Text 19000, 124 rader
Skriven 2014-11-06 15:55:00 av NANCY BACKUS (1:123/140)
     Kommentar till en text av MICHAEL LOO
Ärende: Re: health 205
======================
-=> Quoting Michael Loo to Nancy Backus on 11-04-14  10:16 <=-

 ML>> We're still talking about several more weeks of full antibiotics.
 NB>> That's really bad.  Are they going to keep you on IV
 NB>> antibiotics for much longer...?
 ML> That was some issue. I must have reported on my battle with
 ML> the children doctors about switching to orals; well, as soon
 ML> as I won, they sprung me. Maybe I would have been released if
 ML> I had fussed earlier! 

Maybe... maybe not...  they might have just tried to figure out some
sort of alternative to the IV... like a port...  ;0

 ML> Anyhow, now I've been sent away with no
 ML> antibiotics at all. I asked the discharge nurse just to make
 ML> sure, and that's the way it is.
 
That sounds like they may have decided the antibiotics were causing some
of the problem....?

 NB>> I'm actually a little surprised they sprung you the
 NB>> first time, given that scenario...
 ML> When I am not unhealthy, I am very healthy, and that probably
 ML> gives the docs much optimism and a false sense of the gravity
 ML> of the situation. After all, I rated my pain as 4-5 with waves
 ML> of 6-7 for a phenomenon where most patients report 8-10.

I have ongoing issues with their 10-score pain scale... Some people's
bodies just do a better job of compensating for the pain so that all is
not necessarily felt... I generally have to "reset" the scale before
reporting...  Using words such as "exquisite" sometimes get the point
across better than a number...  

 NB>> Not having it there to burst out again seems to me to be
 NB>> a wise thing...
 ML> But that makes sense, too. I have been told that if you are
 ML> an Australian planning on visiting Antarctica, you must have
 ML> proof that your appendix is gone before being allowed to go.
 ML> The Ian trip in spring '15 might make me think a bit about it.

Especially if it's likely to act up again...  sounds like other issues
there as well, though...  

 NB>> along with a wonder if the thing can really heal up and
 NB>> have no more leakage in the future...
 ML> The thing healed in 2 days, the abscess in 4. Whether to
 ML> full strength I don't know, but when I asked about activity,
 ML> including straining on going to the bathroom, the doc said
 ML> no problem.

We can hope that things stay improved, then...  :)

 ML>> There was some pretty bad reflux from the week of stomach
 ML>> crap, and I still have to think about swallowing, where the
 ML>> stuff is going to go, and so on, but I presume it will
 ML>> resolve itself soon. I don't dare tell them about it here,
 ML>> or they might not let me go, and that would be a bummer.
 NB>> Hopefully it is resolving properly by now
 ML> We'll see! Today, not to brag or give TMI (ok, yes give TMI)
 ML> I had my first nonliquid poops today in over 3 weeks.

Hurrah!   :)   (takes a caregiver or mom to get excited about such
things, but there you have it... [g] )   Good sign... :)

 NB>>> That sounds like it might be related to Afib...
 ML>> Nup. Only similarity is that it's fast heartbeat; the
 ML>> causes and effects are different.
 NB>> Ah.  So it's a fast heartbeat, but without the irregularities...?
 ML> Tachycardia (a fancy medical term for fast heartbeat), as
 ML> I understand, can be categorized by its origin and its speed.

Right.

 ML> Fibrillation means heartbeat of over 100, whereas flutter
 ML> means over 200.

Fibrillation also has an aspect of irregularity to it... flutter is just
plain scary...  thankfully, Richard's never got to that point, but they
were afraid it would, hence the LifeVest he had to wear at the beginning
to be sprung from the hospital last year... 

 ML> Atrial (A-) and ventricular (V-) refer to the origins of
 ML> the dysrhythmia, the atria being the top chambers of the
 ML> heart and the ventricles being the bottom ones.

Right.

 ML> It is said that the ventricular versions are more serious
 ML> than the atrial ones, and of course the faster the beat the
 ML> worse.

That, too...

 ML> The terminology has had an amusing effect, as my brother has
 ML> some heart palpitations, which he attributes much importance
 ML> to, so he's had fairly extensive workups, which led to a
 ML> diagnosis of A-tach, which turns out to be the least dangerous
 ML> of the tachycardias, not still something you want to have. So
 ML> we were discussing this, and I said he shouldn't worry, such
 ML> arrhythmias are common and usually harmless, so he said, you
 ML> don't have them, what do you know. I admitted that for the
 ML> last 40+ years I have had V-tach, which is somewhat more
 ML> worrisome but doesn't particularly worry me. This sort of
 ML> shut him up, but now he's referring to his condition as
 ML> SVT (supraventricular tach), which though pretty much the
 ML> same thing has a more impressive sound.

And makes it sound less harmless...  but at least he had to acknowledge
that maybe you knew anything about it...  ;)   Richard's Afib is back...
he had a second cardioversion, which worked right off, but then only
lasted about 24 hours..  But the heartbeat isn't fast, just irregular,
so for the nonce, we are just keeping an eye on it.  Despite the
irregularity, it isn't impacting very much as the heartbeat is fairly
slow (actually a little on the slow side for normal), so he doesn't get
out of breath for normal things... If it gets worse, we will need to do
something about it... 

ttyl           neb

... We all have a branch on our family tree we would like to prune.

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