Sunshine! Sunshine! Lovely Golden Sunshine!
Today was a good day. Started rocky, but looks to be finishing off with a golden dazzle of sunshine.
It's been cloudy and cold for two weeks here. Very winter-like. Seemed all the animals were muted and still waiting for spring, too. Even my crocusses have been slow to come up. Darned ground hog.
Since the end of February, I've been having a lot of trouble with the pacemaker pulsing my diaphragm when I laid down to sleep, lean back in my chair, or even while walking. :P I could only sleep if I laid on my right side. Then the allergies and other seasonal things came along to make it all worse. Everything caught up with me, CHF fatigue too, last week and pretty well ruined my desire to RP on PernMUSH, even though I had started a fall craft festival at the Smith hall. So, I didn't even get any time in there.
The best part of my days has been when JJ was home. God, how I love that girl. But this week she has to be in Washington DC, so I was prepared for a week of grey blahs.
Today I had my three month check up for the pacemaker. My notes said it was just to see the cardiologist at 10:30 AM, but Sunday night I got an automated call poking me to be there an hour and 20 minutes earlier than the doctor's appointment. WTF? But even though that put me on the highway at rush hour, I thought it would be ok.
Of course I was up most of the night with insomnia, didn't want to take anything to help me sleep since that would make me drowsy in the morning, so I defered taking my BP meds until midnight. They make me drowsy for a couple of hours after each dose and I wanted my next dose to be after my doctor's appt, when I was home. Best laid plans...
So got to sleep about 2 AM, up at 6 AM, too early, back to bed, up at 7AM. Got showered, dressed, skipped breakfast, then noticed I was really shaggy headed. Put a Heinlein book in my pocket (Double Star) to read while waiting and went to the barber shop at 8 AM and saw it wouldn't open until 8:30. Too late for me, since my trip to KU-Med sometimes takes 90 minutes. Construction woes.
Well, the highway was moving great, so I got to KU-Med at 8:40 and had loads of fun filling out questionnaires. First was the 'how do you like living with CHF?', then that was followed by 'how has CHF affected you in the last month' then there was the 'how has CHF affected you in the last two weeks' form. (sigh). It's like this every time I go in. Doesn't matter what for, the university folks love their questionnaires.
Finally I get to read my book. The waiting room is packed. Lots of business being done today. I sit and read about 28 pages before another questionnaire is handed to me. This one is almost a repeat of the earlier ones, but on a computer readable form. Part of that silly study I volunteered for. Got that done then went back to reading. Got to page 38 when my name was called and I find out I'm getting another echo-cardiogram. Laying on my left side. Of course, and my diaphragm is hickuping like crazy, but that doesn't affect the readings.
The tech is pretty good, so everything cooks right along. 40 minutes later, I'm back out in the waiting room, reading again. Got to page 53 before I was called again and got to see the cardiologist's assistant. She was pretty and fun to talk to. Weight, BP measured, updated my meds list. Then wait for the cardiologist. He comes in, a birdlike older fellow I just have to like, and we talk a bit. I tell about the diaphragm troubles, and how my BP won't stay down. Then he notices I was supposed to get an adjustment to the pacemaker - resync calibration, he called it - and the echo-cardiogram I'd just had done was wrong for that. So he had a quick conference with his people and soon I'm back in the echo lab along with two other technicians, laying on my left side again.
The first bright spot happened right away, they began to reset the electrode voltages of the pacemaker, stopping the diaphragm woes. Woot!
Then all three start to work to adjust the timing. This is a complicated affair, since they have to get accurate readings of when all the heart chambers are contracting. The goal is to get the left and right ventricles to beat at the same time. My natural rhythm had about a 170 millisecond delay between left and right, causing the dividing wall between them to flex badly, lessening the overall pumping efficiency.
So the echo tech is measuring the right ventricle timing, taking three readings, comparing that to the electrical firing times, then calling that off to the pacemaker operator, who averages the three, then follows the cardiologist assistant's instructions for changing the pacemaker timing. This is repeated in a long series of iterations until the pacemaker is getting both ventricles to 'fire' at the same time while the atrial firing is adjusted to maximize the filling of the ventricles. Already I'm feeling better. Mostly due to the diaphragm fix, but also because even I can see on the echo screen my heart is doing better.
I'd been worried that all this misery I'd gone through the last three months would end up for nothing. Not to mention the cost. But now I could /feel/ and /see/ the difference!
The next thing on the agenda is the six minute walk test, for the study I volunteered for. And I am totally stoked for it. :) Feeling great. Off I go and when it's over, I've walked 45% farther than I did on the test in January. Actually I think I could have jogged it, but that would have been a bit much. Maybe next time. I think I'll practice that silly speed-walking gait the racers use first and save the jogging for the last test. That ought to make the study numbers perk up a bit. :)
So, that over with, I get back to the regular exam room and the doc has a prescription change on my BP meds ready. Finally I'm done and can head home. Stop by the barber shop and get clipped. :) That feels good, too. And the sun is trying to come out! Get home at 1:00 PM, take the BP pills, eat some oatmeal for lunch, then take a nap. When I wake at 4:30 PM, it's sunny and looking more like spring.
I think it's gonna be a good year.
It's been cloudy and cold for two weeks here. Very winter-like. Seemed all the animals were muted and still waiting for spring, too. Even my crocusses have been slow to come up. Darned ground hog.
Since the end of February, I've been having a lot of trouble with the pacemaker pulsing my diaphragm when I laid down to sleep, lean back in my chair, or even while walking. :P I could only sleep if I laid on my right side. Then the allergies and other seasonal things came along to make it all worse. Everything caught up with me, CHF fatigue too, last week and pretty well ruined my desire to RP on PernMUSH, even though I had started a fall craft festival at the Smith hall. So, I didn't even get any time in there.
The best part of my days has been when JJ was home. God, how I love that girl. But this week she has to be in Washington DC, so I was prepared for a week of grey blahs.
Today I had my three month check up for the pacemaker. My notes said it was just to see the cardiologist at 10:30 AM, but Sunday night I got an automated call poking me to be there an hour and 20 minutes earlier than the doctor's appointment. WTF? But even though that put me on the highway at rush hour, I thought it would be ok.
Of course I was up most of the night with insomnia, didn't want to take anything to help me sleep since that would make me drowsy in the morning, so I defered taking my BP meds until midnight. They make me drowsy for a couple of hours after each dose and I wanted my next dose to be after my doctor's appt, when I was home. Best laid plans...
So got to sleep about 2 AM, up at 6 AM, too early, back to bed, up at 7AM. Got showered, dressed, skipped breakfast, then noticed I was really shaggy headed. Put a Heinlein book in my pocket (Double Star) to read while waiting and went to the barber shop at 8 AM and saw it wouldn't open until 8:30. Too late for me, since my trip to KU-Med sometimes takes 90 minutes. Construction woes.
Well, the highway was moving great, so I got to KU-Med at 8:40 and had loads of fun filling out questionnaires. First was the 'how do you like living with CHF?', then that was followed by 'how has CHF affected you in the last month' then there was the 'how has CHF affected you in the last two weeks' form. (sigh). It's like this every time I go in. Doesn't matter what for, the university folks love their questionnaires.
Finally I get to read my book. The waiting room is packed. Lots of business being done today. I sit and read about 28 pages before another questionnaire is handed to me. This one is almost a repeat of the earlier ones, but on a computer readable form. Part of that silly study I volunteered for. Got that done then went back to reading. Got to page 38 when my name was called and I find out I'm getting another echo-cardiogram. Laying on my left side. Of course, and my diaphragm is hickuping like crazy, but that doesn't affect the readings.
The tech is pretty good, so everything cooks right along. 40 minutes later, I'm back out in the waiting room, reading again. Got to page 53 before I was called again and got to see the cardiologist's assistant. She was pretty and fun to talk to. Weight, BP measured, updated my meds list. Then wait for the cardiologist. He comes in, a birdlike older fellow I just have to like, and we talk a bit. I tell about the diaphragm troubles, and how my BP won't stay down. Then he notices I was supposed to get an adjustment to the pacemaker - resync calibration, he called it - and the echo-cardiogram I'd just had done was wrong for that. So he had a quick conference with his people and soon I'm back in the echo lab along with two other technicians, laying on my left side again.
The first bright spot happened right away, they began to reset the electrode voltages of the pacemaker, stopping the diaphragm woes. Woot!
Then all three start to work to adjust the timing. This is a complicated affair, since they have to get accurate readings of when all the heart chambers are contracting. The goal is to get the left and right ventricles to beat at the same time. My natural rhythm had about a 170 millisecond delay between left and right, causing the dividing wall between them to flex badly, lessening the overall pumping efficiency.
So the echo tech is measuring the right ventricle timing, taking three readings, comparing that to the electrical firing times, then calling that off to the pacemaker operator, who averages the three, then follows the cardiologist assistant's instructions for changing the pacemaker timing. This is repeated in a long series of iterations until the pacemaker is getting both ventricles to 'fire' at the same time while the atrial firing is adjusted to maximize the filling of the ventricles. Already I'm feeling better. Mostly due to the diaphragm fix, but also because even I can see on the echo screen my heart is doing better.
I'd been worried that all this misery I'd gone through the last three months would end up for nothing. Not to mention the cost. But now I could /feel/ and /see/ the difference!
The next thing on the agenda is the six minute walk test, for the study I volunteered for. And I am totally stoked for it. :) Feeling great. Off I go and when it's over, I've walked 45% farther than I did on the test in January. Actually I think I could have jogged it, but that would have been a bit much. Maybe next time. I think I'll practice that silly speed-walking gait the racers use first and save the jogging for the last test. That ought to make the study numbers perk up a bit. :)
So, that over with, I get back to the regular exam room and the doc has a prescription change on my BP meds ready. Finally I'm done and can head home. Stop by the barber shop and get clipped. :) That feels good, too. And the sun is trying to come out! Get home at 1:00 PM, take the BP pills, eat some oatmeal for lunch, then take a nap. When I wake at 4:30 PM, it's sunny and looking more like spring.
I think it's gonna be a good year.