Last night of 47

On this, the last night of my 47th year, my reflection is this....it can only get better.

The past year has been very, very difficult. In more ways that I thought I was capable of surviving..but here I am!

Happy birthday to me, tomorrow.

oh, COME ON!!!

I really need a fu@%ing BREAK!

Got a letter shortly after my mammogram appointment at the beginning of the month from the breast center. The letter stated that they saw something in my current study that they wanted to compare to my previous films, from back in Illinois.

Fine. Whatever. I called and told them that my name has changed since the last study, and then I didn't hear anything else for a couple of weeks.

Friday, my doctor's office called to tell me they were going to schedule my previously discussed breast MRI, which my doctor recommended merely because I have never had one, and it is a good thing to do once in a while, with a family history like mine.

So I just figured that was that. The films must have come, and everything must have been okay.

But then, the breast center called today.

They were unable to obtain my previous studies, gods only know why, and the issue at hand is worrisome enough that they now want me to go back for more compression views of my left breast.

I really, really need this stress to stop.

Trying not to get too upset, but, just like Dave having to wait a full week for his last angio, I have to wait a full week for this....and I will need all of the prayers I can get to help me through it.

(p.s. the last time this happened, several years ago, I had to withstand ELEVEN compression views of my left breast in one session. The pressure was so much that it actually ruptured the tissue inside my breast and caused bleeding. Yeah...so you can maybe understand a little more about why I might be upset....)

Dragons' Roost Headlines

Jack has been doing just fine. After the vet visit, Dave cleaned the kitchen floor really well, and I stopped smelling the bug spray....and then, the next day, Jack was fine.

So.

Who knows? I've been feeling pretty miserable myself, with allergy like symptoms. Maybe it's something that's been in the air here, after heavy rains, to which neither Jack nor myself has ever been exposed in the spring time.

All I know is that I am very relieved that he seems to be doing well. I am still taking stuff to fight my symptoms, but he's doing FINE.

Dave is currently in negotiations to buy a used car. We are waiting for the salesman to call.
We already went and took a test drive, and gave the car a looking over. We'll see what happens.

When Dave told the salesman that he had researched the car on line, and found out what it's really worth, the guy started to actually work the deal. Should be interesting!

We are going to load our bikes into the truck, stop at the bike shop for them to adjust my brake, and take a slow, easy spin on the river trail. Then, unless we're buying a car later, out to do errands.

Dave has been feeling pretty good this week. Only a couple of brief episodes of discomfort.

Maybe what ever "it" is has started to improve on it's own? We don't know.

All that matters is that he has had mostly good days this week, and that he feels good today.

enough already...

so...the good news is that Dave's CT came out clear.

We ARE, it seems, doing everything right. The question remains, where did this shortness of breath come from, and why isn't it going away?

Dave sees the doctor on May 13.

In other news, Jack the Cat has been having some issues.

He was sick on Saturday morning, and after he threw up, he suddenly went into what the vet thinks was a minor seizure.

His bloodwork came back FINE, and he checked out fine in every other way at the vet....so there is no clear path, other than to keep an eye on him. If these episodes start to repeat, he will have to go on meds.

So, that was all well and fine, but then yesterday, he started drooling profusely. I noticed it IMMEDIATELY the moment I got home from work.

Last night, at one point, he was drooling, his nose was running, and his eyes were tearing...but it just sort of stopped, so that was why we didn't go to the emergency vet.

Dave took today off, and took Jack back to the non emergency vet. The vet looked VERY thoroughly in Jack's mouth, to make sure nothing is injured or lodged in there...and she found.....you guessed it...NOTHING!~

As far as she's concerned, Jack is a PERFECTLY healthy 10 year old cat. No lung congestion, no fever, no signs of health distress of any kind, other than drooling.

I asked Dave to tell her that the apartment complex sprayed for roaches last week. The vet thinks MAYBE one cause of the drooling MIGHT be the SMELL of the bug spray.

Um....that WAS last week, and he just started drooling profusely only yesterday, a couple of days after what was thought to be a seizure.

To sum up, she was clueless. She said maybe there's something in the air that's irritating his upper respiratory tract. I know that I have been feeling a bit ill lately with a scratchy throat and stuffy head. Maybe he has kitty allergies?

Jack's appetite, behavior, and litter box use is all totally normal. There's nothing to do for it but just try to ignore it!!

I have had just about enough stress over the past several months to last a lifetime.

I need a freakin massage!!!

Another update on Dave

So, when we left the hospital last Friday, after waiting all day for the doctor to come, the doctor said "come and see me in the office in 2 weeks."

Monday morning, Dave called to make said appointment, and was told Doctor will be out of the country on vacation at that time. The soonest he could get in would be May 13.

Dave is in considerable discomfort from time to time, and doesn't feel normal most of the time because of the shortness of breath.....and he has to wait a month go see the doctor?

No.

SO...since the doctor had said he wanted to review things and order some more tests, Dave decided to call the office back and say " since I was supposed to see the doctor next week so he could order some other testing, but he won't even be here, how about you go ask him to order some tests NOW, so I can go get them done while he's away?"

The office actually cooperated, a test was ordered and scheduled, and Dave had a CTA of the chest done yesterday, down at the heart hospital.

Remarkable.

SO, now Dave plans to call the office again on Monday, and ask to see a different doctor, who is just as capable of reading his records and his test results as the regular doctor.

Hopefully, he will be able to see someone next week, as directed by his primary cardiologist, and maybe get some answers.

Bumpers

One of the things I've noticed since I got here, that was not part of my very long blog post titled "I've noticed...." is the prevalence of vehicles that are missing a bumper.

Usually the front one.

All different shapes, sizes, and classes of vehicles--from 20 year old beaters to brand new luxury cars--- can be seen around these parts sans front bumpers.

It's like the vehicle owners have purposely removed them, and left them at home. Or something.

While most of the ones that are missing their bumpers are of the "beater" type, I HAVE seen several examples where the rest of the vehicle is pristine, clean, and well cared for...but the front bumper is missing.

By the highway a couple of weeks ago, I saw a large bumper-- like would belong on one of those very popular, testosterone laden, huge pick up trucks--just lying there, abandoned.

Then, I laughed out loud last weekend when Dave and I passed a place of business called "The Bumper Exchange," that had a fenced-in bin out front that was loaded with all sizes and colors of bumpers!

Is this where the bumpers go when they're removed? Do people sell their bumpers, like they sell their blood, or plasma, or ova?

Now, it may be true that every third or fourth car, truck, SUV, or van back in Chicagoland was ALSO without a front bumper...but, I never noticed it.

Yeah. It may be true....

Right?

Well..THAT was fun....

Dave's paperwork from his doctor's office said specifically, be at the hospital at 9 for an 11:00 out patient procedure on Thurs. 4/8.

I filled out the form, and scheduled to take ALL of my accumulated off time, so that I could take the day off, and accompany him.

We arrived at about 8:45 and checked in.

We sat in the waiting area until 10:30. A nurse finally came over from the cath lab and picked us up. As she was getting Dave a gown, she said "You DO know your appointment isn't until 1 pm, don't you?"

Um...no....we did NOT. A phone call might have been nice, I said, to alert us to the change....but the nurse said that it was ALWAYS scheduled for 1, nothing had changed.

It was the woman at the doctor's office, who wrote everything down for Dave, who made the error. Somehow, between making the appointment for him, and getting everything written down, her mind shifted from "1:00 procedure, be there at 11," to "11:00 procedure, um...I guess you need to be there at 9!"

Moron.

So, we waited. And waited. Dave, starving for food, lying on the gurney, in a gown, in a freezing pre-op bay.

Eventually, they came in for blood, and to insert the IV port. Dave melted down, even though they gave him valium to try to way lay the melting.

He did relatively okay, though, as long as I was holding the other hand, and could get him to LOOK AT ME, and listen to me, while it was happening. He did better than some other times when I have seen him completely freak out, screaming and thrashing around.

His mom arrived.

We waited. And waited.

1:00 came and went...no sign of the doctor.

2:00.

3.

FINALLY, the doctor, who had not only us, but the entire cath lab crew, waiting around for HOURS, finally came. He said something about being on call at another hospital.

Why would you schedule an on call day for the same day you're scheduled for procedures at a different hospital? Asinine.

The procedure was over in about 45 minutes. In, out, easy.
Doctor said everything was fine inside of Dave's chest....so there was still no clear reason for his shortness of breath.
"Everything should be okay, and you can take him home this evening. We'll do some other tests in a couple of weeks."

The doctor escorted me and Dave's mom over to recovery, where Dave was having a good deal of trouble coming out from under the sedation drugs they'd given him.

We waited.

And waited.

Dave struggled. Then, in a moment of relative lucidity, he said "My chest hurts," and he started to panic. So, of course, WE started to panic. I reached across him to the nurse call, and pressed it.

"Can I help you?" I replied: "He's complaining of chest pain."

4 nurses crowded in around the table, and one ran out to call the doctor. They administered an EKG, and gave him nitro under his tongue, and took his blood pressure.

The doctor said "admit him."

The chest pain stopped, Dave was put into a sitting position, and said "I'm hungry," so one of the nurses got him some crackers and 7Up. He had not, after all, eaten since the previous day, and it was now going on 6 pm.

He went back to sleep.

We waited, and waited, while they tried to get him a room.

I started to think about my own experiences coming out of sedation.....I have had very emotional moments, call them melt down, where all of the stress and anxiety that had built up BEFORE the procedure comes flooding out in those moments of "no guard" while still drugged up.

I figured his chest pain, since everything else appeared normal, was an intense anxiety attack, like the one he had 10 years ago that landed him in a hospital with chest pains!

Mom went home.

Ultimately, we were in a room by about 7:15, and I ran home to get something to eat, and to pick up some things for Dave.

He slept.

I was back by 8, and did not wake him until about 9:30, at which point I asked him if they had brought him his dinner, like they were supposed to, while I was gone.

I did not see a tray, and usually, the tray sits there for hours before it's taken away.

No. They had not fed him. No one had been in his room for anything yet, except me.

It was 9:30 at night, and all he'd had to eat, since 7 the night before, was crackers. He was admitted from post-op because of chest pains, and no nurse had been to visit.

I was, needless to say, less than pleased.

I went out to find his tech, and sent her to get him some freakin dinner!!

He ate, and a nurse finally came in, FOR THE FIRST TIME, and asked him her series of check in questions, which she entered into a lap top computer on a little wheeled stand.

She also hooked him up to his oxygen, which had been disconnected since they moved him in,and took his vitals.

Anyway....he went back to sleep, and I came home, called my boss on her cell, and went to bed.

The next day, the doctor was supposed to come by in the morning and make sure all was well, and discharge him.

I got up and went back to the hospital, instead of to work, because that was what we had been told.

When I got there, Dave explained how the staff didn't seem to know what they were doing...first one person brought him breakfast, then another came to take it away..."We have to do an ultrasound of your gall bladder."

He explained, as he had over and over to other various staff, including the nurse the night before who had entered it into the computer, that he had not HAD a gall bladder for nearly 25 years!

"Oh" said the nurse....

Eventually, they let him have some water, but kept saying they could not feed him. The doctor HAD ordered a gall bladder ultrasound, because gall bladder pain can refer up into the chest....but the doctor didn't even seem to remember that Dave's gall bladder has been gone for 25 years.

So, they came and wheeled him away at 11, and did an ultrasound of his right upper quadrant anyway. Whatever.

Then, they FINALLY let him eat, but not until lunch time.

Hours and hours passed. The doctor didn't come.

FINALLY, after sitting around in his room, doing nothing but watching him sleep, and watching tv, the doctor FINALLY showed up at around 5:30 and told us to go home. No excuse was offered this time.

I took a day off, unscheduled and without pay, which my company REALLY frowns on, for nothing.

Dave didn't even know I was there for most of the day, because he was asleep.

It was, needless to say, very frustrating.

During the check out process, the nurse removed the IV port from his hand, and blood spurted out onto the floor like a fountain. I almost fainted, and so did Dave.

This was the nurse he'd had all day, the one who told him TWICE about his gall bladder ultrasound, even after he'd told her the first time she mentioned it, that he doesn't have any such organ.

She obviously didn't know how to deal with port removal on a patient taking 3 different blood thinners.

Jeezuz.

So we had to wait a while until she got that under control. He left with a blood covered hand, with a big lump of gauze under a pressure bandage. Unbelievable.

This entire experience was FAR worse than the last in terms of staff competency.

BUT, this time, Dave feels a lot better after the procedure. Not nearly as much pain and stiffness in his leg where they went into his artery.

The doctor thinks Dave is having ANXIETY issues, and also that the artery around the stent is spasming, causing the shortness of breath. He still wants to do some lung capacity tests, to check for any other possibilities, but not for a couple of weeks.

We can start back on our exercise routine in a week.

What a fiasco this whole thing was.....

Summer in April

It's been oddly summer like for the past few days, and my body is very confused.

There's so much pollen in the air that my car is coated with a layer of fine, yellow dust. Fortunately, I feel pretty good most of the time. The remnants of a cold I had a couple of weeks ago still linger, but I am surprisingly free of allergy like symptoms.

Could be the Zyetec I take every day.

The daffodils and tulips are already done, and the redbuds (of which there are thousands) and crab apples are all in full, riotous bloom.

I did not realize how many colors of redbud blossom there are! From pale pink to deep, lush fuscia! They're gorgeous!

The geranium on the patio is blooming happily, as are the scarlet begonias. It's been in the 80's every day for several days, but everyone says that's not really the norm for this time of year. This is good to know, so I don't dread what is yet to come quite so much!

(meaning, if it's in the 80's in late March and early April, what the hell am I in for in August?! I already know it's going to be hotter than anything I have ever lived through...but I don't need to be weirded out about it already!!)

My mammogram is tomorrow. I have admittedly not had one for years. They are just SO painful on my fibrocystic breasts....that I have managed to put it off for a while now. The last two I had were normal, so I have not gone the last two times a doctor has ordered one.

My new doctor is not standing for that, though, so I have to go.

Then, Dave's procedure is Thursday. He is at the hospital right now, having blood drawn, and doing the preliminary chest xray and EKG. He should be home in a little while.

He continues to feel ill at ease, and has trouble getting a deep breath. I personally can't wait til this is over with, and he feels better.

It's had him in a horrible funk, understandably, and I want my husband back.

Please continue to keep him in your prayers.

Setback

Dave's been feeling great for a while now. Exercising 3 times a week, enjoying life, feeling good....we just bought new bikes to go riding on the weekends, and on the evenings when we don't go to the gym.

But this past week, suddenly, he started experiencing shortness of breath.

Fortunately, his cardiologist appointment was already booked for 4/1. He went, and explained to the doctor about the sudden change of status.

The doctor is pretty well convinced that Dave has a clog in his stent. Another angiogram, or whatever it's called, is scheduled for Thursday.

They can approach any potential clog one of two ways, to compress it with a balloon, or to insert an adjunct stent that releases medication over time to prevent formation of a clot.

My question is why didn't the original stent contain that medication?

Dave was initially very upset, but now realizes that if it were something REALLY dangerous, the doctor would have sent him from the office over to the hospital on the spot. Instead, he is waiting a week before the procedure.

The doctor said "we have to make sure." That's exactly what's happening....they are going to make sure everything in there is as it should be, so we can continue on enjoying life, and exercising, and moving forward.

This is a temporary set back.

I hope.

Dave's procedure will be done out patient this time, and he should be able to go back to work on Monday. He will be sore again for a while where they insert the cath into his groin, but compared to last time, this one should be easier.

Please keep him in your thoughts over the next week or so....thanks.