Where My Health Stands Today

Besides the "best" efforts of my previous PCP(aka Primary Care Physican)to do me in, here is where my health stands today.

My Right Heart Catheterization Procedure showed normal pressure levels in my heart, which is excellent news.
The cardiologist took me off of the oxygen 24/7.  He still wants me for now to be on oxygen support while sleeping, but instead of 3 litres, I am on 1 litre, the lowest you can go.
I got my BiPAP(bi-level Positive Air Pressure)Machine 2 weeks ago this coming Monday and have been using it nightly during sleep.  I meant to show y'all my new toy but it's upstairs and I kept forgetting to take the camera up at night to snap a photo.  It's black, sleek and yes sexy, since it helps me get the rest I need, so I can get better. ;-)

I've been taken off some meds, gone on others, but overall the amount has decreased.

The weight has plateaued....sigh....partly due to changed meds and they took me off of the one that was helping me lose weight.  I haven't been able to get the exercise program going yet, which I need to do to get the metabolism kicked up a notch.  It's hard to exercise beyond a slow pace when your lungs don't allow you to get enough oxygen saturation.
I had a lung function test a couple of weeks ago and it shows decreased functioning and I have some permanent lung issues.  I'm breathing better but not up to snuff.

The cardiologist wants me to consider bariatric surgery.  He feels that is the only way I am going to get enough weight off in the time frame I need to have it gone.  He says I am lucky that the heart cath shows normal heart function because if it had come back abnormal, along with my breathing problems, that no surgeon would have considered doing general anesthesia surgery on me.

The PCP is of both minds on this bariatric surgery subject....mostly due to it's extreme nature.  I have so many other problems that surgery and the changes this surgery will entail will be difficult to balance with all the other meds and conditions.
Of course, if I have the surgery and get the weight off, some of these conditions will go away or lessen to a great extent.
I went down this bariatric surgery road once before in 2006 or so.  I got to the psychological evaluation process after 6 months of appts. with this surgeon's nutritionist/caseworker(which insurance did NOT pay a penny for)when this doctor decided to stop performing bariatric procedures totally.  He decided that it was NOT a permanent solution for weight reduction, as all his patients were regaining the weight 5 years out or so.  So instead of committing to do surgery on the patients still in the process, he just walked away without even a "Sorry folks".....
So basically I was left paying OOP a goodly sum and was at the end of the line.  I would have had to start from the beginning again with a new doctor which we could have done financially but psychologically and emotionally I was not prepared to do.

Hubs and I are mulling over whether to go down this road again.  I know techniques have improved so I am not as reticent due to the possibility of a botched procedure that could affect my life for whatever is left of it.  Maybe the lap band procedure(which is not as extreme and fully reversible)may be my compromise.  I just don't know what to do at this point.

I am currently having all those routine female tests done and they want me to schedule the big "You are over 50 now, let's dig around in your colon" Test. 
The Nurse Practitioner ordered the test because she did a sample and it came back positive for blood.  I think it was due to my hemorrhoids but better to be safe than sorry.
Yes, Sluggy has hemorrhoids.
TMI for sure..... ;-)

My blood pressure is good.
My blood sugars are good.
My cholesterol is a little high.
My sleep apnea is MUCH improved.

So I am still here and kicking and look to be here for the foreseeable future.
I am going with the program and taking the tests and pills as ordered, sticking to my low sodium diet and trying though it seems lately in vain, to get some weight off.
And this is all in my spare time.....LOLOL
Not really, it pretty much has taken over and has become my life.

So I should be around to bother the crap out of everyone for a long time still.
Aren't you glad? 8-)

Sluggy



 

Fun Times at Chez Sluggy

We are busy, busy, busy lately here at Chez Sluggy.

Last week we had our initial Sleep Apnea consult at the Sleep Disorders Clinic.
Geez, I can't even be orderly when I sleep.....

Then the daughter picked up her beau at the airport in Philly.  Say hello to Justin......

The barbecue and ribs I smoked, along with some COC roasted on the grill, hit the spot on Friday night.
Saturday we met daughter and her beau for a late lunch/early dinner.  They don't have "Friendly's" down in Louisiana so they wanted to go there.
They get to pick the venue and Hubs and I get to pick-UP the check. Hmmmmm.

Daughter got this monstrocity called a Grilled Cheese Hamburger.

It's 2 grilled cheese sandwiches for the "bun" of a hamburger.....2 grilled cheese with a hamburger in the middle of the pile.

It's no longer on the menu so you have to ask for it special and it's got a hefty price tag attached.

But daughter says it's, "Freakin' awesome!"


Coming home I didn't like the looks of this cloud.....

It was angry and starting to swirl.
Luckily it did NOT spiral into something nasty and chase us home.

Sunday morning, daughter and her beau loaded up her new car to head out on a 1,300 miles trip to Louisiana.

 

I don't know how they got everything they did packed into that little car.  There's a rather large tv in the trunk, all her clothes and a massive shoe collection.  Yeah, daughter is one of "those women". lol

 She had wanted to take her recumbent exercise bike in that car, which was NOT happening.  Now I get to use it...yay!

Bon Voyage favorite daughter!

*They made it to LA safe and sound. 8-)

The rest of Mother's Day was uneventful and low key.  Oldest son called me that evening and we hardly saw Youngest son since he works in a restaurant and it was Mother's Day.
'Nuff said....lol

Monday I got to go have blood drawn and got the added treat of peeing into a cup. 8-))

Tuesday evening I got to spend the night in the hospital at the Sleep Disorders Center.  I had a sleepover where they wired me up and watched me sleep.  Now how much fun does that sound like.....watching me sleep?  About as exciting as watching paint dry I think.

The Sleep Doc says I have Pickwickian Syndrome(named after the little Dickensian fat boy, John, in The Pickwick Papers, who can't seem to catch his breath).
It's one of the myriad of problems they say I have that is causing me to have heart problems.  Treatment consists of weight loss and using a Positive Air Pressure machine or a BiPAP at night while sleeping.
Oh goody!  Now I get to look like a Snuffleupagus and sound like Darth Vader.

 

Not very sexy at bedtime....

Wednesday I got to go hang out at the Heart Hospital.
I got to sit on a bed in a lovely shmatah and they gave me this cool jewelry.....

The not so cool part was they also got to poke me with needles.  I got two, count 'em two, IV lines!
And the second line took 2 tries to get right.
But wait....there's more!
When they took me in for the catheterization the second line came out when the nurse was futzing with it, so I got a lovely new line put into my artery.
Isn't my bandaid HUGE?!  It matches my huge nostrils.......

They did a right heart catheterization to measure the pressures in my heart.  Just one of the many diagnostic tests I've been subjected to lately.
It involves running a tube into the right chamber of the heart and measure pressures there and into the lungs.
Cross your fingers I pass this test.
It was a SONOFABITCH with no anesthetic.
And since they had to go into my neck artery the trip was shorter but my 40 min. in and out the door procedure took 6 HOURS!  2 to prep, 2 to perform and 3 laying in recovery to make sure I didn't bleed out or something.
Yikes!
It's a good thing Hubs took the whole day off to take me.

The good thing it's a good excuse to be lazy and do NOTHING around the house for 5 days, per doctor's orders.
Go Me!

So we are slowly going down a list of ailments and ticking them off as we find out we are NOT afflicted with them.
I go see the cardiologist next week to see what the next step is.

Today I colored my hair so I don't look like my son's grandmother at his college graduation on Saturday.
Then I had a hot young thang deliver oxygen cylinders to me.  I undressed him with my eyes while he carried those large torpedoes into the house.

And now I am waiting on my brother to arrive from Virginia so I can feed him and he can ride with us to the ceremony.
The weekend promises to be jam packed with activity too.

What are you up to lately?

Sluggy