Physical therapy

The home care physical therapist was here today.  We were really glad to get that started up again.  Marshall is really doing better at walking.  Rosie (the therapist) was even impressed.  She will continue working with him.

He is chomping at the bit to get his motorcycle into the shop, so we'll have to concentrate on getting that done.

My A-fib episodes have really subsided.  Last night I evidently had a few episodes in my sleep because the monitor was beeping at me this morning and when I dialed in to upload the recordings, the technician made the comment that it almost wasn't worth recording except to show that there are some mild episodes.  Today I felt so normal with no erratic heartbeats at all.

The rest of this week we'll have Gina here a lot because I am going to be out and about trying to catch up on everything that has been pushed aside (oil change for the car, dentist appointment, eye exam, grocery shopping, haircut and, oh yeah, massage and pedicure!)

Marshall is doing better and better

We got up early today and headed to the VA in Colorado Springs.  Marshall saw the audiologist and he is getting his hearing aids fixed.  Should have them back in two weeks.  Now let's hope he actually uses them.

He felt good all day today.  He's walking better and doing better in general.  And the physical therapist is coming back tomorrow.  That is very good.  We actually talked about getting the motorcycle out to the shop later this week.  It needs a few little things fixed and the paint job touched up so he can show it again this year.

I went the whole day without any A-fib attacks and then went through the evening without any.  Then I went to bed and my heart got a little jumpy, but the beats-per-minute only went up to about 75 or 80, just enough to kick the monitor on, but not enough to be uncomfortable.

Laughing Yoga

I went to the Health Fair yesterday and got a bunch of lab work done, as well as hearing test, Alzheimer's test, an acupuncture treatment and a massage.  Then I visited a lot of booths and picked up information.  They had a demonstration of Laughing Yoga which was really silly looking, but supposedly it helps with deep breathing as well as laughing at nothing in particular.  I'm going to go to a class on Saturday and give it a try.

Today Marshall was walking around the house on his own power, no walker and no cane.  So his strength is building up nicely.  He has been feeling better and better.

Tomorrow he has an appointment at the VA in Colorado Springs for a hearing test. THANK GOODNESS!  I look forward to the day when the TV can hopefully be at a normal volume.

I've been trying to monitor my A-fib episodes to see if I can identify any "triggers" that are causing it to happen.  So far the only one that is a definite is bending over too many times in a row (like when I'm trying to clean house and have to pick things up).  Other than that, they seem to come and go for no particular reason.

Health Fair

Today Marshall felt kind of blah and was very tired.  And we had six inches of snow through the night so it was kind of cozy just to stay home.

Marshall has been walking better and better using the walker -- and sometimes just a cane.  His vitals today were all good.  But I have to tell on him:  when the nurse was at the house the other day she said, "So I saw that your sugar was 500 yesterday."   I immediately piped in and said no, she must be mistaken, his sugar has never been that high, he has always bragged about the fact that he is very good at managing his diabetes.  She insisted that he did have a reading of 500.  I looked at Marshall and I could see by his face that his sugar had indeed been 500 and he hadn't told me.  He was close to coma territory.  I guess that's the bad part of that TeleHealth machine -- he does all the submissions himself and bypasses me. But I can't be everywhere so I'm not going to worry about that.

I spent a large part of today calling in to the doctor's clinicians to transmit my heart monitor's EKG reports every time my heart went wonky.  It's quite the process.  But so far the clinicians have not felt it necessary to get the doctor involved so I guess that's a good thing.

Tomorrow is the annual Health Fair here in town.  I'm going to get down there bright and early and get every test that's available to me.  I'm getting a little paranoid about my health....

More on Humana and update on Marilyn's Echocardiogram, etc.

The Social Worker from Humana Home Health Care came out on Tuesday and re-evaluated our situation.  When she left, it was her opinion that Marshall still qualified for home health care and she will report her opinion back to the main office.

This morning a nurse from Humana came and evaluated Marshall.  She also is of the opinion that he qualifies for both the home physical therapy and the Tele-Health.  This machine takes all of his vitals (blood pressure, oxygen level, sugar reading and weight) every day and calls it in automatically to the main office.  If anything is out of order a nurse calls the house immediately to talk about it.  (I love that thing!)

We should hear from them tomorrow with their final decision.

I was at the hospital most of the day today and had my echocardiogram.  I was able to watch the screen while the procedure was done but of course I didn't understand any of it..  When we started, I asked the technician what would happen if she saw a blockage and she said she would get the cardiologist in there immediately.  So since I never saw a doctor I guess there were no blockages.  Then when it was done and I was leaving I asked her if she could give me her opinion on how it looked to her and she just smiled and said, "No news is good news."  I choose to interpret that as good news. I should hear the official results in a few days..

Then I got fitted with my Holter event monitor which records the atrial fibrillation events and calls them in to the doctor.  I will wear this for 14 days.  And then on May 8 I go back for a 4-hour nuclear stress test.

So I guess we can say that both of the patients in this household are doing okay at the moment.   And the dog is doing okay, too!  Woo hoo!

A good day!

Marshall's PSA went up to 45.6 (from 43), so it was only a 2-point increase.  Dr. Flaig sees that as a good sign that the chemo pill is kicking in.

All other lab work was in normal limits.  We go back in two weeks for another checkup.

And I went all day without an A-fib episode.

So it was a very good day.

Another weekend

To my eyes, Marshall was doing a bit better today maneuvering around the house.  He doesn't think so, but I can see a definite improvement.  Maybe he is slowly getting used to the oral chemo pill.  We appear to have conquered the pain he was having by taking arthritis pills.

Tomorrow we will just gear up for Monday's trip to the Cancer Center on Monday.  That's always a nervous day...