Updates starting now

I have not been writing here much lately and I do need to get back to it. I need my outlet again. So much going on and very few I can talk to about it. So I will talk to me here and that means I will be talking to you here.

Retirement was supposed to be our time to enjoy things. We did get to go on our cross country trip by motorcycle. I am ready to do it again. It is a good thing we did because Pat's health took a turn.

After several trips to the ER and several time of being admitted to hospital because of breathing issues, Pat finally got an official diagnosis. He has COPD (emphysema) GERD , Oxygen de-saturation while asleep, CHF, hypertension and nodules on his lungs.

Friday we finally saw a pulmonologist and he looked Pat in the eye and told him,"You are not dying." You have to do some life style changes and you will live a long time. 5 days prior to that Pat had taken a Nuclear Stress test for his heart. He informed him that his heart was doing great except for VERY mild CHF. This was a relief off of my mind. It also means that I have been doing something right by eliminating friend foods, introducing skim milk into his diet and veggies that are not fried, etc. His entire family has heart disease with the exception of the 2 that have(had) Alzheimer's. I have him playing games that he has to use his mind to help with that.

The GERD is going to be a bit more difficult to deal with. This means another diet change and a big change in his eating habits. He is taking medicine that, of course, he will have to take forever. He was already started on it but we were not given instructions on the best way to take it. The way he sleeps will now include having the head of his bed elevated.

The CHF means no salt in his diet, medicine and feet elevated ( will sleep like a V at times!) It also means no fluid overload. (YIKES) On hot days this can create a problem coming up with a balance. Actually it already has. He ended up in hospital with dangerously low blood pressure due to dehydration. Three of his medicines can cause him to lose excessive water.

Three medicines that he takes for high blood pressure. Ugh.

The COPD has him on 5 different medicines. He has no lung reserve. When he runs out of air he cannot take a deep breath and recover.

The oxygen desat means he wears oxygen while asleep. I will be requesting a sleep study in the future to check for sleep apnea, which I am sure he has.

The lung nodules are a wait and see thing. In 6 months they will do another CT Scan and check for growth and if they have calicified (which would be good) If they is growth then a biospy will be in order to check for lung cancer.

So that is the way things stand right now.

Oh yes, Pat and I got married on Feb 1st this year. After 19 years it was about time.

That is enough for now. Tomorrow or the next day I will update more. Probably next day as Pat is going to have a colonscopy tomorrow.