Older Folks and Vaping Back Porch - Part Seven

[Debadoo]

Maybe you were at somebody's house who had the movie on disc? Another thought: there was a serious amount of coverage on TV when it happened. Real life so real that it almost felt like a movie, lol.

Now for the more likely scenarios: there has been a made-for-TV movie, in addition to at least one TV documentary, made about "The Miracle on the Hudson". Of course, even the real-time event was not as good as the Tom Hanks movie.

there's no tellin with how my mind works.

 

[Iffy]

Unsane is pretty good...

... and was shot entirely on the iPhone 7 Plus in 4K!

 

[DancingHeretik]

You may have read my post about DH's heart issue (left branch bundle block) and his cardiologist had said many people have those and no other heart issues. But he ordered a cardio-cath done to find out if there was a reason for it because these bundle blocks are the result of a problem not the cause.

Today we had DH's follow up about the cardio-cath with the cardiologist. The story has changed a lot. As he previously told DH after the procedure he has a 100% blocked artery but it apparently happened slowly and surrounding blood vessels have taken on its job so no surgery. But he also has some partial blockages in some other blood vessels. No symptoms at all though…a good thing…means his body is handling it ok for now but he will be on the maximum dose of Lipitor from now on.

The part that you all will find interesting is the comments about smokers. Doc asked DH if he was a smoker. DH said "no" and doc said he could tell because, besides the smell, smokers look a lot older than their age, their voices are harsher, and their coloration is off…greyish.

Doc also said that his coronary heart disease is a substantial threat to DH's life but what he has going for him is that his body has handled it well so far and hopefully will continue to do so for a long time…years.

And that's when it hit me…the fact that doc said my DH has heart disease…heart disease that can kill him! As you know we lost our son to another type of heart disease and now we're told that DH has a serious heart disease.

I'm so scared. He's my best friend, my rock. I'm posting this because I need to verbalize it and I can't tell him how scared I am.

{{{{{Bea}}}}} It's alright to be scared or to cry. You feel what you feel. That's what we're here for.

But, also listen to pwmeek. He's right.

Bea - It may be serious, but it shouldn't make you panicky. You know what the problems are; you have people testing, observing, and monitoring the situation; and modern medicine is astoundingly capable. Things can be done today (via catheterization) that would have required open heart surgery a few decades ago, and would have been incurable a few decades before that. Knowing what you (and the docs) know, you should be able to manage his condition safely for the future. It's when you ignore problems that they cause the worst problems.

I'm still waiting for my next meeting with the electro-cardiologist (after I wore a Holter EKG monitor for 48 hours). He went in with a catheter and explored where the signals were going and where they weren't, and ablated (burned) four locations until he was happy with the result (Atrial Flutter stopped). With the Holter monitor, he will have a record of every single heartbeat for 48 hours to study (which is why it takes a specialist quite some time to return a finding).

I don't know if your hospital has something like the University of Michigan Health System's "Patient Portal". I can go online and see things like all past and future appointments, test results, billing (this episode has cost my insurance almost $100,000 so far), and (what was most interesting to me) the complete narrative of my "visit".

It was about 30-40 pages of tiny print with every comment by every care-giver (docs and nurses) about what they did and what they observed, as well as the tests ordered and the results. The narrative had as many acronyms (most of which I had to look up online - wut the heck is JVD? It's Jugular Vein Distention and I didn't have any on several occasions) as English words, but I plugged on through. It seemed as though it matched up well with everything I remembered happening, and everyone seemed to feel that things went well.

{I did note that there were quite a few errors, in the sense that when they were questioning me about my personal history, it seemed that they didn't listen very carefully. I'm pretty sure that I gave accurate answers about my smoking, vaping, drinking, and exercise history to quite a number of people, but what they recorded varied wildly, and was largely inaccurate. They commented that I was alert, lucid, and aware at all times when I wasn't actually under anesthesia or asleep. (To me this suggests that I probably gave correct answers to questions about my history - I wasn't babbling nonsense.) I am in the process of getting this corrected; it's not good to have errors in your medical record.}

Hope everything continues to look up. Please, let us know what happens with the next visit.

I know what you mean about doctors not really listening. They are paying attention to other things instead. Sometimes it other things about us and our health. Sometimes it's the fact that their hungry or whatever. I think they should record every single thing that happens to you and every word you say, then go back to it in order to catch all the stuff they missed the first time.

That kind of thing fries me to no end. I've had doctor's scoff when telling them I'm allergic to something, like they didn't believe me (it was a sulfa medication - pretty common to have an allergy to that, plus, my mom landed in the hospital from it once, as have a handful of other people I've known - but because I didn't end up in the hospital, I must be making it up e_e). I've seen nurses dole out medication and not record it in the chart (happened when my mom - who was 80 at the time). They almost never report drug reactions, either.

"Allergies?" "Yes, house dust and penicillin." "How do you react to housedust?" "Sinus problems." "How do you react to penicillin?" "I die." They dutifully write anaphylaxis, and it becomes a huge red flag. No problem.

That gets their attention!

 

[Debadoo]

Maybe you were at somebody's house who had the movie on disc? Another thought: there was a serious amount of coverage on TV when it happened. Real life so real that it almost felt like a movie, lol.

Now for the more likely scenarios: there has been a made-for-TV movie, in addition to at least one TV documentary, made about "The Miracle on the Hudson". Of course, even the real-time event was not as good as the Tom Hanks movie.

I think I figgered it out. I think it was during a free movie channel weekend that I saw it. derrrr

I think they should record every single thing that happens to you and every word you say, then go back to it in order to catch all the stuff they missed the first time.

that would be an excellent idea! But since they say that medical error is the 3rd leading cause of death, there's no way they'd do it even in a Dr Office.

 

[pwmeek]

They are paying attention to other things instead. Sometimes it other things about us and our health. Sometimes it's the fact that their hungry or whatever. I think they should record every single thing that happens to you and every word you say, then go back to it in order to catch all the stuff they missed the first time.

I'd give them the benefit of the doubt and assume that they are distracted by trying to do the best they can to take care of me and everyone else they are responsible for. The trouble with recording and reviewing is that it then takes as long again (at least) to listen to it all over again. Their problem (causing errors) is that they don't think they can afford the original time to listen and record carefully. The old sarcastic adage "Not enough time to do it right, but time enough to do it a second time to fix it" would apply here.

This is something that caregivers need reminding about and ongoing training (even experienced caregivers) to take a little extra time to get patient-supplied information recorded correctly. It would take a LOT more time to fix things if some future caregiver did the wrong thing because they read some incorrect information in my (or anyone's) medical record.

That said, digital audio storage is cheap (compared to doctors' time); maybe a clerical caregiver could compare the spoken narrative with the notes and flag any differences for review by the doctor. This might make best use of the limited resource of doctor-time.

I hope to resolve this by respectful constructive criticism.

 

[clnire]

oh nooooooo how horrible! any updates on that?

RE our "new" roof. An elder (older than me) roofer was out yesterday to fix the problems. DH was up there with him. He said to walk around and flag soft spots. They found at least 3 spots where the base plywood had HOLES!!! in it. Not replaced as it should have been, just shingled over. DH took pictures, now we fight to have them rip this POS (piece of dog doo) off and start over. Or there will be a lawsuit.We paid for a new roof, not a constant repair job.

I am so thankful my DH is knowledgeable about this stuff. I wonder how many other people have been ripped off (literally). Apparently, the crew who did the original roof is gone, but the lead guy is still employed as a shingle installer. Costs are coming out of his paycheck. We shall see, but we aren't paying another cent!

 

[DancingHeretik]

that would be an excellent idea! But since they say that medical error is the 3rd leading cause of death, there's no way they'd do it even in a Dr Office.

Malpractice needs to be a criminal offense, not just a reason for malpractice insurance!

That said, digital audio storage is cheap (compared to doctors' time); maybe a clerical caregiver could compare the spoken narrative with the notes and flag any differences for review by the doctor. This might make best use of the limited resource of doctor-time.

That would do!

Costs are coming out of his paycheck. We shall see, but we aren't paying another cent!

Agreed!

 

[bigbells]

Malpractice needs to be a criminal offense, not just a reason for malpractice insurance!

There would be too many practitioners in jail. I don't say this with any malice towards the medical profession. Depending on the nature of the malpractice, medical boards can and do take away licenses. Criminalizing all malpractice might sound good, but when a solution sounds simple, it is most likely too simple to have the desired effect.

Not enough time to do it right, but time enough to do it a second time to fix it

Thinking back to your recent picture where the correct eye was marked with arrows, exclamation points and warning signs: measure twice, cut once.

 

[pwmeek]

They found at least 3 spots where the base plywood had HOLES!!! in it. Not replaced as it should have been, just shingled over.

Lucky you. On our previous home, when we had someone there to "find a few leaks" he was walking around on the roof and it felt spongey in several places. It was the rafters rotted away. When we tore the roof apart you could poke a finger through triple-stacked 2 x 12s - they were that rotten. Everything had to be replaced. (We ended up paying about 1/3 what we paid for the entire house to correct that plus a few other problems caused by the (long-gone) original builder.) We survived, but it was (like yours) a nasty surprise.

 

[3mg Meniere]

I've tried that before, unfortunately for me the pain relieving effects don't last but a couple hours, so I am able to go back to sleep and that is nice, but then I still wake up in pain. Glad it seems to be working for you

Re-- waking up in pain in the morning, taking meds, going back to sleep once they kick in. No, it did not work. I am back to my noonish nap, but I do it flat on my back, with my knees elevated. (per internet article) This is better. Will see how it works over the long term. I need another cup of coffee.

 

[LyLyV]

... and was shot entirely on the iPhone 7 Plus in 4K!

View attachment 732525

I heard that! Unbelievable! You'd seriously never know!

 

[Bea-FL]

I'd give them the benefit of the doubt and assume that they are distracted by trying to do the best they can to take care of me and everyone else they are responsible for. The trouble with recording and reviewing is that it then takes as long again (at least) to listen to it all over again. Their problem (causing errors) is that they don't think they can afford the original time to listen and record carefully. The old sarcastic adage "Not enough time to do it right, but time enough to do it a second time to fix it" would apply here.

This is something that caregivers need reminding about and ongoing training (even experienced caregivers) to take a little extra time to get patient-supplied information recorded correctly. It would take a LOT more time to fix things if some future caregiver did the wrong thing because they read some incorrect information in my (or anyone's) medical record.

That said, digital audio storage is cheap (compared to doctors' time); maybe a clerical caregiver could compare the spoken narrative with the notes and flag any differences for review by the doctor. This might make best use of the limited resource of doctor-time.

I hope to resolve this by respectful constructive criticism.

I'm very disappointed with hubby's cardiologist. He was great during the office visit, spent 20 minutes with us (instead of the common 10 minutes) and answered all our questions. But not a single word or test result made it to the patient portal. I'm going over there on Monday to get copies of all his notes, cardio-cath, echo, x-rays, etc. for our secobd opinion. I will also ask why none of that is on the portal.

And there are some errors they obviously cut and pasted from years ago that don't even apply anymore that need to be removed.

Very frustrating.

 

[Bea-FL]

@clnire that's aweful about your roof. Hopefully you won't have the headache of a lawsuit.

 

[Janet H]

You may have read my post about DH's heart issue (left branch bundle block) and his cardiologist had said many people have those and no other heart issues. But he ordered a cardio-cath done to find out if there was a reason for it because these bundle blocks are the result of a problem not the cause.

Today we had DH's follow up about the cardio-cath with the cardiologist. The story has changed a lot. As he previously told DH after the procedure he has a 100% blocked artery but it apparently happened slowly and surrounding blood vessels have taken on its job so no surgery. But he also has some partial blockages in some other blood vessels. No symptoms at all though…a good thing…means his body is handling it ok for now but he will be on the maximum dose of Lipitor from now on.

The part that you all will find interesting is the comments about smokers. Doc asked DH if he was a smoker. DH said "no" and doc said he could tell because, besides the smell, smokers look a lot older than their age, their voices are harsher, and their coloration is off…greyish.

Doc also said that his coronary heart disease is a substantial threat to DH's life but what he has going for him is that his body has handled it well so far and hopefully will continue to do so for a long time…years.

And that's when it hit me…the fact that doc said my DH has heart disease…heart disease that can kill him! As you know we lost our son to another type of heart disease and now we're told that DH has a serious heart disease.

I'm so scared. He's my best friend, my rock. I'm posting this because I need to verbalize it and I can't tell him how scared I am.

{{{{Bea}}}} I know this is scary, but the doc is also optimistic so try to relax a bit. What medicine can do today is amazing. Listen to PMWeeks - he's right!! And we're hear to listen as always. Healing thoughts and prayers continue.

Eleaf iCard[emoji41]

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G891A using Tapatalk

That's an iCard? Never heard of it. You put the drip tip in the hole on top?

So.. I'm going to rent a car at the Boston Airport to go to my SIL's...should I purchase a Garmin GPS so I don't get too lost?

BTW.. my GD and her friend are coming over two days in a row to do some hard physical labor for me, inside and out....I guess they think I'm too decrepit to do it

I CAN do it, but it'd take me 4-5 times longer...and I'm not a total fool...

Willie's right, a lot of the rental cars already come with a GPS, but your smart phone might be even better if you have maps on it. We gave up on the garmin and use our phones now.

 

[bigbells]

That's an iCard? Never heard of it. You put the drip tip in the hole on top?

I think the rectangular opening at the top is the drip tip.

Willie's right, a lot of the rental cars already come with a GPS, but your smart phone might be even better if you have maps on it. We gave up on the garmin and use our phones now.

A couple of years ago I bought a refurbished Garmin with free lifetime updates... the updates aren't really free of course, you pay for them up front with a higher price to begin with. My existing Garmin unit at the time had last been updated in 2009 and it just wasn't worth paying for a map update. I found the "new" unit to be a bargain and I love using it on the rare occasions that I go anywhere.

 

[bigbells]

Just another one of those silly flash mob videos. Very enjoyable.

 

[3mg Meniere]

Re-- waking up in pain in the morning, taking meds, going back to sleep once they kick in. No, it did not work. I am back to my noonish nap, but I do it flat on my back, with my knees elevated. (per internet article) This is better. Will see how it works over the long term. I need another cup of coffee.

I did almost nothing yesterday. Too busy playing with genealogy, and had no need for a nap, and the time slipped away from me and went to bed past 11:00, which is late for me, as you all know. Feeling good this morning, except I need to dilute my mixes and set up some unflavored to kick that morning headache. Really want to delve into genealogy, but I-must-rebuild-my-$-cushion. Already had to make orders to Amazon for health-related items.

Did not make it to Good Friday service.

 

[DavidOck]

Good to hear that you're headed back in the right direction!

 

[Kenna]

Re-- waking up in pain in the morning, taking meds, going back to sleep once they kick in. No, it did not work. I am back to my noonish nap, but I do it flat on my back, with my knees elevated. (per internet article) This is better. Will see how it works over the long term. I need another cup of coffee.

That is why I take all my meds at night. If I stay in one position too long things freeze up & it hurts to move. Which wakes me up. Taking them at night keeps that from happening, & tho I might be a little stiff for a minute when I get up, it passes as soon as I move around a little. So meds during the day usually are only occasionally needed. I do nap, or at least lay down, every afternoon to rest my body & mind. Energy has been an unsolvable issue for some time. I go to the Cardiologist Monday to find out where I stand & get clearance so I can get my back fixed.

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk

 

[3mg Meniere]

That is why I take all my meds at night. If I stay in one position too long things freeze up & it hurts to move. Which wakes me up. Taking them at night keeps that from happening, & tho I might be a little stiff for a minute when I get up, it passes as soon as I move around a little. So meds during the day usually are only occasionally needed. I do nap, or at least lay down, every afternoon to rest my body & mind. Energy has been an unsolvable issue for some time. I go to the Cardiologist Monday to find out where I stand & get clearance so I can get my back fixed.

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk

I hadn't seen you for a while and I was beginning to get worried.

Surgery will not help my problems. No significant stenosis or anything like that. Research on tumeric is more conclusive than glucosamine/chondroitin. I have decided to get off of glucosamine/chondroitin and stay with tumeric and see what happens.