I’m really glad to be home. Though I admit it was nice to pick up the phone and order phone and have it delivered.
My groin is looking good, my IV arm is a bit sore, but other than that I’m fine. The best news is that I have 10 pounds off of me since the seniors left — I’m hoping the experience got a lot of the water weight off.
Right now I have calls out to the Nurse PA who sent me to the hospital, and call out to make an appointment with her.
I escaped — not really — was discharged.
Catherization showed no blockage, but then again, there is Tim Russart.
Here’s how I feel about the original cardiologist.
Ive gone from wanting to kill the bimbo nurse, to just wanting to throttle her, down to just wanting to see her fired ?? — though I am going to fire her and her whole practice and find another cardiologist. I will probably go back for my followup, but then move to the new cardiologist.
This is the second time this medical practice has scared me and my family. I have been getting routine stress tests from this practice every two years since I was diagnosed with sleep apnea.
Two years ago, they said there was a shadow and that I had to have a particular test, which my primary care physician said wouldn’t happen due to insurance. Sure enough, insurance denied and they said ?oh, It?s not a problem?.
This round, I promise I got a call at 4:30 Friday, saying I had a 70% blockage in one artery, was probably going into heart failure and get to a specific emergency room immediately. This was after I said that I would said until next week as this week was booked up.
She also said, call her anytime and she’d be happy to answer any questions. When I tried to call back a few minutes later, got an after hours message, and she left no way to reach her. That should have been my first clue as my Endo left me his pager in case I needed help. And she still hasn’t called. Very typical.
The other good news. The whole experience should cost around $550.
I’ve given up on trying to sleep for a while, I’ll give it another try later.
Sleeping here really sucks. First, it’s a different bed. Second, there are no beagles in the bed, and the place doesn’t smell like beagle. Already, my CPAP smells funny.
Plus the man across the hall is moaning, the nurse keeps coming in and out, other people, like respirtory therapy ask questions, etc.
Everything itches or aches. I am wearing a heart monitor, my insulin pump, and a nitro patch. Also they have me on a diuritic so I spend a lot of time in the bathroom.
I’m am really hoping that yesterday’s nurse comes again today. She "got" me. Of course, tonight’s nurse is from India and her assistant is from Nigeria, so they don’t.
Tonight’s nurse tell me that I’m getting the cath on Monday. That means they might let me out of here on Tuesday. I have sent phone numbers etc. to husband so he can cancel Wednesday’s appointments. I doubt I will want to deal with the dentist, pulmonary guy probably okay.
My biggest worry right now, is that I’m supposed to do a staff development on Thursday. Right now, I barely feel well enough to do this. The nurse thinks it was the nitro patch.
I was feeling good this afternoon, but feel like crap now and can’t seem to get comfortable or stay that way. Maybe it’s the heart monitor?
I am not a happy camper. This could have waited until Monday. Doctor wants me on his meds, and wants to watch me. He is planning on doing the procedure Monday or Tuesday. Oh, well…
I went to the ER at about 8:00 am this morning. Wasn’t feeling bad, wasn’t feeling great. While I was talking to them, did have some minor chest pain on the left side. I’ve had an aspirin and a nitro patch. Also, I think some saline. They were nice, but most of the time so far has been waiting.
Right now I’m in a room with internet access, and am waiting for the doctor.
I got a call about 4:10 this evening from the Nurse Practioner that I had seen at spring break. She had the results of my nuclear stress test and said that I had a blockage and that I needed to go for a catherization. She asked about shortness of breath and I told her about my coughing and my fluid retention — the things I related to her in March as concerns. She said that the doctor doing the procedure would call me on Monday and make arrangements.
Then she called back while I was talking to my mom, said I had a 70% blockage and that I was probably in heart failure already and needed to go tomorrow. So right now, I’m taking a break from making arrangements to go.
I went to my cardiologist office today and had a chemical stress test and a sonogram done. I was about to leave the place twice, once when the billing people told me it was going to cost a thousand dollar copay which is not what BCBS of Texas told me earlier in the week. She settled on collecting $100.00 from me, I think, I didn’t pay that much attention to the credit card slip but will later.
The second time I was ready to leave was when the tech started to put them IV in. She couldn’t decide where to try and I said "well, the right back of my hand generally works well). It did. I really think someone who does that should have a big more confidence in what they are doing.
I was in at 7:30, out by 9:30, but exhausted. Haven’t gotten any results, but so far, no one acted like there was a problem and they have in the past.
Amy might not agree (she doesn’t seem to like the Animas pump), but I really like the Accu-Chek meter, in fact, Friday after using it for just a couple of tests, I asked the endo’s office to get me a 30 day script (which I just got), and just a few minutes ago I asked for a 90 day script from Medco. I also called Accu-Chek and demanded a new meter (that’s the best way to go), and it’s on the way. As I told them, I didn’t want to have to rush around and find a pharmacy and i like to keep a spare around just in case.
There is something about the shape, the display, and especially the whirring that just makes my Geeky heart happy. I love the fact that it matches my pump and my CGMS — all three are black.
I like the gold display, it’s very easy to read.
And again, I like the whirring. I also like the fact that it "knows" the control solution, and that everything including the lancing device is all i one unit.
Doesn’t take much to make me happy == for example, I am really thrilled because I could download Jimmy Buffet music and play it on Rock Band!
I’ve finished my first full week "off contract", since I’m still working. I took 2 1/2 days of staff development, worked on curriculum and worked on the district final.
It’s been a good diabetes week. I saw my endo, and my A1C is at 7.7, down from 8.2. My blood pressure was 122 over 72. The endo said I was doing better.
I am trying a new meter which I really like. I’ll have to see how it is carrying around because it is a bit bigger. It’s an Accu-Chek Compact Plus meter, in black and it matches the pump. I really like the display, it’s very bright. I like that it takes AAA batteries, and that everything is one unit. It uses the Accu-Check drum, and the lancing device attaches to the meter. So far I’ve kept it as one unit.
I still have a lot of One Touch test strips, so I will probably swap back and forth.
Still waiting on the Dexcom software upgrade.