. . . report since the ICD implant happened
Well, it’s really 19 days since, but who’s counting. We have been very busy with various chores, besides dealing with the healing process and follow-up doctor visits and lab work. Will get to that in a minute, but for now I may tell you about something I left out of the device check write-up June 8th. I did say that I will be part of a research study, but I didn’t mention the fancy name. It is called GALAXY, and the acronym, (don’t we love those?) comes from this. I’ll try to highlight BOLD and CAPS the letters in the following phrase about the GALAXY Registry (LonG-term EvALuAtion of the LinoX FamilY ICD Leads Registry). How long do you suppose it took for someone to figure that out? It’s really not any different from just going in every 3 months for a device check-up, but I had to agree and to sign paperwork to give them permission to put “my data” in a research study. The purpose is to work toward improving the device technology for the future. I guess it is pretty good now, but I figured I would participate. Why not? Doesn’t cost me anything and I have to go in for all the checks anyway. I’m interested in participating in good things for the future of others needing the same help as I did. I have been grateful for all the comments from so many of you about success stories on friends and family who have had defibrillators. It’s amazing how many are out there and have reportedly been operative for some time.
I am going to visit my cardiologist this Monday, and will be driving myself down to Yakima. John is staying behind to care for the mom and the puppies, and to help taking off the last of the shingles (old) on the roof of our house – the front part. While there I will take a trip to Costco to pick up a few items.
So, there is not much new to report on my progress, except I seem to be a little stronger each day. I have been doing a lot of music venues, and turns out my fiddle would normally be held and rested on the place where the defibrillator is implanted. That wound is still there and still has on all its little Band-Aids (it has a fancier strip name, but I don’t know what it is). They haven’t rolled off yet. So, I moved over the fiddle to under my chin and lower down so I didn’t have to raise my left arm too high. I still need to use it to finger and to hold the fiddle, so the past 3 days of fiddling have been tiring. My right arm is getting more use too, so it aches some. I’m doing all right with Acetaminophen, just more than twice a day. People enjoy our music so much, and we enjoy providing it, that it all has a happy ending.
The puppies will be 4 weeks old this Monday, June 21st. That means they are ready for mushy puppy chow and their own water. This also means they are outgrowing their pen, so we will be moving them (probably Sunday) to new digs where they have more room. While I was gone to town to play for a 94th birthday party gig at one of the nursing homes, where they also gave us lunch, John took them out to play in the grass. One ventured away from the rest and into the raspberries. Then another went and almost got lost under the Nanking Cherry trees. Funny, but not so for John. He gathered them up and put them in a box and brought them back in ASAP.
I have not gone back to Physical Therapy because I’m waiting to hear if my insurance will pick up the rest along with Group Health. If it is costing me $25 for 45-minutes on a machine, and I’m already paying a couple hundred to have medical insurance each month, plus the cost of Medicare each month, it makes no sense. I am going to the SAIL class (earlier mentioned in this blog), at the Adult Activity Center 3 times/week for an hour, for only $3 for 3 months. That’s a fine deal. We get lots of stretching, strengthening and balance exercises each session. I cannot do anything with my left arm that causes it to be raised above my shoulder, but I still can do a lot of the exercises.
I have done a little bit of walking around our place. A couple days ago I walked into the lower pasture with John to retrieve the 3 “new” horses. They now return to their pen on command from John, off the high grass. It’s amazing to me to see how responsive they have become to his wishes and commands. They also had not been fed treats before in their life and it is great to see them coming over to him for a carrot. The day I went, the youngest (4 years old), Breeze, came up to me for a carrot. (He has not seen a lot of me, so that was a rewarding experience.)
One of our recent times this past week was having the farrier in to do trimming on some of the horses. While John rounded up the new ones, I held Myst for her trimming. That was nice to be back in the thick of things around the “ranch”.
Our roofing project is going well too. The barn was done in time to load it with hay last Sunday. Lucky for John our provider came with two large trailer loads and a person to help unload and pack into the barn, and a powered bale elevator/conveyor. Had John had to do this alone as we have in the past, it would have required at least 10 trips in the truck and trailer, across the valley, and back, and also he would have to do all the lifting and packing into the barn. This was great. He had only to supervise, open gates (which he had just built) for access for the big tractor trailer truck, and open windows and doors on the barn, plus build fences and tarps to protect the hay in the runway from having the horses nibble and break into the bales.
Other chores around the yard have kept John busy as well as horse training. This is a year when we have had more rain than usual and the grass is high everywhere. He has shifted the horses in and out of the pasture (and our backyard) twice a day. It also has been very windy. The temperatures have been down, however, which has made the yard work and roof work bearable. I have been able to join the two guys each day for lunch outside.
Another thing we’ve been able to do is go to lectures at school and in the community. There was an interesting 6 lectures given in downtown Ellensburg by one of our former colleagues in the Geology Department. We missed two unfortunately, when I had this recent procedure, but we made the last one, and that was special. The topics have all been on Washington State geology. It is totally fascinating.
I guess you must be tired of hearing all this unrelated to the heart procedures, but to know I’m back to doing some of this stuff is very positive. I’m happy to be alive to enjoy my retirement.
I’m still attending yard sales when I can and picking up bargains. I had to get a whole new wardrobe because of my weight loss, and while doing that I also have found a few items for John. There are pretty nice shirts out there that are almost new and of a quality we probably wouldn’t have bought new.
Thanks for staying tuned, and thanks again for all your prayers and thoughts that got me this far.
Nancy
[from John: I’ll add something medical but unrelated to Nancy’s heart. In December, while Nancy was in the ICU, I developed a “floater” in my right eye. This turned out to be something of a false floater called a Weiss Ring and of little consequence, especially for me as I am left-eyed. My right eye is of little use (sort of a spare) that would wander off until a couple of muscle-relocations brought it into alignment. However, my brain ignores the image that eye sends and so the “floaters” in it are not noticed. Yesterday the left eye developed its own Weiss Ring and this one is going to take a bit more getting used to. I’ll have it inspected this coming week because occasionally a small retinal tear occurs during detachment and that could be serious.]