SifuPhil
R.I.P. With Us In Spirit Only
- Location
- Pennsylvania, USA
I haven't been on the board for a while - not for lack of interest but for lack of ability. That lack is health-based, something I have absolutely NO experience with as a patient ...
Coming back from my daily walk to the store 3 weeks ago I noticed my right leg was giving me problems - it felt like it was tightening up, and when I sat down and inspected it the entire leg has swollen up and was extremely tight. Of course, being me, I figured it was just a one-time thing and set about massaging it, icing it and then applying heat to it the rest of the night.
The next day it was the same, now joined to a lesser degree by the left leg. I spent the whole day working on both legs but to little effect.
Day 3 brought a lovely change - my scrotum had begun swelling overnight, to the point where it was the size of a softball - NOT it's usual size, needless to say. I was also beginning to have a few problems breathing. Still, being my stubborn self, I knew these conditions would disappear in time and I continued to teach my student as well as try to get around, but my mobility was rapidly decreasing.
When my roommate had yelled herself hoarse and even my student said I looked pregnant and was giving serious odds on my life after two weeks of non-treatment I finally gave in and overcame my mistrust, fear and hatred of the medical system and called 911 on Sunday morning April 26 ( a week ago last Sunday).
I was admitted quickly to the ER, where after a battery of tests I had a catheter inserted (after 15 minutes of failed tries) and was sent to a private room.
After several days of tests it was determined that I had retained fluid (it was in fact weeping from several points on my lower body) and that said retention was somehow related to poor circulation and hence, to heart problems. Enter the echo cardiograms, the stomach scans, the lung x-rays and a bunch of other tests I can't even recall, some of which I was knocked out for. During all this time I was still catheterized and IV'd and was being fed pills by literally the dozens on a daily basis, in addition to now receiving insulin shots.
The possibility of a heart bypass was brought up, but was conditioned with the proviso that I would have a 25% chance of not getting off the table again. I was told there was a possibility of going to Philadelphia for a heart transplant, but the look on my face gave the answer to that before my tongue did.
So it was left that they could reduce the swelling with meds, slowly, which is what took up most of the hospital time, my putting out roughly 2 liters of fluid per day and finally going from 265 back down to my normal 195.
I've been informed that I'm diabetic but only borderline, so I'm taking one shot of insulin per day which the doc said might be eliminated in the future with good diet and exercise - I believe my average reading is around 170-180.
I'm also now on blood-thinners, kidney-builders and a hodge-podge of other meds - I believe it's 12 in all.
This for someone who hasn't been in a hospital since 1978, to have his splintered collarbones set right.
But in the end it all came down to that damned survival instinct, no matter how much I hate hospitals. Now I just have to accept that I'm merely mortal, that I'll probably have to be on the blood-thinners and related meds the rest of my life, and that I can still serve some sort of useful function in the between-times.
So, my apologies for my absence and for my umbrage of thinking I was immortal.
Coming back from my daily walk to the store 3 weeks ago I noticed my right leg was giving me problems - it felt like it was tightening up, and when I sat down and inspected it the entire leg has swollen up and was extremely tight. Of course, being me, I figured it was just a one-time thing and set about massaging it, icing it and then applying heat to it the rest of the night.
The next day it was the same, now joined to a lesser degree by the left leg. I spent the whole day working on both legs but to little effect.
Day 3 brought a lovely change - my scrotum had begun swelling overnight, to the point where it was the size of a softball - NOT it's usual size, needless to say. I was also beginning to have a few problems breathing. Still, being my stubborn self, I knew these conditions would disappear in time and I continued to teach my student as well as try to get around, but my mobility was rapidly decreasing.
When my roommate had yelled herself hoarse and even my student said I looked pregnant and was giving serious odds on my life after two weeks of non-treatment I finally gave in and overcame my mistrust, fear and hatred of the medical system and called 911 on Sunday morning April 26 ( a week ago last Sunday).
I was admitted quickly to the ER, where after a battery of tests I had a catheter inserted (after 15 minutes of failed tries) and was sent to a private room.
After several days of tests it was determined that I had retained fluid (it was in fact weeping from several points on my lower body) and that said retention was somehow related to poor circulation and hence, to heart problems. Enter the echo cardiograms, the stomach scans, the lung x-rays and a bunch of other tests I can't even recall, some of which I was knocked out for. During all this time I was still catheterized and IV'd and was being fed pills by literally the dozens on a daily basis, in addition to now receiving insulin shots.
The possibility of a heart bypass was brought up, but was conditioned with the proviso that I would have a 25% chance of not getting off the table again. I was told there was a possibility of going to Philadelphia for a heart transplant, but the look on my face gave the answer to that before my tongue did.
So it was left that they could reduce the swelling with meds, slowly, which is what took up most of the hospital time, my putting out roughly 2 liters of fluid per day and finally going from 265 back down to my normal 195.
I've been informed that I'm diabetic but only borderline, so I'm taking one shot of insulin per day which the doc said might be eliminated in the future with good diet and exercise - I believe my average reading is around 170-180.
I'm also now on blood-thinners, kidney-builders and a hodge-podge of other meds - I believe it's 12 in all.
This for someone who hasn't been in a hospital since 1978, to have his splintered collarbones set right.
But in the end it all came down to that damned survival instinct, no matter how much I hate hospitals. Now I just have to accept that I'm merely mortal, that I'll probably have to be on the blood-thinners and related meds the rest of my life, and that I can still serve some sort of useful function in the between-times.
So, my apologies for my absence and for my umbrage of thinking I was immortal.
