Staying the Course -- September 30, 2020

[Superbob]

Wow, well I've let nearly the whole week slide without posting a stay-the-course missive. But I have excuse notes from medical and dental professionals.

First, my dentist discovered (and showed me the evidence) that a tooth up top is "abcessing" (sp?). And an abcess tooth is a pretty serious danger to heart health, not to mention an awful pain. And the tooth is next to a crumbly old crown that already has fallen out once and been jerry-rigged back in. I have a few options but smartest (though expensive) one probably is to do a root canal on the abcessed tooth, then do a new bridge over the whole area. That would be a permanent one instead of a removable one. I'm on antibiotics til we start all that fun.

A few days later, I take my wife to a monthly dermatologist appointment to deal with an ongoing problem and at her suggestion they check out a little bump on my back. Before you know it, they are identifying precancerous cells on my face and body and spraying liquid nitrogen on some and taking biopsies of others. So in about a week we are supposed to get a report on whether these places are, well I guess, some form of cancer. Now I've had some of those years ago at a different dermatologist's office that turned out to be no problem, so I am hopeful as we wait.

Meanwhile, we also wait for full analysis from a chest CT-Scan done last Friday. I have an appointment with my cardiologist Thursday week. Today her office contacted me and asked for help in getting the full surgical report from UNC last September. That gave me pause. Maybe something in the scan images concerns the cardio. As it turns out, I asked the tech when having the CT done if I could have a couple of discs as well as the report of the doctor reading it. I picked them up at the imaging office today. I don't know if I am supposed to have this in advance of meeting with my cardio who ordered it. Probably not. So I'm not going to quote it. In general, most observations are positive, but there are concerning notes about some kind of "ulceration" and some fluid collection around the aortic root.

Meanwhile, of course, there is the incisional hernia I've been fretting about most of this year. It's also mentioned in the CT report.

Anyone get hit with such a variety of medical "issues" at one time? If they are all are confirmed, I don't even know what order in which to address them.

So that's how I am staying the course this week. Blessedly, we do have nice fall weather settling in, perfect for dawgwalks.

Cheers,
Superbob

 

[Paleowoman]

Hi Superbob - sorry to hear you're going through so many medical "issues" all at once - it must feel so overwhelming

I had that back in January 2007: first I was diagnosed with osteoporosis, then diagnosed with diabetes, and then my bicuspid aortic valve that hadn't been an issue was suddenly, out of the blue, an issue.

Hope you get things sorted out soon so that you know where you are !

 

[Superman]

Morning All,

Sorry to hear all that, @Superbob. Impressive that you still kick the conversation off for all of us just waiting around for you. Prayers for you and your wife for patience while navigating this challenging time.

Probably my most hectic medical year was the year my daughter was born followed by my own aneurysm surgery that was not without recovery complications. But most of my challenges were interrelated. I do pray the skin diagnosis shows nothing is wrong so you can put that aside.

For my own course and health of late. I’ve been on the Peloton bike a lot lately. Discovered a “FTP” (Fitness Threshold Performance) test on the bike. I do a 20 minute ride going as hard as I can (around 80 rpm at the highest resistance I can manage). The bike then calculates my FTP level and “Power Zones” based on my output in the test. So now when I ride, I have a new metric that shows which of 7 power zones I’m riding in. When the instructor says ride in zone 4, I am then riding in my zone 4. Another rider will have a different zone 4 which may be easier or harder than mine based on their FTP. Pretty cool tool. Takes the guesswork out of whether or not you’re working as hard as the instructor wants you to. I have my first live “Power Zone” workout planned today.

We ordered the Tread+ so Wonder Woman can get her running in when the snow starts to fly and the days get short. Should be here in a month. Just need to find someone with some dumbbells to round out the home gym. Been a bit of a project since the gyms closed for us. Dumbbells are seemingly never in stock.

 

[Superbob]

Hi Superbob - sorry to hear you're going through so many medical "issues" all at once - it must feel so overwhelming

I had that back in January 2007: first I was diagnosed with osteoporosis, then diagnosed with diabetes, and then my bicuspid aortic valve that hadn't been an issue was suddenly, out of the blue, an issue.

Hope you get things sorted out soon so that you know where you are !

Thanks Paleowoman, I actually had you in mind when I was toting up my cumulative medical issues/concerns/alarms. I know you have been dealing with your own for quite a while, and in fact vr.org is chock full of folks facing more serious challenges than I likely have.

It's just I have this bad habit of grabbing a piece of info (in this case, the CT report) even before my doctors have it, and then exploring every possible angle on the Internet, and then worrying myself silly. I need to slow down, take everything as it comes, and stay away from so much electronic surfing.

It is a gorgeous cool crisp day today and I am thankful for that. Ought to be out walking along the beach.

And Superman, I love your fitness/home gym reports. My wife is determined that we get me an exercise bike, though I don't know where we'd squeeze it into our house. Maybe if we de-cluttered our possessions accumulated over 54 years, we could find room.

 

[Paleowoman]

It's just I have this bad habit of grabbing a piece of info (in this case, the CT report) even before my doctors have it, and then exploring every possible angle on the Internet,

I do similar to that too Superbob, though in the UK they don’t let the patient see the report before they see the doctor, but after I’ve seen the doctor and reports I then do my own research and work out various questions I want to ask and talk about. Patients getting knowledge that way is almost encouraged - some years ago I did a course with the NHS called the ‘Expert Patient Programme’ - and got a certificate when I completed it - it entails learning how to learn about your conditions and how to help manage them so that you become almost a ‘partner’ with your doctors.

I was going to say, with multiple diagnoses it’s good if you have a doctor with whom you can get an overview of things from. I’m lucky in that one of my consultants, the endocrinologist, happens to be not only a very good endocrinologist but also a fantastic generalist. He also knows many of the other specialists I’m under, or knows of them. I once went to see him simply to discuss another of the specialists - I paid for that consult out of my own pocket but he charged very little since he knows me so well.