#HealthUpdate

Yippie!! (Yep, another update!)

/ Marcia Meara / 10 Comments

The dreaded Holter monitor is GONE!! I’m doing the Happy Dance all over the place. (Well, for me, it’s more like the Happy Shuffle, but that’s okay. It’s the “Happy” part that counts!)

I am delighted to have that thing that’s been taped over my heart for a week disappear!! I won’t know the results for a few days, but at least the discomfort is gone, and I can take a normal shower again! Hopefully, they won’t have anything too dreadful to tell me after they’ve investigated the readings.

So for now, all’s well! (That’s my story, an’ I’m stickin’ TO it!) And for sure I’m gonna sleep a lot more comfortably tonight! Yay!!

Sweet dreams, everyone!

A Quick Update!

/ Marcia Meara / 47 Comments

Sorry to have continued being MIA for so long, but it seems everything has gone awry at the same time around here. Between health issues and the resulting doctors’ appointments, my days have turned into a blur of stuff to do and places to go. My normally very, very quiet life has been turned upside down for a while. I do hope to get back to my regular posts and to having guest visitors on The Write Stuff before too much longer, though I can’t say for sure when. 

Among other things, I’m wearing a Holter monitor this week, and being somewhat allergic to tapes of various sorts, the darn thing is itching me like crazy. It’s all I an do not to rip it off and throw it out the window. But I won’t. Probably. (They’d just make me start all over with it, anyway.)

I hope all of you are enjoying your summer, and maybe not dealing with temps in the mid-to-high 90s like we are here in Florida. Urk. I couldn’t go outside, even if my doctors would let me. 

The good news is, I’ve got plenty of time for reading, and am enjoying being able to catch up. Yay! And surely it won’t be much longer before life gets back to something at least vaguely akin to “normal” around here. (Fingers crossed.)

Miss you all, and looking forward to resuming my normal blog posting and visiting guests
VERY soon! Big Hugs to EVERYONE!!

#HealthUpdate

/ Marcia Meara / 41 Comments

Welp … another health update. (Gettin’ old ain’t for sissies, you know!) My cardiologist has informed me that I now have several issues going on with my heart that need to be addressed over the next couple of weeks. I need to slow down a bit until this is all sorted out, so don’t be alarmed if I don’t show up very often during this time. I do hope to have this stuff resolved soon, and to be able to get back to my more normal blogging routine, but will keep you informed as we see how I’m doing in the days ahead. 

In the meantime, I have all sorts of fun stuff to look forward to: wearing a Holter monitor for a week, a carotid duplex bilateral (whatever that is), and a transthoracic Echo test, just to name a few. I’m feeling confident (sort of) that we’ll come up with a plan to help me deal with these things, and I’ll at LEAST be able to blog again. I might have to give up some other more strenuous things I enjoy, but blogging should be manageable, if all goes well. Will keep ya posted as I learn more. 

You guys all take good care of yourselves in the meantime, and I’ll post more when I can.

Stay Well, My Friends!

#BlogNews – #HealthUpdate – #MerryChristmas

/ Marcia Meara / 24 Comments

Just wanted to touch base with you all to let you know that I may not be quite as visible around here as I usually am. I’m dealing with several health issues right now, including a return of my annoying eye infection, and while none of them are life-threatening or the like, they are slowing me down considerably.  It’s possible I may not be around too often over the next few weeks, but I do plan to be rarin’ to go by the first of the year. (That’s my story, an’ I’m stickin’ to it!)

In January, I will be putting out a call for new guest bloggers and sharing some other ideas with the world at large, so stay tuned to see what (or who) is up next. I’m looking forward to 2024 being an easier year for me than this last one has been, fingers crossed, and an overall great one for all of us!

Wishing  each and every one of you a wonderful holiday season, including a Merry Christmas and a very HAPPY New Year. 

#HealthUpdateAgain – #GoodNews?

/ Marcia Meara / 43 Comments

Doing the Happy Dance, here!

My eye medication FINALLY arrived yesterday, and I am pretty sure it’s working. I have to use these drops four times a day for ten days,  or 40 doses, and have only had them long enough for twice yesterday and once this morning. But my eyes do feel better already. I’m taking that as a very good sign!

Hope all of you are doing well, and those who are
under the weather are improving daily.

#HealthUpdate – #SomeGood – #SomeSo-So

/ Marcia Meara / 59 Comments

I reckon I’ll start with the good news. Some of you know that one of the health problems I’ve been coping with is heart-related. I’m on two different heart meds to help with that, and the good news is, we seem to be managing the issue fairly well, so far. I’m hopeful we can continue to do so as time marches on.

I also had an incompetent dentist install a crown crookedly, resulting in a terrible infection beneath it, and some amazingly severe pain issues. The good news with that is, I managed to find a dentist who was able to give me a root canal, which ended the pain, and I’m going back to my old tried and true dentist for a new crown and any future procedures to sort all that out. He doesn’t take my insurance, sadly, but I know I can trust him to do the job right, so it will be worth it. And for now, the tooth is pain free, yay!

There were a couple more issues I’ve had to cope with that are all being slowly cleared up and/or managed well, so that’s all good.

The bad news is I have had a terrible infection in my eyes since October 3, and am still trying to deal with it. How do I know exactly when it started? Because Mark and I were doing some front yard hedge planting EARLY that morning. It took several hours, and when I came inside, my eyes were blood red and watering like mad. And THEN I discovered that we should have checked the news before working out there so long. Florida seldom has severe air quality warnings, but it turns out everyone was advised to stay indoors that day as the fires in Canada had resulted in the air quality being seriously impacted all the way to Miami. (Where the smoke was so dense, it looked like the city was burning.) The notices said anyone with any sort of allergies or sensitivities should NOT go outside at all. Uh-oh.

We didn’t have smoke or other visible signs in central Florida, but we were definitely impacted, and what started out that day as an allergic reaction became seriously infected, and hasn’t let up since. I’ve been dealing with puffy red eyes leaking tears down my face for SIX weeks now, making reading and blogging extremely difficult. (In addition to being irritatingly messy and sore.) I saw my ophthalmologist two weeks or so ago, and she prescribed an ointment that not only made me feel like my eyes were covered in Vaseline all day long, but also totally failed to clear up the issue. (Which she diagnosed as conjunctivitis). We are now in the process of switching to prescription eye drops, in the hopes that will finally clear it all up. Crossing my fingers, here!

I do know in the grand scheme of things, this is ALL relatively small potatoes, especially for someone who will turn 80 in three months. But damn if it isn’t tricky to deal with, and it seems like it’s been going on forever! 

All of this info is by way of alerting you that I know I haven’t scheduled any cool guest posters for awhile, and have been limited in the time I’ve been able to spend blogging, in general. (It’s amazing how tricky that is when you can’t see worth a darn!) But I do feel like we are starting to get things under control again, and by the first of the year (if not sooner), I should be scheduling new guests who might have books they’d like to promote, and be back to my normal blogging routines. In the meantime, I’ll keep up as best I can, though my favorite blogs to visit may have to make do with my “Like & Tweet” routine a bit longer.

For now, here’s to a wonderful fall season for everyone, and a very happy Thanksgiving to those who celebrate it!

Happy Fall, Y’All!!!

 

 

#HealthUpdate – #VeryGoodNews!

/ Marcia Meara / 77 Comments

 

I’m pretty sure you guys must be tired of hearing about poor, pitiful me, stuck at home while dealing with this or that health issue. (I know *I* am!!) Well, guess what? Today, I have good news. The BEST, actually, considering some of the things I was coping with, or had been warned were on the horizon.  Therefore, without further ado, let me bring you up to date.

PART 1:
Some of you might know we had a change in insurance a couple of years ago that meant I could no longer see the wonderful dentist I’d been seeing for about 20 years. Before I could find another dentist that would take my new insurance, the pandemic hit, I had COVID twice, and in general, wasn’t doing my best. After three years stuck at home, I managed to get a couple of broken teeth, and realized I had to have help. I found a new dentist very near to our house, and he proceeded to install a crown over the first tooth that was bothering me. Only problem was, he installed it incorrectly, and it immediately got infected. He basically pitched a fit and said “Go find an endodontist,” and walked out of the room. 

Suffice it to say, I struggled to find another dentist, during which time the infection got worse and worse. It was extremely painful, and didn’t go away, even with four courses of antibiotics, and another dentist taking a look. I finally realized it was worth going back to my original dentist and paying out of my own pocket to get the problem addressed. Guess what? NO MORE PAIN. From June 1, through all of July & August, and into mid-September, I struggled with this excruciatingly painful mess, but thankfully, the infection has finally been defeated, and I have a wonderful dentist in charge again.  I’m so happy, I can’t being to tell you, and I am considering the lack of pain a miracle of the highest level!

PART 2:

In addition to trying to get the dental issue under control, I had to find all new doctors to replace all of my old (and greatly respected) ones. So far, this has been a much more successful endeavor than trying to find another dentist. I think I’ve struck gold with each new doctor, in particular, my new cardiologist. From the moment he introduced himself, I was impressed, and felt he was going to work out fine. He had received all my records ahead of my visit, including imaging forwarded to him (supposedly) from my last cardio doctor’s exam. It showed significant thickening of the heart walls and he diagnosed it as Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy (or HCM). He ordered two new medications and asked me to curtail many of my favorite activities until he could get new imaging done for a better look. 

Long story short, they were finally able to do the new imaging last week, and the doctor went over it with me yesterday. He was dumbfounded that the new imaging looked nothing like what he had been sent. (He doesn’t believe the image that had been forwarded to him was of my heart at all!)

He said there is only the slightest thickening of my heart walls, and everything else is clear, and looked good. He’s not worried about HCM at all, and has taken me off of “house arrest” completely. In fact, he wants me to get out for daily walks, fifteen minutes of which should be fast enough to elevate my heart rate a bit, and build some strength. 

BOTTOM LINE:

I’m apparently in darn good shape for someone who will turn 80 in a few months. Combine that with the fact that I’m no longer dealing with extreme pain, and I’m a very happy camper, here! I’m feeling energized, too, though I probably should get back into the swing of things one step at a time. I’m feeling so upbeat right now that I’m even planning to see if I can make some progress on my half-finished Riverbend tale that I shelved a few months ago. 

In other words, Miracles Really Do Happen, and I have just experienced another one!

Last but Definitely Not Least:
Here’s to Good Health and Many Miracles
for each of you, my friends! 

 

#HealthUpdate – #GoodNews&BadNews

/ Marcia Meara / 83 Comments

As many  of you are aware , I’ve had some ongoing health issues for the last couple of years, including two breakthrough cases of COVID among other things. But as I found out last October, my extreme dizzy spells and heart palpitations were not pandemic related. It turned out that I have a heart condition called “Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy.” Essentially, the wall of my heart has thickened and is blocking full blood flow through the arteries that lead to the brain. (Not enough blood was getting to my brain, resulting in  dizziness, palpitations,  and various other issues.)

Good News #1: My cardiologist immediately put me on a beta blocker (Metoprolol) to slow my heart rate down, thus allowing more blood to flow through to my brain again. It worked GREAT from October through January. 

Bad News #1: In February the dizzy spells returned and began getting worse and worse.

Good News #2: Saw my doctor again last Tuesday and he added a new medication to the mix: Amlodipine, which is a calcium channel blocker that relaxes the blood vessels so even more blood can get through.  Next, I’m to be set up with a heart monitor for two to four weeks to get an exact readout and an overall idea of how it’s all working, and then, we will be doing new imaging, too. So … we’re on it!

Bad News #2: Sadly, I’ve been told to cut back on many of my activities–especially anything that can cause physical exertion–at least until we are done with the testing and can reassess my heath status. I’ve had to cancel my wildlife talks for now, and won’t be doing any gardening, hiking, bending over, heavy lifting or other things of that nature. 

Good News #3: After a truly awful day last Wednesday, my new prescription was filled and I took my first Amlodipine that night. Within two hours, the dizzy spells stopped and the discomfort disappeared. And the last few days have been far, far better. I have a good feeling that we are on the right track now, and will find a way to manage my condition. (That’s my story, an’ I’m stickin’ to it!)

The main reason I’m sharing all this is because I may not be around as much as I usually am for a few weeks, However, I’ve already scheduled a lot of posts ahead, so things will still be going on, and I will check in as often as I can.  I also wanted to share because it occurred to me that some of what I’m going through might be of interest to anyone else who has  heart-related issues, too. 

I’ll keep you updated as things progress, hopefully with plenty of good news! For now, I may only have time or energy for “Liking & Sharing” everyone’s blog posts, but I know you’ll forgive me as I try to behave in  way that would make my cardiologist happy. And if any of you have similar issues you’ve dealt with, feel free to share your experiences or ask questions in the comments section. Maybe we can learn from each other.

Thanks for reading, and I’ll be back to business as usual as soon as possible. Blogging isn’t on my “Forbidden List” like planting roses in 90 degree heat is, so I should be able to to handle it as my condition stabilizes. That’s my clever plan, anyway! 😁

And that’s it for now. Will update as the situation progresses!

PS: #HealthUpdate – #Clarification & #ThankYou

/ Marcia Meara / 30 Comments

Thanks to everyone for your kind comments about my health news yesterday! I should have clarified a bit more about why it took so long to discover my heart damage. Lest you think poorly of my previous cardiologist, let me assure you he had been very carefully monitoring my heart for over twenty years. I’d had carotid artery surgery way back then, and he saw me annually and did imaging of both my carotid (to be sure it remained open, which it has) and my heart, to be sure no problems were developing there. (They weren’t.)

Unfortunately, when Mark’s job disappeared and he had to retire, we were told our insurance would remain in effect through June, so I had my last cardio imaging done at that time, along with some other exams. THEN, we found out they had stopped the insurance as of May 30, and I suddenly lost all of my doctors at once! Blam!

Somewhere in the shuffle, the last image of my heart went astray and only resurfaced when it was requested by my new cardio doctor, who immediately saw the damage. Until THAT image, which was only taken a couple of months ago, mid-LC, there had never been any visible damage to my heart at all. So that’s why my new doctor believes the damage to be the direct result of LongCovid.

Since there is no medication available at present with which to treat LongCovid, yet all my miserable symptoms disappeared as soon as I started on the heart meds, I firmly believe LC is gone and probably has been for some time. Of course, it made sure to leave me a souvenir of its visit, via the damage to my heart, but happily, that IS being monitored and treated. And so far, the results have been good.

Again, please if you have LongCovid, be sure your doctors are monitoring you for any possible organ damage, so it can be treated early on! It could make a huge difference in your overall health and your quality of life! 

#GoodNews! – #HealthUpdate

/ Marcia Meara / 49 Comments

Some of you know it’s been  almost 9 months since I first developed Long Covid, and I’ve only recently found out that science has determined LC can cause all sorts of damage to our internal organs. In my case, it has done some permanent damage to my heart.

Where’s the good news, you ask? Well … here it is: since I started on the heart medication about ten days ago, my symptoms have all disappeared! I’ve had exactly ONE dizzy spell, the day after I started the meds. ONE. (I’d been having rolling dizzy spells all day long, nearly every day, and  including numbness in my right leg, and other discomforts.)

Since my new medication does nothing to ease Long Covid, I suspect that my Long Covid had already disappeared some time back, leaving me with the heart damage that caused my fatigue and extreme dizziness. And now that I’m taking medication to help my heart, the symptoms have pretty much disappeared!

I will, of course, be discussing all of this when I see my cardio guy again for my 30-day follow up, but I’m beyond happy to be feeling more and more like normal every day!

Again, my purpose in sharing this with you is to remind you if you have Long Covid, you need to have your doctor(s) monitoring you for possible organ damage, and proper treatment should they find any. And you should understand that if you have suffered some organ damage, your doctor may be able to treat it and make your life much easier.  Mine sure is! 

And that’s a wrap, folks! Will update you again if there are any important changes, or I learn anything new about LC. In the meantime, PLEASE STAY HEALTHY & SAFE!