Hello Nancy.
07 Jan 16 15:49, you wrote to me:
NB> -=> Quoting Jeff Smith to Nancy Backus on 01-Jan-2016 14:10 <=-
JS>> 03 Sep 15 18:20, you wrote to me:
NB>> -=> Quoting Jeff Smith to Nancy Backus on 31-Aug-2015 23:33 <=-
NB> It's been a while...! ;) Good to see you appear again... :)
JS>>> I'm that way too. Never cared for doctors much. While it's hard
JS>>> for me to ask I do enjoy and feel better about going if someone
JS>>> decides to go with. I guess it's nice to feel your not alone
JS>>> sometimes.
NB>>> It certainly helps to have two people to listen to the doctor
NB>>> and to ask questions... and to remember what was said... ;) I
NB>>> started going with my friend/neighbor when she'd been
NB>>> complaining to me on the phone after every visit to a certain
NB>>> doctor how bad he was and how he wasn't dealing with what she
NB>>> thought needed attention... Turned out that he really was that
NB>>> bad, so I helped her find a better doctor... But then I went
NB>>> with her to all her doctor visits thereafter, even with a new
NB>>> better doctor... it made helping her remember what was going on
NB>>> easier for me... :) And she appreciated having the company...
JS>> I go to the doctors as little as possible. Recently though I
JS>> decided to "Bite The Bullet" and drive myself to the hospital. I
JS>> wasn't in pain really. Just didn't feel right. Turns out (They
JS>> told me) that I had a total blockage of blood feeding the heart
JS>> muscles. And that I made it to the hospital with minutes to
JS>> spare. That was reaffirmed by how fast they were rushing me down
JS>> the halls on the gurney. They used their little "Roto Rooter"
JS>> machine to clean my pipes.
NB> Sounds like that got caught just in time....! Pain isn't the only
NB> symptom that one should be paying attention, just the most likely to
NB> be an attention-grabber... unless one has been dealing with chronic
NB> pain all along... ;0
To be honest I was at first tempted not to go to the hospital. I pretty
much have some degree of pain all the time. For me it's a combination of
migraines, damaged knees, arthritis in most joints, bad back, among other
things. But, I have never been one to let my physical situation(s) to limit
what I want to accomplish. The reality though is that it is getting harder
to keep that attitude. It's pretty much a matter of having a 30's mind
stuck in a 60's body.
I think myself self aware enough that I sensed that it wasn't just a matter
of being in pain. Which I wasn't really. My chest didn't hurt much at all.
It was more a combination of new sensations that suggested something else
might be amiss.
NB>>> I've long felt that it's important to have a doctor that listens
NB>>> to you, and that accepts you as an equal partner in your care...
NB>>> I've been fortunate over the last couple of decades to have all
NB>>> my doctors be that way... it makes the thought of going to see
NB>>> them a lot less onerous.. :)
JS>> The doctor that I had seemed to be nice. He seemd to be someone
JS>> that a patient could actually hold a conversation with.
NB> Did you get to follow up with that doctor, or was he just a
NB> hospitalist...?
A follow up? Yes, but not with the same doctor. The other doctor was a
tad less comunicative but was ok
JS>> Did I mention that I really HATE hospital beds. That was the most
JS>> uncomfortable thing to even try to sleep on. Which isn't helped
JS>> by the folks that stop by every couple hours to see if your still
JS>> alive.
NB> Some are worse or better than others... the "hospital" beds that one
NB> can buy/rent for home use are generally worse than the ones in
NB> the hospitals.... And quite true about the parade of
NB> nurses/techs/docs and then the therapists... And then there's the
NB> noise level... things beeping, conversations in the hall, the
NB> geriatric down the hall....
Well, I couldn't get any sleep the first 36 hours laying in the bed. Trying
to leave the bed was an major issue with the collection of wires and tubes
involved. The bed actually had an air matress that everytime I would slightly
change positions. The compressor would start up to change the pressure. With
a resultant werrr... WERRR... werr... I finally told the nurse to turn the
thing off. The bed was more firm but at least tollerable.
JS>> Im doing ok but can't handle stairs or hills very well. Guess my
JS>> plans to be a mountain climber are shelved.
NB> Glad you've come through it ok... maybe with some good cardiac rehab
NB> you'll be able to at least manage hills... or even a small mountain or
NB> two... ;) I'm not good on stairs either, though... but my problem is
NB> mostly my ankles and knees... broke the one ankle (back in 2005), had
NB> to stay off it for 10 weeks so damaged the other knee... and then the
NB> opposite ones tried to compensate, to their detriment as well... ;)
Same thing here with knees. Some years ago I unwisely tried to make my knee
bend sideways. I ended up tearing the menicus which doesn't heal once dammaged.
As a result of babbying the knee for a time the other knee suffered.
JS>> The sad thing to me was being a dad and having none of my kids
JS>> showing up or at least calling. I did get a glad your ok msg
JS>> after I got back home from one though.
NB> At least one of them cared enough to let you know...
I have been far from a pefect father. And I know and acknowledge and take
responsibility for the mistakes that I have made. But I love all my kids
very much. I have come to accept that for some "Family" means something
differant. It hurts to hear from one of your children that you love that
"I don't need you". That doesn't change or diminish my love. It just makes
me sad.
NB> ttyl neb
NB> ... Experience is yesterday's answer to today's problems.
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Jeff
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