Staying the Course -- 09--18--2017

Valve Replacement Forums

Help Support Valve Replacement Forums:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Superbob

Steely Resolve!
Supporting Member
Joined
Apr 21, 2005
Messages
8,481
Location
Coastal Carolina
Okay, guys, sorry a little late cranking up a thread for a new week. Wife had to have a tooth extraction this morning (and I have one next week -- ugh!) and so I played nurse, and got her the prescriptions she needed. Luckily the extraction only took a few minutes; the shot of Nocacaine was the worse part -- dang, I hate that stuff too, but I guess it beats horrible pain.

Just settled down at home with mail, and found our prescription drug premiums for 2018 are going up $500 between us. So I will be doing a lot of research between now and December to try to find a plan that gives decent coverage without unexpected ripoffs.

What other cheering news do I have? Well, Hurricane Maria is now a Cat3 and may be a Cat4 when it hits Puerto Rico. (Prayers for all the folks in the Caribbean)... After that, the southeast coast -- maybe us -- could be in its sights. So fortunately I still have Vienna sausages in my emergency kit plus lots of batteries and water. We lucked out on Irma -- got it not nearly as bad as Florida, but we might not be so lucky this time.

By now, you're saying, stop, stop Superbob; don't you have anything cheery to say? Well, we went to a nice Constitution Day event sponsored by my wife"s DAR chapter yesterday, and a couple playing (very expertly) George and Martha Washington gave a very informative narrative on how our founders ditched the Articles of Confederation and settled upon the Constitution -- with the Bill of Rights as an addition to protect our individual liberties. Amid our current divisions, it's is good to pause once in a while and consider how we have a system within which we should be able to work out our differences, or at least live with them. And afterwards DW and I went to PF Changs to dine, and that was yummy to the max -- so that's cheery!

Haven't had my exercise class yet -- that's tomorrow and Thursday, and it is a time that dispels gloominess for me. Our instructor is great -- soon she will go to a conference in Chicago to learn more exercises for us; that's how dedicated she is. She is encouraging to everyone, and makes me feel totally welcome as (usually) the only male in the class. She has complimented me many times on my progress, and naturally I love that. (Male ego activated.) She says she loves my silly t-shirts so I will keep wearing them.

Okay, what else? -- it's starting to feel just a tad more fall-like. So the quality of dawgwalking will gradually improve. Have the annual Heart Walk in October; guess I will take part again, though it's in a park this year, and not on the beach as last year. The beach walk was terrific -- why wouldn't you do it there every year? Maybe it got in the way of tourists, though I'm sure they would have been welcome to join in. It is a 5K this year -- I used to run those back in the day along with 10Ks, half-marathons and a few marathons, but with a stenotic back now, doing just a 5K in decent form (with the aid of a walking stick) will be an accomplishment.

Okay now I have rambled. I do appreciate the kind words, Honeybunny and Fred. I obviously was just in a down mood -- maybe I've recovered some just writing this.

Cheers to all.

Superbob
 
Superbob, "downs" are allowed I do believe. It can't always be up as we all know on this forum. Good to see you get the ball rolling on the course again this week. Your dog walking, exercise class, and 5k all good. (PF Chang's also) Those darn dentist appointments ruin my day also. Others go in for routine work and I always need a root canal or extraction. Grrr. There is my cheery add to this post :) and it only gets worse...........

Well after a full week of prep I got in for my colonoscopy and endoscopy last Friday Good INR before all this.....went off warfarin last Sunday, started Lovenox shots Tuesday(INR 1.4) , stop shots on Thursday morning, drank the gallon of lemon crap (key word being crap) Thursday and was up most of night(you know that word again) and had a 3 hour drive Friday morning with two stops to .....you know. They did not put me under much for colon test so let's just say it was no picnic

They must have gotten the word before going down throat as I was out for that. Started shots and warfarin Saturday morning and today my INR is a rotten 1.1 so still bridging and loving the blue belly tattoos, lol But hey! no colon cancer or esophagus problems so for that I am forever thankful.

Diagnosis on my anemia, low white count, and always needing transfusions?= due to coagulation treatment for mechanical heart valve(what about the last 5 years?) I think they continue to guess.

Have a good week all and hang in there!
 
jwinter;n878957 said:
Diagnosis on my anemia, low white count, and always needing transfusions?= due to coagulation treatment for mechanical heart valve(what about the last 5 years?) I think they continue to guess.
Thought I might share this: There's an enzyme that goes up when cells are damaged. It's called LDH. This will give you an idea as to how much 'damage' is caused to blood cells as they go through the valve. If it's significant enough, it may cause anaemia.

My LDH was 337 last time it was checked (This has got nothing to do with LDL, which is a type of Cholesterol). Have a look if you've got your blood results.

Also, when my white cell counts have been low, I've gone for a brisk walk and tested again. Exercise can make them go up again
 
Nice to see your post SB. I'm envious of your execerise class. It is nice to get compliments and good feedback.

As for for experiencing a colonoscopy, done that! I can only say I'm glad it was behind me (yes that was a pun). The good news , jwinter, is that there was nothing found.

I have been feeling great psychically, for the past week or so. Recovered from our 30 mile hike, no back pain, heart is happy, busy doing tech work, making pottery for an event we have coming up, and keeping the yard work up. I think the diet and outside work contributes to my feeling so well. Mentally, I'm getting somewhat concerned. It seams like I have a harder time with staying focused, communicating, and remembering things. It may be just an age thing, but dementia is something I fear more than heart failure. I'm going back to taking supplements that I was on before OHS. They asked me to go off them when I was in the hospital, and I never went back on them. My research confirms they are helpful, so I'm starting taking them again.

I'm planning to drive to Florida later this week. My mother in law has a winter home in Sebring and we understand it was damaged by Irma. Since she is 99 and lives her summers in Indiana, I'm going to check it out. This assumes Maria does not head there and they get power back on. Reports from that area sound like it is very hard dealing with the heat, limited ice, gas, food, and power. I can honestly say, this is not a trip I look forward to.

Thanks SB for helping us stay the course. Best to everyone.
 
Sure hope Maria doesn't get you, SB. The rapidity of hurricane development seems to have increased, or perhaps I'm simply more mindful of it.

I went to my line dancing class last Thursday for the first time in a month. And I did great, much to my surprise, like I was using someone else's feet. Maybe I was rested from the month-long break and better able to concentrate.

Glad you made it through the testing, jwinter . Not pleasant at all but necessary.
Have a safe journey to Florida, FredW .

And thanks again, SB, for staying the course :)
 
I am finally home after a three week absence. We spent two weeks on vacation before I went to our son's to await the birth of our fourth grandchild. I was in charge of our three year old grandson for the duration, and I may never be the same! Anyway, his mom gave birth to an almost eleven pound baby boy, so I'm not the only one in the household feeling the pain! My weight stayed stable and I'm motivated to try some of the recipes that Honeybunny linked in her post. Super bob, as one of the original members of the Throwdown threads, I can state unequivocally that you do a fantastic job leading the discussion. Don't give up the ship!
 
Checking in to STC. Still recovering from my surgery and probably will take at least a month. I went for a slow 70 minute walk on Saturday and had some pain toward the end and afterwards. So no more walks until I'm healed up. Good news is I've actually lost 1-2 lbs.

SB, keep up the good work. I check Monday for your starting post and then check it nightly to see how everyone is doing.

Glad everyone has survived summer, family visits and hurricanes. Weather cooled down out here in CA but I hear next week will be hot again. I'm looking forward to healing and getting back into some running.
 
Hi, everyone!

I'm still stayin' the course, too, but I got lost on it. We went away for an "off the grid" weekend last Friday, Saturday and Sunday, then I got back to work and have been too swamped to even look here. Things are settling down a bit now, I hope.

Hey, SB, glad you've made it through Irma. We have a trip to Ft. Myers booked later this year, and I have been keeping in touch with the hotel we reserved to ensure that they will be able to honor our reservation. They were closed for a while, of course, but now have re-opened. The lady there said there is still a lot of clean-up to be done in the neighborhood, but that they expect to be in full swing before we get there. I feel really bad for all the folks down there who went through all that, but I would be really disappointed if we have to cancel this trip. This one is supposed to be my "gift" to celebrate my 70th birthday and the completion of a very difficult year for me. I'm now a year out from last summer's mind-bending -- pacemaker and lead replacement, then radiation treatment for cancer -- both of which seem to be now doing fine.

This year's "new" issue (isn't getting older fun?) is that I finally admitted that I was having trouble hearing conversation, especially in a crowded room. I went through the usual ENT exam, and was referred to the audiologist. The testing was interesting, and not surprising. I have mild to moderate hearing loss, in the middle and upper frequencies. This explains why often I could hear someone speaking but not understand them. Much of the intelligibility of human speech is in the higher registers, and if this is deficient, so is comprehension under difficult conditions. Now I am even more "bionic" than I was before. I now have electronic ears along with the electronic, bovine enhanced heart, eyeglass-enhanced vision, cosmetically enhanced teeth. . . the list goes on. Now all I have to do is keep track of the battery change dates. . .
 
wow, Duffey -- amid all the turmoil of various kinds, I don't know if Ive properly congratulated you on the birth of fourth grandchild! You are now tied with me, but with the divorce next door now final, I probably will have to wait a while for the fifth to complete a basketball team.

You pegging that 11-pound lad as a future defensive end for Mizzou or as a power-hitting first baseman for the Cardinals? I know, they will pursue their own interests and talents but it is fun to think to think about what they might do or become.

My 3-year-old grandboy, Brooks, who looks to have an athletic build and boundless energy, will have his first tots' soccer game at the "Y" Saturday -- starting at 8 a.m. Yikes! early start to be playing organized (more or less) sports and early start for a game!

Best wishes for the newborn grand, his mom and grandmom, and the whole family!
 

Latest posts

Back
Top