covered what looked like my huge, third breast. Fortunately, it was cold out and no one noticed.

This new monitor is the size of a beeper, clips on to my waistband and connects with only two electrodes instead of the five used on the Holter. It records continuously but only keeps the recording when you recognize a problem and hold down the record button. At least, that's what I was told. After recording two events I am supposed to call an 800 number and send the information over the phone.

Evidently it also recognizes arrhythmias that I don't notice and then rings like a telephone. It's rung three times so far, really startling me. I called the number and the tech told me that it's doing it because of my irregular heartbeat. But the recording didn't come through properly. It hasn't rung since so I wonder what is going on. I think I should ask if I'm supposed to press the record button when it rings. I did not do that, but maybe that's why the recording didn't come through properly; there wasn't any.

The Osher term has begun again and I have this terrible feeling about it ringing when I sit in classes. I'll deal with that when it happens.