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I am actually breathing easier this morning. While it isn't perfect it is actually much improved. I slept fairly well, and nearly a full night. My attempts to squeeze a little more shut-eye out of the pillow came to naught. I was able to get up fairly easily and pretty much without chest pain caused by having a chest full of liquid. I didn't have to take it slow or easy, though doing much more than that will still probably require a bit of a light touch until I can get back on my feet, if that actually is possible. I still become a bit short of breath from a combination of light activities. It sure beats having panting attacks just sitting. Since I am going back on a diuretic, I will go back on the heart medicine and potassium. For the first week that is all I am going to try and balance. Toward the end of the week, depending on needs and how Gatorade is working, I may go back on the other supplements. If I am having problems, I may just cut the dose of the diuretic and call someone... if I'm not in too bad of shape to... get right on that.
I was simply too tired after everything yesterday to remember to investigate the term "congestive heart failure". While it has some meaning, some specific qualifiers, it is just as vague as the term "headache". And worse, getting any real grip on the thing is impossible. It seems as if doctors and authors like using terms to their advantage. If they think you are afraid of death, why then the thing is down right terminal if you don't follow their instructions to the letter. If you overreact or balk at death threats, well then the disease merely becomes something you ought to, as a moral condition for living, tend. Like women, I don't even think doctors themselves know the truth anymore.
A visit to cardiology and finding one doctor there or at my primary clinic to lead the treatment and give me a top-down assessment, and then making sure there is follow up so when I can't be compliant and am perhaps too exhausted to be a squeaky wheel I don't just slip away is about all I can try to arrange. Hey, if I can pull another half a life out of these bones, so long as there is some meat with the soup of life juice, I'll do it. Might even start looking for a hen, one that lays live young. Of course, maybe through out this thing, they can help me to more function beside just better health. Why I bother hoping on this stuff, I just can't be sure. But if they are going to promise Christmas treats and presents, I might as well ask if I can stay for dinner, nyet? Well, it is a plan.
Today is merely a day of recovery. I will try to get some of those home things on my list. Laundry languishes, dishes rebel, basic upkeep would be good. But if I can just have a day of relative rest and relaxation and not choke on my own breathe, I might just enjoy it without much muss or fuss. I'll fight when I can but I've just fought for breathe for a week. Nothing like being in a foxhole with an elephant stuck in there with you to wear you down a bit. Oh, wait, it was a RINO! Bah!
It is raining this morning, again. Oh cheer. Still, I really don't care. As long as I don't have to literally swim, let it pour. Me and the other cats will just hide out and chase whatever tails we see when we get bored. Have a good day, or a great one if you really have to!
My FIL had congestive heart failure and he lived to 83. For some reason your heart is not pumping strong enough to clear fluid from your lungs. MY FIL had an enlarged heart which means it was weakened - possiby from years of breathing chemical additives while finishing and grinding cement as a mason.
ReplyDeleteI used to take him to Strong Memorial Hospital in Rochester once a month to see his specialist. I learned a bit from listening and saw the echocardiograms as they examined him. There is a lot they can do.
sig94,
ReplyDeleteMan... Your OLD! *evil grins*
Well, that is good news. I am doing what I can. But when your in the bag, sometimes it feels like those helping you are just trying to hurt you. Like the wounded dog that bites his owner. I am trying to go easy on these guys, but I am letting them know they can't just willy nilly do stupid stuff, not if they really want to help. But I don't want them to physically fear me either. It's difficult bringing the right amount of bark, bite, and whine to the table to get things done.
If I didn't already have underlying exhaustion, I think this would be a lot easier. There is some chance that some of this stuff has been triggering on and off under the radar for a long time, causing the exhaustion. There is always a chance fixing one will fix all. But I'm not exactly holding my breath (can't at the moment anyway). Still, if you don't know a thing about it, telling someone they are having congestive heart failure... sort of takes them back a notch. Thanks again. Hmm, 84 you say? That's a lot of blogging!
"Hey, if I can pull another half a life out of these bones, so long as there is some meat with the soup of life juice, I'll do it. Might even start looking for a hen, one that lays live young."
ReplyDeleteA "hen" could keep track of time for you when you are unable to. There is that.
I wonder if, pending the procurement of said "hen", you might be able to find a roommate, or rather a live-in personal care attendant, one whose obligation in exchange for free rent might be to help you with time and med management and perhaps some of the basic household and shopping chores that fall down when you're out of it? I'd want to spell it out pretty clearly the scope of obligations on both sides as a lease/exchange agreement with the usual termination clauses on either side if it doesn't work out.
Just a thought.
I have considered the notion. Finding someone trustworthy is difficult. And I, no matter how I try, am a temperamental ass at times. I would not suffer another man in my home, so that means a woman, and it would be a suffering. Well, enough fun with words.
ReplyDeleteNo, I think I will have to find a way to have my boots on enough to defend myself before I would consider such a thing. And at such a moment, I would be able to find a hen. Trust me, when I start looking, finding a wife won't be an issue (a young layer, to boot). Choosing the right woman will be the real trick. I just have to settle some of my health issues first.
I swear, out here, I feel like a fisherman who came from hard waters and, as I row out, the fish are trying to jump in my boat! I don't need better gear or even a net. I need a bat. That's all I'm saying right there. I came, I saw, I am hiding in my pajamas (for the moment).