Unplugged Chit Chat Thread

OMG NC Belle. I'm glad he at least went to urgent care and they picked up on what was going on and got him to the right place. I hope he has a speedy recovery.

I'm not seeing where in that story you did the "worst wife" thing though. Do you mean you should have driven him over? Considering he thought he had a sinus infection, that's hardly grounds for that title.

I have some concerns and it was hard to get info out of staff of 2 different chains. I have some knowledge from biology classes, family members that have cardiac issues (some not good outcomes), and I used to go through various certifications when I worked with the devlopmentally disabled adults plus high risk factors.

I know that Google is not my friend tonight, but something that the night nurse said has me at high alert (possible additional weight gain since this morning).

I hope to chill some for a nap in order to be ready to think more clear and have list of questions and concerns. I hope that he does not need bypass surgery.
 
Hanging out in the cardiac icu. Some of his conditions are improving. He called his mom and she was already on the road coming back from sc road trip...she freaked out some...heard it 4 feet from his phone.
 
Glad he's recovering, @NC Belle . And please - I can't see where you did anything wrong, unless I missed the part where you're a licensed physician trained in diagnostics of cardiac iossues. Give yourself a break, my friend! Hugs to you, and to hubby!!
 


Glad he's recovering, @NC Belle . And please - I can't see where you did anything wrong, unless I missed the part where you're a licensed physician trained in diagnostics of cardiac iossues. Give yourself a break, my friend! Hugs to you, and to hubby!!

I know I was hard on myself, but now I was checking his physical notes from latr April...the primary doctor though his chest soreness was Costochondritis. This may us doubt our instinct and delay actions to now damage heart tissue. I saw his concern to the doctor and he told her that his dad had stents done several years before FIL's aggressive cancer. So... I am upset that she did not run extra test to validate her opinion. I am now thinking that she may need to be replaced since she did not run certain tests based on chest pain in an overweight male with high risks (sit down jobs, not very active daily in working out, and a big thing in my eyes---Sleep apnea.

So, dh's mom could not stop yesterday due to other people in the car needed to be home. I think that he would not be resting enough if she was here this weekend. He was agitated when she was calling every hour or 2 with asking how we are going to handle the medical bills with and if his job was going still be thee for him. She got upset with me when I told her that he had a physical at the end of April and what the doctor thought his chest discomfort was maybe costcochondritis. She ask dh if I was even try to do the low sodium, low carb, and low fat diet with him. We are getting MIL's nagging that we should live near her so when issues like this happens that she can be us faster and more (I was good and said nothing).

I am expecting today's nag will be church attendance and not having any connections with priests. I know that a couple of the priests will call soon like the one that did the sermon and at the reception prayer/toast plus the one that we nickname MIL's "fifth son". We had 4 priests and a deacon for our wedding and I don't know how that got the okay because my Dad is not Catholic and I did not get confirmation (this still bugs my MIL). Dh and I should make the bets on how many priests will be emailed by MIL. I think FIL had over 50 priests at his funeral (an archbishop, lots of priests with various ranks, and the 2 choirs that FIL took part in his last years. DH forgot that he has Mom listed to be in charge of his funeral plans if things went bad which it will be okay since I am not enough educated in what all the Catholic rites needed to be completed. She did a lot of planning on other family/friend funerals and those were good plus she did give him an expensive Catholic education. We will have to plan ahead and get organized for the just in case. He is in heart failure so things could go sour so fast.

Sorry for the rambling. This is the week of hard work in plans and many office visits and how to handle his job (just few hours short to qualify for FMLA) since he became a contractor back at the beginning of November and no paid leave or medical leave plus a lot of his salary is spent on the medical insurance. So, he is going to miss 2 days of pay so far and who knows how much time he cannot work or be allowed. Somehow, I will need to become the breadwinner ASAP. I shocked the nursing staff by asking if they started a certain drug because I saw a difference in his legs/color So, I must remember a lot medical drug info from college and prior jobs plus my family members that had heart issues.

I must have slowly written this post the past2 hours while doing some chores and it is almost time to see dh. He might be home soon depending on his oxygen dependence. I am not sure how he could handle the steep stairs more than once a day at this point. We might need to find a more heart friendly space. Add that to my list of what to plan for the next x weeks.

We were doing great in being positive in attitudes until we started family know his health status...now...the negatives are coming along with questions. Now, tears coming in (not in front of dh yet). I had to do laundry to make sure that I keep wearing bright and cheery colors. He is starting to realize that a lot of his fun choices are going away.
 
Sorry about the last long post, I have not been eating and sleeping enough lately. It is harder to make food choices when all you think about now is the breakdown of carbs, sodium, and fat. It is going be a lot of figuring out a heart healthy fun birthday meal for dh in June. I was thinking Chilly cow for an option until I saw it had hemp in it---not sure about that for him and I dislike the ones that I tried last week.

I was thinking that I'm missing my uncle/godfather today because he went through similar stuff when his wife of3.5 years died as a result of a misdiagnosis and they had been trying to have their own children. I might go have dh facebook message for his current phone number since we usually say hi through facebook and stuff. I think if I had to make a decision to live close to a relative...he is my #1 pick and not just because he lives in Florida (I think he still does...he has move around in the past couple of years).
 
@NC Belle - Slow down, honey - you're being way too hard on yourself, and will make yourself too, unless you give yourself a break! As far as the diet - maybe the hospital has a dietician/nutritionist you can speak to while he's in, and/or maybe his insurance will pay for you/him to go to one? They might be able to lessen your stress and worrying, at least on giving you some help/ideas with that. I know it's all overwhelming, but you have to take this one issues at a time, and slowly, otherwise you'll get burnt out too quickly, my friend. And we're (using the royal "we", but I'm sure there are others as well!) to listen if you need to vent. Huger hugs!!!
 


@NC Belle - Slow down, honey - you're being way too hard on yourself, and will make yourself too, unless you give yourself a break! As far as the diet - maybe the hospital has a dietician/nutritionist you can speak to while he's in, and/or maybe his insurance will pay for you/him to go to one? They might be able to lessen your stress and worrying, at least on giving you some help/ideas with that. I know it's all overwhelming, but you have to take this one issues at a time, and slowly, otherwise you'll get burnt out too quickly, my friend. And we're (using the royal "we", but I'm sure there are others as well!) to listen if you need to vent. Huger hugs!!!

I know that I am hard on myself...it gets worse with lack of good sleep.

Dh has another night at ccu. I might get creative and make bingo cards for us based on Mil because she is driving both of us fill in the blank. Dh told me that she did a email to almost every priest in her address file, express concern on not having a priest drop by yet to do his stuff, not having x,y,z.....
So, it was good timing that a volunteer from a local church drop by for prayer, commuion, and talking about a nearby chapel. Dh texted her about communion and prayer so she ease up. Don't have a way on getting her back down about food yet because she is not absorbing that we already had consult on diets and been cracking down from our bloodwork in April.
 
:hug: NC Bell: remember to take care of yourself. I'm sorry about your MIL. My mom sometimes just goes into pure lecture mode when a crisis arises. Drives me nuts. Praying he makes a full recovery and they get a full diagnosis!
 
We have better news tonight. DH might be release tomorrow. The main issue is that he had so much fluid build up in his lungs that when he laid flat, his body had enough so it was like a flash flood and his left ventricle had been overworking to compensate plus it thickening. A normal left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) ranges from 55% to 70%. An LVEF of 65%, for example means that 65% of total amount of blood in the left ventricle is pumped out with each heartbeat. (from the Cleveland clinic web site) Dh's test results show it is currently at 55%. He can improve his heart health by watching his diet and exercise. It is so important for the diet for him to keep for example under 2g (2000mg) so that means eliminating most process foods/convenience foods. He could had been in and out the same day or 2 for his procedure if he did not had that level of fluid build up.

I was not there when the doctors when in this morning so I did not get to ask questions or their plan. The nurse asked him this afternoon if he had questions on his plan and he did not realize that he was told some of it (he talked to me before that he was chatted with the staff that he would able to resume most of his activities when he is released plus he is being encouraged to walk back for his follow ups. I told the nurse that dh wants to know how much thrill he can handle.. at Disney of course. We told her we assume that Expedition Everest is most likely out and then ask if he could do rides at Animal Kingdom like the Safari (yes if cleared by the doctors).

We decided to limit the Mom lecture to one Mom (his) until he feels ready to lectures from 2 (my Mom). Dh turned his cell phone off when I left because it was like every 90-135 minutes...his Mom called. She was told around 4pm that he was going to nap...and I did not get text or calls from her to make sure we are still doing okay. I'm not really going back today unless he calls/texts that he wants me too or there is a crisis moment. The dog and I had a mini nap while the washer was running. I did eat dinner...air fried buffalo tots, 2/3 portion of thin cut Swiss cheese, portion of Perdue grilled chicken from the fresh pouch, and a portion of Mexican crema (not too bad on the sodium on the Cacique brand). It satisfied my wanting something tacho, but a hint of healthy and I still have room for ice cream later (portion according to label) for my wanting cold and sweet.

*DH just texted that he napped and invited me for tv time.
 
Our dog may have a talent of knowing medical issues. Oreo was extra clingy to dh the past 2 weeks like not wanting to leave his side and paws touching his chest near where he was feeling issues. I think she may have heard the difference in his heart beats. I noticed something was off when the sonogram (?) was recording the noises of the various parts. It was cool to hear the test (I was not looking at his heart too much because I did not want to distract), but something was off slightly like a musician not playing a note quite right.

We are sticking to texting for a short time tonight

edit: I did a quick call so Oreo hear him on the phone saying that he is better. She is missing him a lot.
 
Last edited:
Our dog may have a talent of knowing medical issues. Oreo was extra clingy to dh the past 2 weeks like not wanting to leave his side and paws touching his chest near where he was feeling issues. I think she may have heard the difference in his heart beats. I noticed something was off when the sonogram (?) was recording the noises of the various parts. It was cool to hear the test (I was not looking at his heart too much because I did not want to distract), but something was off slightly like a musician not playing a note quite right.

We are sticking to texting for a short time tonight

edit: I did a quick call so Oreo hear him on the phone saying that he is better. She is missing him a lot.
Animals know, for sure. Sweet girl.
 
Dh was able to go on a short walk around the nurse's station with portable oxygen. It might be 2 more nights there because of his oxygen needs. He is going stir crazy and his bosses are understanding.
I was watching youtube last night for short bit--- Tim and Jenn Tracker...and the list of Disney rides that were figuring out for Jenn during this time is the same list and order that NC B. and I were figuring out for him yesterday...hours before they did their livecast. I told dh...maybe he only go on rides that pregnant women and babies can ride for now.
 
I told dh...maybe he only go on rides that pregnant women and babies can ride for now.
That sounds like a good guideline. Any ride that has a warning sign about folks with heart conditions is out. Don't ignore those. Every quarter when they release the injury reports, it's always filled with people who had pre-existing conditions and rode something they had no business riding because they ignored the warning signs.
 
:) Dh is doing well on journey. This morning, the 2 of walked around the floor/lobby alone with his oxygen tank. The nurse said no to trying stairs yet. DH should be changing to a regular room today...it might be 2 nights. He has to improve his lung function before he is home.

Our primary doctor called me this afternoon to check on him after I wrote a letter to her about his medical emergency and why he could not respond to her personally. The rivalry between the blues goes beyond the sports.
 

GET A DISNEY VACATION QUOTE

Dreams Unlimited Travel is committed to providing you with the very best vacation planning experience possible. Our Vacation Planners are experts and will share their honest advice to help you have a magical vacation.

Let us help you with your next Disney Vacation!











Top