Heather's Heavenly Vapes - THE BIG THREAD (Part 6)

[DavidOH]

Evening... One more day... Tomorrow I see the Doctor and my last therapy session that was set. So the Doctor only has two choices. Another month of therapy or send me to the orthopedic. My shoulder isn't really any better... It's still locked...

 

[Bronze]

Evening... One more day... Tomorrow I see the Doctor and my last therapy session that was set. So the Doctor only has two choices. Another month of therapy or send me to the orthopedic. My shoulder isn't really any better... It's still locked...

View attachment 986220

Something is messed up.

 

[Bronze]

My BFF of 48 years was just diagnosed with Parkinsons. Horrible malady.

 

[LAwaters]

Well, I got some good news this morning. 19 months ago I went in for a physical that included some blood work. My first physical in decades and first blood test ever. The results were actually pretty good across the board except I had elevated RBC (red blood cell) markers. Specifically the hemoglobin, hematocrit, and cell count. My PA (physicians assistant) who did the physical wanted me to come in a month later to test again. I did. The markers improved but were still considered elevated. He let it go. Turn the clock forward to this past September (my next physical) and the RBC markers were still elevated. He referred me to Hematology for further analysis. I call to set up an appointment and they answer the phone, "Duke Cancer Center, how may I help you". My jaw drops. Cancer? I'm immediately thinking leukemia. So I go into a bit of worry mode. Had to wait more than 2 months to get an appt. Good grief! At the same time it kinda told me if I was red alert status they would of had me in there right away. Anyhow, long story short I saw a retired Hematologist. They have a shortage of them at Duke so he works just one day a week. Guessing he's in his upper 60s. Great communicator, exudes confidence. That made me feel good. Before he entered the room, the gal who checked me in and takes blood pressure an all that crap out of the blue asks, "You realize you're at Hematology and not the Cancer Center, right?" I about came out of my chair and hugged the stuffing out of her. I said, NO! Said no one told me (despite me unsuccessfully trying to find out if they were checking for cancer). Their communication at Duke is horrible. Can't get a hold of anyone. World renowned medical institution, amateur communicators. If it wasn't for their online patient portal where docs and nurses leave notes I would have known nothing. Even then they are very complicated and confusing notes. Words I never heard before. May as well be written in Chinese.

Anyway. doc did more blood work. During my visit he said I likely have polycythemia vera. The risk is blood clots leading to heart attack and strokes. Technically it's a blood cancer but treatable. They drain a pint of blood every few weeks until your RBC markers get back in the normal range and then put you on RBC production blockers, blah, blah, blah. Well after the results came in he ruled out polycythemia vera and ordered two more tests. One was for some kinda blah blah blah level. That came back normal. The other test was a JAK2 mutation. Another blood cancer with the same clotting risks. The results came in last night. He called me this morning. There is no JAK2 mutation therefore, "There is no health concern" per my doc. In other words, I have elevated RBC markers but it is of no health concern. I'm a bit of an oddball but he said I'm not the only one. Whew! Dodged a bullet.

Bottom line here folks is try your best to get your blood checked annually. My insurance pays for those tests...they're considered preventative. And when you get to be our age there is bound to be something out of wack and it likely can be dealt with. It's amazing what these blood tests reveal. In fact, I also found I have no Hepatitis B immunity. None. So I'm in the middle of a 2-dose Hep B vaccine regimen...similar to what they've been giving all infants for the last 19 years. Kinda nice to know I'll be protected from Hep B, yuh know?

I started reading this before coffee this morning. I missed the word “good” and my heart dropped. Thank the Lord for coffee… re-reads… and that your news was, in fact, good.

 

[LAwaters]

Evening... One more day... Tomorrow I see the Doctor and my last therapy session that was set. So the Doctor only has two choices. Another month of therapy or send me to the orthopedic. My shoulder isn't really any better... It's still locked...

View attachment 986220

Sorry to hear, but not surprised because of my own shoulder injury in 2012. Took a long time to heal. I read up on surgeries for it, and at that time it wasn’t a sure fix. Sometimes even made it worse. I hope you get a good, healing solution. It‘s so hard to get comfortable at all when your shoulder is injured.

 

[Bronze]

I started reading this before coffee this morning. I missed the word “good” and my heart dropped. Thank the Lord for coffee… re-reads… and that your news was, in fact, good.

I tell yuh what, there's a bit of a cloud that hangs over your head when you're not sure what you're dealing with. And when they post the results online and you're signing in to see them there's a bit of a pulse surge. Very first thing I look at is a little beaker icon they put next to the result title. It's illuminated meaning it's new and I haven't opened it yet. They also put a big red exclamation point next to the beaker icon if the results show things out of range or abnormal. First thing I look at is to see if there's a red exclamation point. I can feel immediate relief when there's not.

I'm talking to my BFF Sunday who had just been diagnosed with Parkinson's. It was just a few days before my results came in. I didn't tell him about my situation. Don't like stirring up things until I'm dealing with facts. But it did give extra meaning when I kept telling him we never know what tomorrow will bring...we can die tomorrow or we could last another 2 decades. Well, I told him about my situation yesterday. I said, "See, I know what I'm talking about".

Get physicals if you can. insurance and medicare pay for them for the most part because they are preventative. Also consider those low dose CT scans. Also preventative. Good test for detecting early signs of lung cancer. You had to of had smoked a certain amount for a certain amount of time but I suspect all of us here meet that threshold.

 

[Bronze]

Sorry to hear, but not surprised because of my own shoulder injury in 2012. Took a long time to heal. I read up on surgeries for it, and at that time it wasn’t a sure fix. Sometimes even made it worse. I hope you get a good, healing solution. It‘s so hard to get comfortable at all when your shoulder is injured.

I get bursitis in my shoulder from time to time. PITA and lasts seemingly forever. At the same time, there are worse things. There's only one human who ever lived that can't say someone has it worse than them.

 

[DavidOH]

Evening... Well the doctor is going to request I see an Orthopedic and a bit more therapy sessions. Even though she doesn't see anything in the report to warrant it. So It's wait and see for now.. But for now it's time for pizza and beer...

 

[Bronze]

 

[DavidOH]

Afternoon..... Just the normal stuff to do.....

 

[Bronze]

Front done. Cleaned gutterds. Leaves off the roof (best I could). Blew behind foundation bushes. Blew front yard. Side 1 of 4 done for the season.

 

[rosesense]

Front done. Cleaned gutterds. Leaves off the roof (best I could). Blew behind foundation bushes. Blew front yard. Side 1 of 4 done for the season.

You make me tired.

 

[Bronze]

You make me tired.

Me too.

 

[LAwaters]

You make me tired.

Me three

 

[Bronze]

Do I hear four?

 

[Desert Dweller]

Do I hear four?

me four

 

[DavidOH]

Evening....

 

[Bronze]

Leaves off the roof. Will blow off back tomorrow then power wash the rest of the house after that.

 

[Nermal]

I just swept the leaves off the front porch. It's now composting on the lawn.

 

[Bronze]

I just swept the leaves off the front porch. It's now composting on the lawn.

Wanna swap jobs?