Wednesday, March 4, 2020

A Day at the Doctors

We thought Dad had two appointments yesterday. Turns out he only had one. We were a week early to see Dr Musselman but it was at the end of a slow afternoon and he was able to see us.

We had a good visit with Dr Wiggans. I do like him and he does listen and elicits information. The largest part of the visit was bringing the doctor up to speed with the events of the past weeks. Of course no reports have been forwarded to him yet even though he is listed on all reports as Dad's primary care physician. It was a good thing Dad remembered to give me the copies of the hospital reports Helen told him to give me. Wiggans made copies of them.

His concern is that the gastritis is addressed and bleeding is stopped. Interested to hear results of next weeks visit with Dr Secor. He drew blood to check hemoglobin count to see if red blood count is building back up. Also to check INR (blood thinness.) He was to report results to Musselman and call me or Helen. But basically Dad is pretty much as stable as he has been which is mildly anemic. The GI bleeding is what precipitated his rapid decline of a couple weeks ago. 

Next we made it to Dr Musselman know time only to find out we were a week early. However they were able to fit us in. Every time Dad grumbled about waiting I had to remind him that we were lucky to be there at all. Musselman noted that Dad was certainly in better condition than when he was in there hospital where Dad was confused and his speech was slurred. Again he agreed the culprit was blood loss from the gastritis. Big news: the mitral valve regurgitation is stable, about the same as it has been, with no worsening. He goes back to Musselman in a month. 

Both doctors addressed the borderline sleep apnea diagnosis. Neither felt it required further attention at this time. The condition would need to be much much worse to justify the intervention of CPAP therapy. (Note that it has done wonders for Susan.)

So, all in all, a long tiring but productive day. We stopped for frozen custards from Andy's and headed for the house. 

Monday, February 17, 2020

Musselman: The Echocardiogram

Arrived at the Doctor's office early without incident. 

Looking back at Dad over the last week if seems pretty evident that shortness of breath is his biggest symptom, along with dizziness which I suspect is related. And I expect to find out that the leakage at the mitral valve is the culprit. 

The exam went quickly without incident. No comments of course from the technician who sent us on our way. At least they didn't say omigod and slap him into the hospital!

And so we wait. 

I asked Dad how long it usually takes for Musselman to call with results. The question puzzled him. 

"Oh he usually tells me at my next appointment," Dad said.

That's August 11. Surely we can get some result before then! 

Monday, February 10, 2020

The Musselman Report

10 Feb
The Musselman Report

Routine 6 month visit with Dr Musselman.

Dad's main complaint was increasing shortness of breath. EKG showed the ever present leakage of mitral valve.

Brought in the pacemaker guy to run some routine tests. 4 years left on the battery. Pacemaker and wires are good. Home monitor is working fine.  He sped the heart up and slowed it down and the heart response was excellent. He was looking for any underlying arrhythmia or afib that might be masked by the pacemaker and causing shortness of breath but there was none.

To take a closer look at the leakage he scheduled a sonocardiogram next Monday at 2:30.

Then we met Susan for lunch!



Monday, January 6, 2020

Monday, not so good

Yesterday Dad was feeling pretty good. He was planning to go to Parkinson’s class tomorrow.

Today, not so much.
He has been pretty dizzy all day.
Just before I got home, he went to the restroom. He finished and went back to his room. When he got there his bowels had moved again and it had run down his leg without him being aware of it.
He got himself cleaned up and I cleaned his clothes.
He did not feel up to joining us for dinner. So I took him dinner in his room.

We decided that he should take only 2 neurontin each day instead of three. Maybe still help with pain but not put him so off balance.
I’ll let you know.

Friday, January 3, 2020

Back to Neurontin

I spoke to Dr Tsengs office on Monday 12/30.
Dr Tseng is out of town until next week. Jan 6.
Her nurse practitioner got an appointment for a CT scan at Southwest Imaging for 12/31.
I called today and the results weren’t that different than we expected. He has bad arthritis in his lower spine. The pain is probably a pinched nerve, but the results are inconclusive.
Dr Wiggins will get a copy of the report. I’ll call and leave a message to get his opinion of next step.

He also has a small renal cyst on the left side. Probably not an issue, but now we know.

The Nurse Practitioner prescribed Gabapentin  aka Neurontin 3 x per day. He can also take ibuprofen with meals.

Dad appears to be much better. He still says he hurts but his actions and his face say it is not as bad.

The Physical Therapist will be here 2x each week starting Monday. She is great with Dad.

I think one of the biggest issue at this point will be boredom. The other is stability.
We can talk about all this on the call tomorrow. I just wanted to bring you up date.
H

Sunday, December 30, 2018

DDon report holiday 2018

Christmas night
Dad had a very upset stomach on Christmas night at David’s house. He told me later that he almost threw up. Will took him home.

December 27
Dad got up, cooked breakfast and did the dishes. I don’t exactly know what happened but Will and I were in our bedroom when we smelled smoke. I went to the kitchen and the iron skillet was red hot and smoking with the gas turned on full.
There was nothing in the skillet. He had washed and left it on the flame to dry. I don’t know if he had to go to the bathroom quickly or if he just forgot and went to get dressed. I think it was the latter. If he needed to go quickly, he would use the bathroom near the kitchen.

Speaking of the bathroom emergencies. He often uses the bathroom off the kitchen. Both Will and I have both had to clean that bathroom after Dad. There was diarrhea all over the toilet, inside and out and on top. There was some on both the inside and outside of the door.
Dad is unaware of it and he won’t admit he even has loose stools.

Tonight Sunday, we went to El Vecino. He had a sudden bowel movement. Had to throw away his underwear and carry his shoes out of the restaurant. It’s so hard on him and on us.

We all know that he can’t hear the doorbell or his phone ringing.

All of this leads me to think that he can’t be alone too much longer. If there was a fire, he wouldn’t be able to hear an alarm.

Tuesday, September 12, 2017

From Helen, September 12, 2017:

Hi
I can’t get to the Blog at work so I am sending you both an email.

Saturday I asked Dad about how he was feeling. He said that the move was making him nervous but he is looking forward to living at the Forum.
He has been waking up at 3 in the morning worried about the move. Only two weeks to go.

What’s done:
Dave and I worked over the weekend and got most of Dads books ready to go.
We finished divvying up the hollow silver.
I confirmed that the Senior movers are going to move items to my house and Dave’s house and storage. That part of the move is included in the original bid.
              
To do:
I am recommending that we rent a storage space for the month of October only.
Put everything there that doesn’t have an immediate home or is sale material
Have sale at one of our houses of all those items
               We may have to hire some labor to do the moving or wrangle our boys and friends to help.
               Our friend Kenneth could run the sale on Friday and Saturdayfor a percentage
               I plan to have stuff there from my storage, too
Everything leftover will be picked up by City Square (great organization; check their website.)
If we have items leftover in the apartment, we can get them to pick up there, too.
I have their info; will need to confirm dates
I spoke to the interstate movers. They need an accurate list of what is going where so we will have to figure that out.
               Then they will give us an estimate
               Dad is planning on paying for that move, too.
Dad was looking through the Forum info and each resident gets a small storage area free. Extra storage, if available, can be rented for $10/month
We can store the carousels and photo albums there. We might be able to put the archival boxes there, too.
               We need to talk to Cecilia and get size and availability of extra storage.
Clocks   Grandfather Clock:          $450 repair clean and move
               All other clocks                 $250 each clean
               I have authorized per Dad only the work on the grandfather clock
Storeroom
               Organize and pack garage sale stuff
               Figure out sewing and bookbinding stuff
               The movers will be breaking down and moving the shelving
               I think that we move everything that is going with Dad to the apartment the day before they come to pack his stuff just to help us see what hasn’t been done

I think that is it. One step at a time. Can anyone think of anything else?

Remember, starting 9/14 cheese enchiladas are $2.99 at El Fenix!

Mary, have a great time in Nepal!!
XXOO

Helen Duran
Chef, Culinary Trainer
CISD Child Nutrition Department