Went to the doctor the other day (finally, I know) and received news that I expected: probable heart valve failure.
I'm on a few types of medications for it...but, there has been a bit of a build up of pain to my left side. I'm not going panic as much because, perhaps it is a side effect to what i'm having to take.
Anyway, I'm supposed to have a few tests this week, so we will see what happens.
Until then, I regret, I do not have the focus to work on any of my WIPs...sorry.
Comments
Take care of yourself
Then you'll be able to share your creative efforts with everyone else.
Hope you feel better soon.
Angharad
I hope you get better
huggles.
Same here ...
I was down to about speaking three words per breath, and needed help to get out of bed. My mitral valve was shredding itself.
>>>Follow medical advice of course.<<<
That pain down your left side? It's your heart in pain from not enough blood/oxygen to keep it (and you) working.
Fixing sooner is probably better - less damage accumulates, you are 'healthier' now than later, and surgery sooner 'should be' simpler with faster recovery.
Yeah, heart surgery is a Big Hairy Scary Deal. I'm atheist-Buddhist and I was this >< close to asking the Buddhist chaplain to stop by.
If surgery is the way for you, think about giving a very trusted friend "healthcare power of attorney" and discuss your wishes. I was asked if I wanted a Do Not Resuscitate order. I told them "(Hell no,) keep jump starting me until I'm charcoal!".
>>Important<< If you have any other 'conditions', get them under control soonest. Smoking? - Just Stop! Diabetes, overweight, high cholesterol ... bring them down. Best web sites I know of to help you with the last three is (Free!) https://www.pcrm.org/vegankickstart, then (Free!) https://www.pcrm.org/, (Free!) https://www.drmcdougall.com/, and (Free!) https://www.pcrm.org/. All info on these sites is free, unless you want a book (and remember your Libraries), or seminar, or an in-person thingy. If you hit a spot that says "please pay" - wrong turn, back out and continue learning and doing all their other stuff. None of them say anything like "buy this meal plan to be 'with the program'". Just go to your regular grocery stores.
Best diabetes book I know of is Dr Barnard's Reversing Diabetes at https://www.pcrm.org/health-topics/diabetes. Dr Barnard has done 'hands on' diabetes research.
(Your Kilometer-age May/Will Vary) my fix was a cow valve replacement and a cow tissue patch for a congenital hole twixt the upper two chambers. (Here's the joke: I'm vegan...)
My 'heart thing' was late 2016. Since recovery, I'm carrying on with anything I want to do. I need to take a single Rx drug (plus a second Rx for an unrelated condition). It seems they can "wash out" proteins and such from the cow tissue, so zero concerns with rejection. Oh, I am now 68 yo. The failing valve would have, I figure, killed me in about 3-4 months. It had already crippled me. Next on my schedule today? Get an estimated 20 kg / 45 lb cast iron wood lathe bed out of car trunk/boot and into house.
Down side: Every 28-1/2 days so, I have to go out at night and Moo-ooo at that big yellow thing in the sky...
Take care of yourself
I just buried my brother who had died of a heart attack, six years after getting a quadruple bypass.
I can only imagine what horrible diet he had to lead his system to getting that clogged up with Arteriosclerosis.
The real sad part is that he made no provision to have someone check up on him from time to time and his cat died of starvation after he died of it and he was not found until his corpse had decayed severely.
So very sorry ... I know words help very little.
See my comment above re: diet.
Unless something (Big Hint: diet) changes, then whatever clogged up the arteries in the first time, will clog up the bypass, or stents, or balloon process ... again. Sometimes in just 1-2 years ...
Data says WFPB-no oil or vegan gives us maybe 7-12 years more life span. Or, conversely, SAD (Standard American Diet) kills people 12-7 years early.
All forms of cardiovascular disease and cancers (also heavily influenced by diet) - kills more than half of all Americans - over a million per year. At a cost of maybe 1/2 to one Trillion-with-a-T USDollars of sick care every year.
Huggers
I hope you feel better soon.
If there's a book that you want to read, but it hasn't been written yet, then you must write it.”
― Toni Morrison