I'm taking a breather for a bit. Nearly everything is packed, most things have been checked off the list, and the car will be loaded this evening, the fridge cleared out and washed, with only the last minute items left for the morning. For example, I'll set out about 8 No Pest Strips around the house to kill invading critters while we're gone. (I find those so much more humane than sticky traps, with the unfortunate tendency to trap a newly hatch family of tiny lizards which we'd so much rather have around, just outside. Those traps stopped their use here the day we came home to a cluster of tiny skeletons!)
The newest house key is at the Fire Department for emergency entry. There's been an oil change, and a tire check. Those who need to be notified have been. Motel reservations are made, including two nights in Estes Park to enable wee hours entry without the hassle of getting a timed entry permit. Our oddball sleep schedules these days make that early rise feasible. We even have back our preferred route through mid Colorado because the road which was washed out, 133, the one with "only" a 90-or-so mile detour to see what we wanted, has gotten its temporary road put in. Today, as it happens, was the striping and opening. We'll be on it Wednesday.
That's just a tiny smattering of what's on the 4-page list. A couple new ones popped up, starting with my cardiologist appointment this morning, and a return visit there to get my pacemaker checked just about as soon as I finish this, triple proof it, and post it.
That morning appointment didn't go exactly as planned, starting with lasting 2 hours in a very crowded, SRO office. I was the one continuing to be ushered from room to room, consultation to consultation. I kept raising questions and they were (are) very aware of my time crunch. That's while they called the pacemaker guy to see if I could be fit in sometime before closing even though he'd not been scheduled at all for this location today.
My initial expectations were that the EKG would show everything perfectly normal. Of course it did, since I didn't feel anything happening. while it was being taken. The next expectation was I'd be walking out with a cardiac monitor. Nope. We were well into the teaching phase of setting me up for it, learning how it worked and how to care for it, when I asked whether where they wanted it attached would sit right over the pacemaker, and if that would be a problem?
Screeching stop! "Does _____ know you have a pacemaker?" I certainly hope so because it was done through this clinic. She left for another consult, returned to ask what my brand was, and I told here. Another consult, and the person consulted came back in herself. An explanation was due.
There would be no wearable heart monitor. The good news (we hope - it's conditional) is I won't need one. My particular pacemaker already monitors my heart activity, and their office already follows it. The conditional part, the part nobody had explained to me, is the recorded activity only covers about 3 minutes at any time. And only when I'm within 10 feet. That means it sits on my headboard. The flashing lights occasionally wake me up. Those are very random times, other than being at night. If I wish it to register the weird activity, I have to get to the device on the bed, push a certain button, and do it within 3 minutes of the event so the Doc gets to see it.
If I get irregular activity when I'm driving, or at the club, grocery shopping, etc., it may as well not have happened for all the Doc knows.
First thing I did when I got back from the cardiologist was to unpack the plug-in parts from where they were to ride the whole trip in the car's hatch, and repack them into my carry-on so I can plug them in each night. And remember to repack them in the morning! That will allow me about 2 or three hours of being awake in the motels each day and cross my fingers it happens then. So far it's still happening each day, but always at different times.
It's pretty weird sitting around hoping for bad news on demand, because bad news will be good news.
Meanwhile I'm sending a letter to my northern cardiologist, explaining the situation. Might they wish to reschedule my appointment for a bit later? Also in the letter was my full page 2 column medical history answering all the other questions they need for their updated-after-8-years file on me, plus written permission to leave me voicemail because I don't talk on the phone and drive... any more. It's illegal in too many states now. Finally, written permission, signed, to coordinate with my AZ clinic. This one knows the same thing and who will be contacting them. I figure the signature, etc., can be faxed, or scanned and emailed.
Time to go back to the clinic. I'll likely be off-line till we get north. I don't trust motel wi-fi privacy. Meanwhile we'll soon see how both Steve and I react to 10,000 foot altitude these days. Yee-hawwww!
* * * * *
2nd visit:
I took the plug-in parts for the monitor for my pacemaker. They were in a zipper bag so nothing went missing. The first thing my tech said was it was a good idea to bring them in. Second thing was that I didn't need to pay attention to pushing the button within 3 minutes. Everything is downloaded, and the three minutes is just how long it takes to transmit the info to whatever machine receives it. Other than that he ignored them. So why exactly was it good that I brought them?
Then he fiddles with dial and windows in his equipment. The pacemaker is functioning perfectly. I'm not, exactly. Now he had proof. 11 days ago it located one kind of problem. This afternoon it located another. They have names. I wrote them down, for later study, like after the trip is over and I trust my wifi again. Apparently I'm having PVCs and SVTs, and yes, he found one set exactly when I said I was feeling it, as in just before leaving to go back to the office. (Here I thought it wasn't going to be recorded.)
He went to fetch my NP, who immediately upon entering the room, in reference to their now having an actual record of what I said was happening, informed me I wasn't crazy.
I suggested she pause a little before offering that kind of blanket statement. After all, I could be crazy in some way or another that won't show up on her kind of machines.
Bottom line is I'm getting two new meds. First is Metoprolol, the very same med that both Steve and I have been taken off of due to slowing our pulse rates too far. I was reassured that now I have the pacemaker it's fully capable of keeping my pulse high enough. Too high is the problem, and the skips I feel in my pulse are actually where the heart tries to correct itself. But the med also affects the blood pressure. Mine in the office was a breezy 110 over 70. No point in dropping it further, especially when driving through mountains. So she also prescribed my regular BP meds but at half the dose.
That's a tinny complication, since I travel with meds in small bags. Each little bag has one "serving" of my pills, either the morning ones or the nighttime ones. The bags are labled. None are in their bottles any more. I have to go through them, find the old ones, either cut them in half and return them to the bottle in another location, or replace then with the half dose ones. Of course I have to identify them first. They're in the nighttime bags, and every single pill in those bags is white. Either large oval white or small round white. Just when I thought I was packed, right?
As soon as I got to the car I called my pharmacy, letting them know, with apologies, that I absolutely positively needed them tonight because we're heading out hours before they open tomorrow. And of course they have shorter summer hours, so it comes right in the middle of scheduled car packing. Oh well.
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