CFB51 College Football Fan Community
The Power Five => Big Ten => Topic started by: Cincydawg on April 20, 2021, 05:30:37 PM
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After I recovered from shoulder surgery last August, I started running again when cleared for it. I started noticing dizziness and shortness of breath, figured I was more out of shape than expected. It got worse, gradually, almost imperceptibly, until I decided to have it checked. Now, I avoid doctors as a rule, and I had never stayed over night in a hospital, had two outpatient surgeries, was on no medication, which is not bad for mid-60s.
My primary care doc had an EKG run in the office, and fortunately I had one run in July for my preop physical, which was entirely normal. This one was not. It showed a lot of noise where there had been a flat baseline between pulses. Atrial flutter, it's called, something wrong with my electrical system.
He says sit right here, call your wife to take you to the ER up the road two miles and Piedmont Hospital, so we do that. He kept coming by to check on me telling me "It's probably minor." which made me nervous, which caused my flutter to worsen. Anyone, the run another EKG in the ER, and a cardiosonigraph, and draw blood and measure this and that (all showing up on my phone). Bunches of doctors come by and talk, one side does "plumbing" and the other group are 'electricians". They decide I'm OK to leave and the nurse takes out my IV and gets me ready for transport when word comes they want me to RON for observation, the sonigraph showed an "anomaly". So, another IV, and then yet another one later. I was in the ER between 11 AM and about 7 PM when they finally got me a room upstairs. They said the ER was slammed that day more than it had been in five years, they did not know why, COVID is pretty low here. Some folks who checked in near me just said their legs hurt or they were swollen, something pretty nondescript.
Everyone is truly nice to me, which helped. So, I slept on a bed that would be OK for someone 5'11", I'm 6'4".
The next day they tell me I can't eat, they want to do a CT-CV, which is a cardiocatscan. This is fairly involved, something like an MRI but it uses radiation, and as they wanted me to hold my breath, they said my heart was acting up each time I was to hold my breath. Anyone, we finally get it done after some consultations. The good news is my heart was "normal", a bit of buildup they said was minor, aside from the arrythmia. The electrical cardiologist tells me he still wants to wait a month, no sign of clots, which was the concern, but he'd rather not chance it, a clot that goes to my brain would be bad. So, I finally get released about an hour ago, the wife is going to the pharmacy now to get some DRUGS.
I'm not all that limited for the month, he said no running, but walking is fine, and one glass of wine is fine. As noted on the other thread, this surgical procedure has a very high success rate, catheter ablation, the severe a nerve in my atrial heart muscle going in through the femoral, out patient, home that evening, etc. The good news is the heart is thoroughly checked out, the cure for my problem is pretty simple, I have good insurance, no telling how much all this costs. The amount of waste a hospital generates is truly amazing. And you have these highly paid folks bopping around.
I'm on Medicare and have supplemental from my company. I was surprised how nice everyone was, they would joke about some, it made it nicer to be poked and prodded all the time. I was a monitor on me 24/7 sending signals to the nurses desk. They said they could tell when I got up to go to the bathroom. The unusual thing is my pulse rate was 60-70 and bp was running around 107-60. Anyway, I'm a bit less scared of our medical system now. I'll probably need them more as I age. Duh.
If something doesn't feel normal, think about getting it checked out.
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Thanks for sharing this perspective. I realize how much I've learned about health care first with my parents various situations and then for the last 15+ yrs being married to a MD and her family of MDs. Results of course vary but the value of information and the value to be informed cannot be overstated, frustrating and wasteful as it often is. It's such a vulnerable place to be, the patient.
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Glad you're doing well and getting good care, CD.
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I also have an abnormality in my heart. Electrical. Very minor. Discovered 15 or so years ago while I was married. Cardiologist said I could live to be 100.
my experience with the medical system has be mostly positive.
Glad you're confident in your good care Cincy. That's a good portion of it.
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I also have an abnormality in my heart. Electrical. Very minor. Discovered 15 or so years ago while I was married.
The wretch had a Ouija Board and Tarrot Cards didn't she?Prolly was sizing you up for an ankle monitor also
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Everyone is truly nice to me, which helped. So, I slept on a bed that would be OK for someone 5'11", I'm 6'4".
You have to be 6'3" by now,anyway sounds decent moving forward - carpe diem.
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One of my prescriptions came with one pill in the bottle. I'm trying to find a phone number to call to figure out if that is correct, seems odd, for Xarelto.
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One of my prescriptions came with one pill in the bottle. I'm trying to find a phone number to call to figure out if that is correct, seems odd, for Xarelto.
Ive never seen that before lol
maybe its a smart pill and you only need 1
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Ive never seen that before lol
maybe its a smart pill and you only need 1
Maybe it's the pill that has the 5G nanobots in it, and the vaccine was a smokescreen all along?
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The fun thing is there is no number to call, I looked up the Nurse practioners phone number and left a msg.
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The fun thing is there is no number to call, I looked up the Nurse practioners phone number and left a msg.
go ahead
take the pill
I dare ya
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I took the one pill in the bottle, it was rather strange obviously.
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go ahead
take the pill
I dare ya
is it the Red pill or the blue pill. Are you leaving us alone in the Matrix
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Maybe it's the pill that has the 5G nanobots in it, and the vaccine was a smokescreen all along?
there is a cyber call somewhere in Austin that is uncovering such
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I called, and they straightened it out, so I have the medication now, the bad news is it was nearly $500. There is concern that poor movement of blood due to the flutter could cause clots which during surgery could get to the brain and cause a stroke.
I'm somewhat amazed how many of the docs I saw, and nurses, are from the Indian subcontinent. My surgeon's name is Katipundi, my cards name is also Indian.
The dot dots, not the woo woos.
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My primary care guy had his nurse call me to see how I was doing. He saw my chart that I was admitted. I appreciate that he followed up.
I can access my chart on line, test results, medications, history, MD comments, it's pretty neat, though the system has some wobbles, as most do.
Of course, when I read that POPSCN is under 0.02 ng/L, I'm not sure what it means, aside from the normal ranges they provide.
I didn't have a heart attack, there is a protein in the blood that can signal that you had one, interestingly. I have "mild" coronary heart disease, about typical for my age, some plaque buildup. Dr. Katipundi told me to eat reasonably (duh) but not be so restrictive it gets ridiculous. He said one to two glasses of wine a day, preferably one. I have been entirely off alcohol since Sunday night. Abstention is easier than moderation.
I have a bp monitor now. They want me to keep a record, so far everything is nominal.
I don't think I would be as nice as they were to me were I a med prof. One doc out of about 8 was slightly direct, which is OK with me, more like what I expect. Seven of 8 went out of their way to be really nice, answer questions, explain things well, etc. And the hospital was slammed while I was there, no one could explain why.
This hospital had a recent major expansion and they rush opened three floors a year ago to handle a possible COVID surge that didn't happen fortunately. The curved part is new obviously. A typically confusing hospital with many additions over the years.
(https://i.imgur.com/QJR80Td.jpg)