Congestive heart failure...**Update Post #164**

[silverbear]

If only people cared, eh SB!?

Oh man, you've spoken a whole moutful of truth there... I feel the love...

If sincere well wishes possess healing properties, I think your friends have collectively served up the right prescription. Continued best wishes, my new friend. Hope you're feeling loads better about things by now.

Yes sir, I absolutely am... I'll never be able to tell these folks how much they've helped, or how deeply I'm touched... as I said, my hope in this thread was to get some input from our posters who have had cardiac issues, and perhaps a doctor or two... I wanted to hear success stories...

I didn't really anticipate all the pep talks, all that support... I truly am feeling more optimistic with each passing hour...

 

[silverbear]

Look up D-ribose (powder form) as well. Very effective for heart patients.

I will do that, Sport... thanks...

 

[CowboyMcCoy]

I judge you to be a hell of a guy...

Thank You, Bear. Likewise. It sucks what's going on. And I'm really hoping the best for you. Sincerely.

 

[Temo]

Hey man, I know you don't know me (I don't post much here), but I remember reading a lot of your posts over on the old politics forum. Just saying you were one of my favs.

Get better, buddy.

 

[RS12]

SB, pulling for ya.

 

[silverbear]

Thank You, Bear. Likewise. It sucks what's going on. And I'm really hoping the best for you. Sincerely.

I'm grateful for your support, and your friendship...

 

[silverbear]

Hey man, I know you don't know me (I don't post much here), but I remember reading a lot of your posts over on the old politics forum. Just saying you were one of my favs.

Get better, buddy.

Of course I know you, Temo... glad to know you enjoy my posts, and thanks for the good wishes...

 

[silverbear]

SB, pulling for ya.

Truly appreciate it...

 

[CowboyMcCoy]

I'm grateful for your support, and your friendship...

I'm thinking of moving to Santa Fe soon for school. If I do, I may pay you a friendly visit. We can go out for tomatoes with no salt, some lima beans, hummus and sip on decaffeinated green tea. Later on, we can munch on some of Notherbob's exotic garlic and really give that heart a big boost. Man, I really am wishing you the best though. Just do what you're doing. Fight it, but learn the right techniques. I just know people manage it... my family has dealt with this quite a bit.

 

[Pittman4Two]

I'm not going on a diet tribe, but I did want to send my thoughts and prayers to you my friend. You have huge amounts of lots of posts to post that I can't read due to the glaring grammer issues.

 

[FloridaRob]

get healthy Silver. My wife went thru it six years ago in September. She felt better the next day. You will be fine. I will be praying for your recovery.

 

[Royal Laegotti]

I've got it... just got out of the hospital after 2 days, now I've got a cardiac catheterization scheduled for Tuesday... and good luck to me, trying to pay for all of this with no insurance...

The doctor says he thinks I have a blockage, but he also thinks it's something that might be fixed without surgery... of course, he might just be trying to keep me from panicking, but at the same time, when I went to the hospital my pulse oxygen was in the 92-93 range-- not good for a healthy man, they want to see those numbers around 99-100, but for CHF it's not bad... the doctor thinks this means we've caught it early...

I'm pretty scared, but I did NOT start this thread to get a lot of sympathy... I just wanted y'all to know that if I'm not posting in here for a while, there's a good reason... and if I stop posting altogether, well, that probably means I didn't make it...

Damn, and all this happened just a month and a day from my 60th birthday... oh well, if it's a fight I'm in for, it's a fight they'll get... fortunately for me, the Winchester Medical Center (where I'll be having the procedure done) has a top-rated cardiology department, so I'm in good hands...

I just thought I'd give y'all a heads up, so that some weeks or mnnths from now, we won't be seeing those "whatever happened to Bear" threads... if I'm not here, you'll know why, it's the only thing that would keep me out of here...

Hey man I'm pullin' for you and i'll keep you in my prayers. If you don't have it already get yourself a bottle of O2 and keep in nearby. 92-93 isn't bad for CHF, i've seen pt's get down the the 60s and 70s before some confusion sets in, so it's important to wear the O2. Albuterol inhalers help in the short term also. I sincerely wish you the best.

 

[silverbear]

I'm not going on a diet tribe, but I did want to send my thoughts and prayers to you my friend. You have huge amounts of lots of posts to post that I can't read due to the glaring grammer issues.

You always make me laugh, Pittman... I thank you for taking the time to express your good wishes to an "enemy"... I look forward to more of your diet tribes in the future...

 

[silverbear]

get healthy Silver. My wife went thru it six years ago in September. She felt better the next day. You will be fine. I will be praying for your recovery.

Give your wife my best, and tell her she's one of my new role models... these days, I'm feeding off stories like hers...

Thanks, Rob...

 

[silverbear]

Hey man I'm pullin' for you and i'll keep you in my prayers. If you don't have it already get yourself a bottle of O2 and keep in nearby. 92-93 isn't bad for CHF, i've seen pt's get down the the 60s and 70s before some confusion sets in, so it's important to wear the O2. Albuterol inhalers help in the short term also. I sincerely wish you the best.

I asked my doctor about going on oxygen, he said I'm not there yet...

My crisis was triggered entirely by my inability to afford my medications... I made sure to stay on the diabetes meds and the Diovan for my blood pressure, which were my biggies, but when bucks were tight, Id skip the diuretic, the cholesterol med, and the potassium... I'd also stop taking my antidepressant, but I dont figure that contributed to my problems... it is nice to be back on it, though, I feel less stressed...

Well, when I got to the hospital, my feet were swollen, and I was SEVERELY potassium depleted... I mean, over the next 24 hours they hung 10 bags of potassium chloride IV... they also gave me Lasix in an IV, and in the next two hours I "eliminated" almost 4 liters... think of that, I was carrying around 2, 2 liter bottles of excess fluid... it was awful, I had to piss every 10-15 minutes... that wasn't the bad part, at times I had to call for a nurse to dump the bottle so that I could piss some more...

So, if I have a blockage, part of the reason is that I went of my cholesterol meds... and the CHF was caused by the potassium depletion, and no diuretic... I was pretty bloated...

All of which makes me optimistic that I'll be able to get things under control now that my meds have been reworked so that I can afford them (8 of my 9 scrips are 4 dollar Wal Mart generics), and I'll be getting regular checkups and blood work at the local free clinic... I will of course heed any instructions the doctors give me when it comes to diet and exercise... it's time to dust off the Health Rider and put in 20 minutes a morning again... it'll hurt my shoulders some (that's why I quit that regimen, frayed rotator cuff), but I'll just take ibuprofen when I'm hurting, and gut it out...

Gotta do what I can to stick around...

 

[silverbear]

I'm thinking of moving to Santa Fe soon for school.

Santa Fe's great, but what school's there??

Man, I really am wishing you the best though. Just do what you're doing. Fight it, but learn the right techniques. I just know people manage it... my family has dealt with this quite a bit.

I am forever grateful for what you've done for me the last coupla days... a lot of people have touched me in this thread, but a few like you have gone above and beyond the call... all I can say is thanks...

 

[CowboyMcCoy]

Santa Fe's great, but what school's there??



I am forever grateful for what you've done for me the last coupla days... a lot of people have touched me in this thread, but a few like you have gone above and beyond the call... all I can say is thanks...

University of New Mexico School of Law.

And no problem. I haven't dealt with what you've dealt with personally. But it has touched me. And one thing I do know is the cardiologists and those types of people on the forefront of medicine are truly heroic. I've seen things happen I never would have thought I'd seen with them working on hearts. It's simply amazing.

 

[silverbear]

University of New Mexico School of Law.

And no problem. I haven't dealt with what you've dealt with personally. But it has touched me. And one thing I do know is the cardiologists and those types of people on the forefront of medicine are truly heroic. I've seen things happen I never would have thought I'd seen with them working on hearts. It's simply amazing.

Well, I'm off the see the Wizard about fixing my heart (I check in for my cardiac cathetrization at 7:15)... wish me luck...

I'll let y'all know how it went as soon as I have a little strength back... don't know how much this is gonna take out of me...

 

[masomenos]

Well, I'm off the see the Wizard about fixing my heart (I check in for my cardiac cathetrization at 7:15)... wish me luck...

I'll let y'all know how it went as soon as I have a little strength back... don't know how much this is gonna take out of me...

Good luck, friend. I can't wait to hear how much better you're doing.

 

[wittenacious]

Well, I'm off the see the Wizard about fixing my heart (I check in for my cardiac cathetrization at 7:15)... wish me luck...

I'll let y'all know how it went as soon as I have a little strength back... don't know how much this is gonna take out of me...

Our thoughts will be with you today. Looking forward to your next post, SB, bringing good news of a completely successful medical procedure.