John tells me I need to update this from the June 21st visit to my cardiologist.
I’m still tired from yesterday and not feeling up to much updating, but I will try.
Good news today is that the puppies got moved tonight to their new digs, and they are happy, but Mama Annie is not yet sure she wants to go in the different place. She got sort of attached to that back computer room pen. I did manage to do their toenails (cut them) today before the move.
Best news of the day is that our house roof is finished. It is beautiful.
Okay– back to yesterday. I drove myself to Yakima Heart Center for a 10:55 (I originally was planning for 10:15) so I was up way too early and with a lousy night’s sleep Sunday night. I got there 20 minutes early and then had a 25 minute wait to get in to see the nurse, and then the doctor. However, once there, he spent a full hour with me, so I felt good about that. First words out of his mouth; “Where’s your hubby?” John had always been with me since our first visit last July 2009. I explained that John was working on the roof, and that I could drive now, so I had driven myself down. I didn’t tell him I used John’s car and I think the seat is not set for my back, so the driving an hour down and back was actually painful.
The cardiologist had briefly seen me when I was in the hospital June 1 for the defibrillator implant and he just happened to see my name on the ICU floor. He dropped in to say hi. That was very cool. Previously, he hadn’t seen me since April 14th and we both agreed that seemed like ages ago.
We debriefed and he looked at all my recent lab blood draws. He determined that I need to be back on a statin type drug, which I had gone off of over a month ago, because of joint pain when I exercised. He wanted me to go on Lipitor, but I told him I doubted my insurance would pay for it, and they wouldn’t (well they wanted me to pay a co-pay of $60/month. Yikes. I had asked him if that happened, could I go back on Simvastatin, which I was on last fall. He said yes. So, I requested a refill on that, and thankfully, it is only 9.99/month. A lot better for the pocketbook, eh?
He also looked at some test which made him decide to change me to a medication to help my kidneys balance the sodium/potassium components. The new pill (Spironolact) is meant to help remove sodium and some water while keeping some of the potassium. Thus I can cut back on the intake of potassium. I should be able to start that tonight. I was taken off the huge dose / week of Vitamin D, and just have to have 1000 mg (or mE) each day.
Then he asked a bunch of questions about what I was doing, and what, if any symptoms I was having. He examined me with a stethoscope and pronounced me in pretty good shape. He also mentioned again that I was fortunate to be alive and what a challenge I was to the medical community. Not news – that.
He wanted to know what would tire me and cause my heart rate to increase. I said, “Well, if I ran up the driveway, which I have not tried to do.” He says that later this summer he will fit me with a heart monitor for a week to see how my heart is responding to the various things I’m doing.
He also went over the meds and the lab tests he wants me to have before I go to my family physician and to do that in about 3 weeks. Then come back and see him. I wish it were not so far to visit Yakima but it does have a Costco store and we do buy things there. I will have to go every 3 months for checking up on my ICD. My family physician is only 30 miles away, but the driving time can be similar in the winter (bad roads). Now it is fine and a pretty drive up the Yakima River Canyon to Cle Elum.
His report will be transcribed and I will get that transcription within a couple of weeks.
Then about 1:00 I was out of the office, and needing to eat lunch. There was not time to make it up for my exercise class that starts at 1:30, and I also wanted to visit Costco for dog food and such.
I picked up a nice grilled chicken salad and ate it before going to shop. Yum, and I was hungry. Off to Costco, where I got a motorized cart and asked for help lifting the heavy dog food. They were happy to help. I then motored around to get the rest of my needed things, and then got help to put them into my car. I filled John’s car with gas (his takes Regular, where mine doesn’t recommend it), and got it there at Costco for 2.85. Sweet. Then home. I didn’t make it back home until 3:30 and I was VERY tired. I might have slept for 1.5 hours– don’t really remember.
But, that’s the best I can do on updating you to my latest. Nancy