Staying the Course -- 11/27/2017

[Superbob]

If you are new here, you probably wonder why "Throwdown"? Because we originally began as a weight-losing competition, albeit a friendly one. Over the years we have evolved just to an open discussion of our challenges post-op or pre-op -- weight still being a prime one, plus fitness, recreation, work, stress, anything on our minds, life in general. We welcome all who would like to be part of the discussion.

I started hand PT today,while basically trying to shake off walking pneumonia. Unable to take exercise class for foreseeable future, supposed to rest but crud makes that hard -- that's why I'm posting this at 3 in the morning Can't sleep. Desperately need to exercise and get back to healthy eating. Meanwhile wife also has this incessant coughing but is supposed to start her "balance" PT Thursday. Don't we have fun.

No doubt you all can tell happier stories.

 

[skeptic49]

Greetings and belated Happy Thanksgiving! Sorry to read about the health issues SB and hope you feel better soon. Things are good with me and my next checkup with the cardio is in Feb. I have a low HR which may be causing some fatigue, but I am able to maintain all of my exercise and other activities. Best wishes to all for the holiday season.

 

[honeybunny]

So sorry you and DW are under the weather. Have you ever had a pneumonia shot? I've had two and no longer come down with bronchial infections. Sending lots of positive energy your way SB. Keep us posted on how you are feeling.

Hugs,
Michele

 

[epstns]

Hey, SB, I'll second HB's recommendation for the pneumonia shot. I haven't had one, but my wife used to have terrible bronchial issues until she had one. Her issues stopped shortly after the shot.

I would have suggested to SB that he at least try to walk, given that his weather is bound to be nicer than ours here in the upper Rust Belt, but that walking pneumonia will contraindicate heavy exercise. So, SB, I'd recommend that you do your best to rest and get better, then hit it hard once again when you are more able to handle the challenge. I too often fall into the trap in getting back to heavy exercise too soon, and pay the price in longer recovery times.

Skeptic - I hope your HR doesn't get too low. Before valve replacement, mine used to get down to the upper 40's at rest, yet it would go up to the mid 160's while running. We thought it was just the heart rate of an athlete. . . but after surgery they decided that it was really "brady/tachycardia." They meant that my heart went too slow at rest and too fast under load. These days I have a beta blocker to limit my max HR and a pacemaker to make sure it doesn't go too slow. The damage my heart sustained in valve replacement made it evident that my conduction system was wonky, and after surgery it took the meds and electronics to get it back to serviceability.

As I post this, it is Tuesday morning - and I have to work all 5 days this week. Last week was a short week for Thanksgiving, and the week before we were down in Florida. This 5 days a week thing can really be a drag. At least for me, the end is in sight. I have set a target date of March 31, 2018 to cut back to part-time work and take on the trappings of the semi-retired. I'll be able to go out and create a traffic jam at mid-day, and will be able to visit all my favorite places at their busiest times and not fret the fact that I am adding to the delays for everyone else. Hey, there IS a benefit to getting old!

 

[Superbob]

Thanks for the good wishes -- I have had pneumonia shots, fyi. Can't rest too much right now 'cause my wife is worse off than I am -- taking her back to docs now. (Yes she's had pneumonia shots, too)....same stuff, severe coughing, wheezing. Regular docs would rather not see you with this stuff so your choice is urgent care or ER. We going with UC so far.

 

[Superman]

Survived Thanksgiving and my birthday maintaining weight. Still holding, but up a bit off my post workout low the other day. I think I'm past worrying about weight as much and now just focusing on fitness. I had a couple occasions to really notice the greater benefit than just clothes fitting. One was dragging the Christmas Tree (I think I mentioned in another post), then the other was last night. I teach a class adjunct at a local university. I had to cross campus and up four floors to get additional scantrons for a test. There was a time I would have been panting at the top of the steps. No issues yesterday. Very cool.

So the tree is up, I'm making progress on my National Lampoons Christmas Vacation exterior light display, and my wife is working on the Christmas shopping. The holiday's are upon us!

 

[Paleowoman]

Hope your wife gets something to help from the docs, SB, and that your cough improves too. Sounds a nasty bug.

I'm having lots of physio at the moment on my back. It's actually meant that the costochondritis, or whatever, pain along my sternum is playing up, probably becasue my posture might be a little better ? Physio is aware

I'm also taking ibravidine now which is a trial to slow my heart rate as that might be beneficial to my heart's hyperdynamic left ventricle. The ivabradine makes me feel awful, very tired, even though my heart rate hasn't really dropped much, it's in the 70s and low 80s. My blood pressure has gone really high, was 174/104 yesterday evening. I'm contacting my cardiologist about this as the ivabradine is prescribed off label or off licence, whatever it's called, so I don't think this is particularly good.

 

[honeybunny]

That doesn't sound good to me, either Paleowoman. Question: how low do you/doctor want your HR to be? 70s and low 80s is pretty average, isn't it?

SB, so sorry to hear that your DW is feeling worse than you. It's not easy being a caregiver when you're under the weather yourself. Hope you both are back on your feet in short order. And I figured you'd had pneumonia shots but threw it out there in case you hadn't.

 

[Paleowoman]

That doesn't sound good to me, either Paleowoman. Question: how low do you/doctor want your HR to be? 70s and low 80s is pretty average, isn't it?.

Doc wants it at 70. Thinks my heart rate has made my left ventricle hyperdynamic. My heart rate is never normally as low as 70 except last thing at night when I'm settling for sleep. My heart rate has always been in the upper 70s and 80's even in low 90s, even when I was in my 20s - I remember counting it a few times when I read there were a set number of beats in a lifetime ! I just checked online and a normal heart rate is anywhere between 60 and 100 so mine is fine as far as I can tell. My heart would also have been stenotic prior to AVR and is effectley stenotic now due to patient prosthesis mismatch so some of my heart rate is compensatory, imho. We'll see......

 

[skeptic49]

Steve wrote: "I hope your HR doesn't get too low..."

Well, it's 49-50 pretty much all the time at rest and only gets to about 105 with exercise. My surgeon mentioned the possibility of a pacemaker when I saw him last. I don't know how low it has to get before it's time for a pacemaker.

Jim

 

[MartinF]

SB, hope you and your wife get over the pneumonia quickly. They say if you have a fever you should do strenuous exercise. So rest.
Talking about HR, mine was around 43 for the first 3 years after surgery. It was always low due to my excessive running (ultramarathons). Just measure it sitting on the couch with the laptop and it's at 48. Doctors haven't ever mentioned a pacemaker. I set alarms off at the hospital due to this.
Christmas decorations are all out, tree is up and outside lights are up. My wife did a lot of the decorating and I worked on lights for two days.
Just finished the last of Thanksgiving. Luckily I didn't gain weight.
Off to walk the dog, she's grabbing my arm. Martin

 

[Agian]

Steve wrote: "I hope your HR doesn't get too low..."

Well, it's 49-50 pretty much all the time at rest and only gets to about 105 with exercise. My surgeon mentioned the possibility of a pacemaker when I saw him last. I don't know how low it has to get before it's time for a pacemaker.

Jim

Mine is often less than 50. I don't think it's that big a deal, unless you have symptoms.

 

[epstns]

Yes, low resting HR is patient-specific, and as long as there are no symptoms (fainting, etc.) the docs tend to try to create a good story to not have to act on it. In my case, we attributed it to 30+ years of running, and maybe it was. I'll never know. My A-V nerve bundle was damaged in surgery because they had to cut wide to get my badly stenotic valve out for the replacement. After surgery my heart could not maintain either rhythm or rate, hence the pacemaker and beta blocker. Medically, the combo works just fine. My heart rate is always between 60 BPM and about 140 BPM. Keeping the minimum at 60 doesn't bother me, but limiting the maximum rate does. Over the years we have decreased my beta blocker dosage to 1/4 of my initial post-op dose, but I'd still like to get my max HR back up to around 150-160. My cardio doesn't think that's such a good idea (and I trust him completely), so I will live with reduced exercise tolerance. At least I'm still here to complain about it.

 

[jwinter]

Morning all. November seems to have been a busy month for most all here. Keeping up with our cardiac care, other health issues, families and holidays make the time move quickly.

I hope that everyone here gets to feeling better all the time.

November has brought me 3 blood transfusions, a therapeutic INR change to 4.8 day before yesterday and back to 3.3 yesterday after stopping warfarin and transfusion yesterday. How weird is that? (all false positives I believe) I have gotten in to see a hematologist once and was to see him yesterday but they cancelled until next week(nothing new there) I will be having more blood tests and a bone marrow biopsy next week. He said it will hurt and they use no sedation. WTH? can hardly wait. He feels it is one of three things 1. heart valve is smashing all my red blood cells. 2. my PBC is and autoimmune disease that could be stopping the cells from reproducing(he said they still know very little about PBC in the medical world) or 3. The bone marrow is not manufacturing red blood cells. He said that all problems are confined to red blood cells only. I hope for answers but still not sure they will find any.

Everything seems a little messed up here in my world and hadn't planned on going through those heart surgeries to live a life with chronic illness that all started after first valve replacement. No course to follow this week. Walking our sweet girl Molly once a day and do a little housework. Wrap myself around that painful sounding test and think about still trying to get to sunny Arizona (probably a stretch at this time)

Trying to find positives and wishing you all a good week.

 

[Paleowoman]

jwinter Sorry to hear that you are going through so much bad stuff. I hope the bone marrow biopsy will be done with care and sensitivity. And I hope they find answers for you very soon {{{hugs}}}

 

[epstns]

jwinter - sorry you have to look forward to a nasty biopsy. I had to undergo a biopsy, and then a procedure to implant some gold markers as targets for radiation therapy last year. Had local for the biopsy but none for the implants. I just describe that one as "Ten minutes of me telling bad jokes through gritted teeth." It was uncomfortable, but short in duration. Once it was over, it was over. They did give me some valium to calm me prior to the procedure, so ask if they can at least do that much for you.

On my end here, I have almost made it through an overly busy, frenzied and anxiety-laden week at work. I had several high-impact, high-effort projects that had to be completed this week. All plans were in place and things should have gone easily. Then. . . the rest of the world butted in. Had several "must do" meetings dumped onto my calendar at the last minute, and had the company president decide that maybe he really should read every line of a 60-page legal document I had finished and signed, etc. Just a lot of the frenzy of others injected into my little well-organized world. I am a "planner" who plans his work and completes it calmly, making it look easy. Unfortunately, I most of the other senior staff of the company are scatter-brained procrastinators who always seem to need to work all night before a deadline. I guess that's our version of "clash of the titans." {End Rant/Vent Mode}

Other than that, it is just "another warm beer in the six-pack of life." We're back from our annual (too short) visit to Florida, and we are now looking forward to seeing the kids and grandkids over the holiday. We're keeping it simple at our house this year, moving the holiday mayhem to our daughter's house so they don't have to traipse half way across the country with an infant and a toddler during the holiday rush.

I'm trying to get rid of the couple of pounds of fluid I still retain after a week and a half of fancy restaurant food on our trip, but I am hopeful that this gradually resolves as it has in the past. The month of December is rough on my workout schedule, with vacation days and holidays keeping me out of the gym. I just try to accept the fact, and maintain my resolve to get back on track in January. So, as we say, I'll be Stayin' the Course. . .

 

[honeybunny]

Paleowoman, thanks for the update. My resting HR was around 100 post op, down only slightly from pre-op. I don't check it myself. My BP has been fine at checkups in October. I'm on a beta blocker.

Jwinter, I'm so sorry you have so much to deal with. Our hope is that surgery will put things right, not complicate our lives. You are one strong cookie.

On on a personal note, I had a great visit yesterday with the nutritionist to discuss diabetes management. You may recall my post about my GP deciding in October that I am diabetic though my A1C has been in the same range for years (with medication). In any event, I took her pronouncement as a wake up call and made the appointment with the nutritionist. My biggest takeaway was to control the fat content of my meals, not sugar as I expected. And frozen meals like Lean Cusine are a good choice nutrition-wise. I'd steered away from them thinking they weren't really healthy but it turns out they aren't bad. That makes my life easier if I can choose those meals for lunch and dinner. So I'm encouraged that I can succeed in managing this disease.

 

[Paleowoman]

On on a personal note, I had a great visit yesterday with the nutritionist to discuss diabetes management. You may recall my post about my GP deciding in October that I am diabetic though my A1C has been in the same range for years (with medication). In any event, I took her pronouncement as a wake up call and made the appointment with the nutritionist. My biggest takeaway was to control the fat content of my meals, not sugar as I expected. [/QUOTE]
Hi [USER="15718"]honeybunny - I do hope you were given a blood glucose meter to help manage your diabetes. It is such an important tool. I was given one soon after diagnosis by a diabetes nurse and started testing so that I could find out which foods were raising my blood glucose - very, very useful !

 

[honeybunny]

Yes, Anne, I was given one three years ago but never used it. Today I bought fresh strips for it the the meter didn't read the sample. I'm looking into getting a new one.