September BP

 

A Night in the E.R.

Friday night, we had Shaun come over and we did a little floor leveling in the kitchen. 

Later in the evening, I told Susan that I was feeling pressure in my chest. I had been feeling it since mid afternoon and had finally decided that there might be a problem.

We checked into the Emergency Room at Sacred Heart Hospital about 7:00. It was a pretty busy night in the E.R.

We finally got in to see a doctor around 11:00. They had run blood tests on me and found no issues that indicated heart problems. They put me on an I.V. drip of Nitro Glycerin and that eased the pressure. it went from a 4 to a 1, then it bounced back up to a 3. They bumped up the Nitro and the pressure faded, then it returned. They finally got it to where I was feeling just a shadow of pressure...perhaps a .5 on the pain scale.

I was in an alcove of the E.R. all night. Susan finally went home around 4 to get some sleep.

The decision was to admit me and then do a heart cath some time on Saturday.

They moved me to another little room in the E.R. around 6:00 and Susan showed up around 9:00. 

There were more tests and visits from various doctors and they got the heart cath scheduled for around 1:00.

The heart cath went well although it showed no major changes from two years ago.

I got parked in a nice double room on the sixth floor that I had all to myself.

Susan left for home at 7ish and I spent a restless night in good ol Room 622.

They let me out on Sunday just in time to get home and watch the Seahawks beat the Carolina Panthers.

I still feel a little woogy.

I had an appointment this morning with the Zeus Study people and my blood pressure was really low. Like 75/45. I was feeling dizzyish and my vision seemed cloudy around the periphery.

They made me stick around until it came up a bit. I was let go when it hit 89/65.

I am currently feeling okay but still woogy. I just checked my blood pressure and it was 105/64.

So I'm taking things easy today.

Stuff To Do

Yesterday, I didn’t do anything! It was a bit too chilly and rainy to do anything outside, and I didn’t really have anything to do inside. That was yesterday.

I have several little projects to do today but the primary job is to get the TV working again.

Last evening, Mark came over to help us clear out the kitchen. We moved the bar, a side table, the small beer refer, our big kitchen table and the TV stand.

After we were finished, Susan and I settled down into the TV Room to wind down with a little television. With no luck.

Apparently, all the TV’s are tied to the main set up in the kitchen.

So my first task of the day is to figure that out.

8:37AM: That turned out to be easier than I thought. All I had to do was reconnect the Kitchen TV’s cable box and all was well in TV Land.

Next, I’m going to have some breakfast and then clean up all the extraneous debris we found while moving stuff last night. 

12:05PM: I have just about finished cleaning the miscellaneous debris from the kitchen. The back of the Piano Bar was stuffed with useless crap I never use. Flashing booze necklaces, dice games, and more coasters than a bar needs. There was also some useful crap that I had forgotten I had.

I’m doing pretty well with the useless crap, most of it going into the trash and the rest to Goodwill or the church basement sale.

5:45PM: Susan and started on the last remaining window that needs to be stripped. I pried off the trim and we got to work stripping the paint off.

We put in a couple of hours and got a pretty good start.

DecaFecta

For several months now, I have been creating shower art. I have been saving the little slivers of soap. In the past, I will take the previous sliver of soap and fuse it to a new bar of soap.

I started fusing the slivers together to make an all new bar of soap. When I had three pieces I called it the trifecta bar of soap.

Today, I am happy to present the Decafecta.

That's right. It's ten slivers of soap combined into one. There are five slivers of Irish Spring interlaced with five slivers of Dove.

I'm going to keep building it. This is the fun kind of stuff I do here in Retirement.

Visit to G.P.

I woke up this morning to discover that many of steri-strips had fallen off the Pacemaker scar during the night. So I peeled off the remaining ones in the shower to expose my nice new scar.

Pretty, huh?

It still looks a little rough to me but maybe it will mellow as the healing continues.

My blood work indicates that I have a kidney problem. In my paperwork from the Pacemaker install, there is a line that says, “Acute kidney injury with acute tubular necrosis.” 

Today I went to Dr. Henry, my G.P., to get a referral to a kidney specialist. In looking at my chart, he determined that my kidney injury isn’t as acute as the notes might suggest. He decided the better option was to put me on another drug called Farxiga. It deals mostly with diabetes but is also beneficial to kidney issues.

So I’ll see Dr. Mooney tomorrow and see if she approves of adding this drug.

Oh boy! Another one! That makes nine.

Rogue Flora

 Susan and I generally feel that our house is where plants come to die. We have major brown thumbs. Mine is perhaps browner than Susan’s but not by much.

I bring this up because of this amazing floral phenomenon happening in our yard.

This pot used to contain a grassy plant that came back every year. This year, it was all dried out and didn’t respond to watering when we brought it out of the Carriage House last April.

So we left it alone and these petunias bloomed out of the pot all on their own. We didn’t even water it.

This morning, I found this one lone petunia that bloomed right out of the cement. I think it popped out and bloomed overnight. I’m going to drop a little water on it and encourage it as much as possible with what is left of the growing season.

My tomatoes are still going strong and I’ve had trouble eating them all. I hope I remember that for next Spring.

Our State Fair . . .

Today we went to the fair. The Spokane Interstate Fair is a tradition that Susan and I have attended ever since we started going out together. We attended this year with our friends, Jim and Jill, who also have joined our annual attendance tradition for nearly the same length of time.

Also joining us was Ellen, our nemesis in the Wine Competition. 

We are happy to report that we did well this year. Both our wine entries received Reserve Grand Champion awards.

A 

Our wine labels did well in the competition as well, although I thought Susan’s label should have done better. I really liked her design.  

The guy who won Grand Champion for both wine and label is the same guy who beat us the last few years, Frank Burk. No relation.

We had a great day at the fair and ate a lot of bad fatty food that was really gooood.

Pace Maker Day

I am writing from Room 560 of the Heart Institute. I am being prepped to replace my defibrillator with a shiny new pacemaker.

It’s 11:00 right now and my procedure is scheduled for 1:30. So I have this iPad here to keep me entertained.

I shall update further when I have something worthy of updating

1:39PM: The procedure was initially set for 12:30. It’s now 1:39 and I’m still waiting.

2:00PM: Okay, here we go. They are taking me in. If this post ends here, you’ll know it didn’t go well.

4:00PM: I just out of the surgery and feeling a little groggy. Apparently, all went well. I am hungry so I think that’s a good sign. 

My new pacer has got me to about 60 beats per minute. I am excited to see if it makes a difference with my stamina.

In the meantime, let’s eat!

7:23PM: We have just returned from the Cathay Inn. I am now fat and happy. Of course, I was already fat. And happy too!

Un-Disabled

As of today, I am 66 1/2 years old. According to the Social Security Administration, I am no longer disabled. I’m now just an old guy on Social Security.

I don’t have anything else to add but I thought it was an important item to make note of.   

Heart Update

On Friday, the 8th of September, I am going in for a quick surgery to update my Defibrillator.

Dr Harwood, who is my Electro-Physiologist wants to change out the Defib for a Pacemaker with an additional lead. Right now, I have one lead to the top of the heart. The Pacemaker will add a lead to the bottom of my heart.

Instead of having a Defibrillator that will pace me when needed, I am now getting a Pacemaker that will raise my heart rate and defib me as needed.

The hope is that with a faster heart rate, my stamina will improve. Right now, my daily heart rate seems to be around 50 beats per minute. 

I don't know what the new rate will be but I will find that out and report it here.