Hard to believe it's been 5 years
Dec. 1st, 2007 08:15 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
bunrabNext week is five years since my diagnosis. Here I still am!
Five years ago Thanksgiving weekend, I had flown to Florida to help a friend who was cleaning up her grandmother's and mother's estates. We spent much of the weekend wondering why my asthma medications weren't doing any good; I couldn't use the swimming pool in the condo complex because I couldn't walk that far. The following week, when I got home, was when I was scheduled to get lung x-rays taken. And when they got developed, gee, the heart happened to appear in the picture, too - larger than life, as it were.
Well. The diuretics (that the pulmonologist prescribed as soon as he saw the x-rays, even before writing out the referral to a cardiologist) cleared the fluid out of my lungs so at least I could walk more than 30 feet or so without running out of breath.
If my EF is still at only 20%, well, I'm nonetheless healthier than I was 5 years ago. I weigh significantly less. I eat healthier. And while I still can't walk uphill or up more than 4 or 5 stair steps without tiring, on level ground I can actually walk somewhat more than the 200 feet that my disabled-parking permit application specified. (I'd give up the permit if anyone HAD level parking lots, but no one does - they all slope away from whatever establishment they're for.)
Now if I could just lose again the 15 or so pounds I gained back... December's not a good month for trying to lose weight, though. Every place we play a concert, they serve the band punch and cookies or something of the sort, and after playing outdoors at night for a municipal Christmas-tree lighting, one HAS to have a cup of hot chocolate. (But hey, chocolate is good for you now!)
Anyway. Those of you who remember my interesting experience in spring of 2006 with an infection in my pacemaker pocket may be amused by this - as soon as I got the email from GiantMicrobes that this model was being released, I ordered one!
http://www.giantmicrobes.com/us/
P.S. Have you gotten your pneumonia vaccine shot yet? You know who you are.
Five years ago Thanksgiving weekend, I had flown to Florida to help a friend who was cleaning up her grandmother's and mother's estates. We spent much of the weekend wondering why my asthma medications weren't doing any good; I couldn't use the swimming pool in the condo complex because I couldn't walk that far. The following week, when I got home, was when I was scheduled to get lung x-rays taken. And when they got developed, gee, the heart happened to appear in the picture, too - larger than life, as it were.
Well. The diuretics (that the pulmonologist prescribed as soon as he saw the x-rays, even before writing out the referral to a cardiologist) cleared the fluid out of my lungs so at least I could walk more than 30 feet or so without running out of breath.
If my EF is still at only 20%, well, I'm nonetheless healthier than I was 5 years ago. I weigh significantly less. I eat healthier. And while I still can't walk uphill or up more than 4 or 5 stair steps without tiring, on level ground I can actually walk somewhat more than the 200 feet that my disabled-parking permit application specified. (I'd give up the permit if anyone HAD level parking lots, but no one does - they all slope away from whatever establishment they're for.)
Now if I could just lose again the 15 or so pounds I gained back... December's not a good month for trying to lose weight, though. Every place we play a concert, they serve the band punch and cookies or something of the sort, and after playing outdoors at night for a municipal Christmas-tree lighting, one HAS to have a cup of hot chocolate. (But hey, chocolate is good for you now!)
Anyway. Those of you who remember my interesting experience in spring of 2006 with an infection in my pacemaker pocket may be amused by this - as soon as I got the email from GiantMicrobes that this model was being released, I ordered one!
http://www.giantmicrobes.com/us/
P.S. Have you gotten your pneumonia vaccine shot yet? You know who you are.
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no subject
Date: 2007-12-02 02:28 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-12-03 09:05 pm (UTC)thankfully we don't have much in the way of uneven ground here (well cityside anyway, mountains different story), but i do notice when i go to other places that are hilly it's close to murder to get around on foot.
what instrument do you play?
saxophone
Date: 2007-12-03 10:45 pm (UTC)The icon in this comment is my soprano saxophone, which I don't use much - there are not many concert band parts for it - but it is fun!
Re: saxophone
Date: 2007-12-05 07:30 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-12-14 09:23 am (UTC)