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