In June 2019 it was decided by Dieter's heart doctor that he has to have his aortic heart valve replaced. Meantime we were heading from one appointment to another on days of non-dialysis, which included St. Joseph's Hospital in Tampa, to have all the preliminary consultations and tests done.
On June 26. his ophthalmologist performed a Laser treatment on Dieter's R eye (AMD) and at the same time diagnosed him with having Shingles in his R eye. Antibiotica and drops were prescribed. On July 3. we were the last time in Tampa (25 miles one way) before I had to call 911 on July 5. to rush Dieter to the local hospital because of several rectal bleedings. A colonoscopy was performed and he was released on the 9. with the diagnosis Diverticulosis. I had to drive him to the hospital in Tampa on July 15. for admitting - the TAVR (valve replacement) was scheduled to be performed on the 18. That was BTW the first time that I drove our big truck via Interstates after having not driven the truck at all for 9 years. The surgeon informed me on the phone July 18. that the procedure went very well. 15 minutes later the Pulmonologist called me and asked for permission to perform a bronchoscopy after the team had him connected to a machine to empty his lungs from a lot of fluids. I said Yes. On that day, after he woke up, he got his dialysis. How much more can an 86-year old man take in such a short time frame, from February ?? He was released from the hospital on Saturday the 20. of July - - and of course - I had to drive there to get my hubby. I was not visiting him during these 5 days - I needed these quiet days alone at home to be of help for Dieter when he recuperates. Meanwhile the pain in Dieter's R eye drove him almost nuts, he was ready to scream. The internet told me that the pain of this kind is "unbearable or excruciating". Since Dieter has a high tolerance of any pain as long as I know him, it was putting me down mentally, I felt so sorry for him. During some nights then I was woken up almost every 2 hours and asked for eye drops, I hardly had any sleep. I had to do it anyway, Dieter was too weak to rise out of bed to do it, his hands were too weak to even hold a little bottle. That was also a time when all the nerves in his bowels did not seem to function anymore. Trips to the "john" were too late. That normalized by now. In addition it all seemed to have an impact on his veins and arteries... when I retrieved him from dialysis, I had to deal with massive blood stains.....Good thing that Hydrogen Peroxide is cheap and readily available in this country. The following week there is no other engagement than the 3 dialyses - hurray! We will cherish those "free hours" . Today I drove shopping and brought home 10 big pieces of "Hot Wings" - he ate all his 5 of them in one sitting. Is this a sign of him gaining at least some of his strength back shortly - or what??? He is more silent now in enduring his eye pain, drops are dispended in lesser doses. It will be a long time for recovery - it had also taken a long time for his kidneys to fail. He was diagnosed with Renal Amyloidosis in 2004, and at that time oncologists thought he would lose his kidneys any moment. He didn't. It took him 15 years. We have a new heart doctor. He promised us to work on Dieter's well-being by searching deep into his heart history. We had to dig out all the records I have about it. He wants to look into the bleeding/blood thinner connection. After what we told him, his opinion is that Warfarin should have been discontinued after one year of the hospital release from Flagler hospital in St.Augustine, Florida in 2005. We had a very long conversation with him on Friday. His opinion is that his heart fibrillation and lung emboly in 2005 was the reason the Coumadin (Warfarin) got prescribed, because he was 3 full weeks in the ICU. Dieter has no history before that of any heart failure or stroke or else. He had a hole in his heart, which was fixed finally in 2009 in Phoenix, Arizona, but that has nothing to to with it. He will employ modern tests to verify his thoughts and he might prescribe a medicine to prevent any bad heart events in the future. Warfarin is finally out now. He has to take Plavix for one year, which is mandatory after replacing organs or organ parts to be not rejected by one's body. Everything looks up now - please - may the last month of the subtropical Florida summer be a good one for us! Big Thanks to all who supported us spiritually. Nobody needs to worry about me. I feel good. Even my knee feels better after having to move around more. My kidneys are old and weak too, but I am symptom-free. Otherwise I am one of those "sturdy" Prussian girls which grow in strength the more is asked of them. Caring is also my former job description. ♥♥ Hope and Love never dies. ♥♥ Karin.
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Author : Karin
I love to write and work on my websites. The computer is a fascinating and useful tool. Archives
May 2021
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