This Just In !

This actually is not just in, it came in on Friday. While I was depositing Merete at the ferry so she could celebrate Finn's 80th. birthday, the implant people left a message.

Monday I will find out when my Surgery will be. Big sigh of relief, as you all know I'm not great at waiting. Now I can stop wringing my hands over the waiting and start fretting over the surgery.

I joke, don't get your panties in a knot. I will let you all know the date tomorrow.

Happy Birthday to Finn Hemmingsen, John Dean and on Monday Brother Jim (Two Dogs) Grey-Noble.

What to do while waiting for surgery.

Our good friends Lee and Joan Hanson live half the time here on the island. They have a cabin down on Gordon's Beach. The night before last they invited us down for Otter Point Mussels that they had harvested that day. There were so many uncooked mussels left over that we got to bring some of them home.

Last night was my turn to cook. Since I had a piece of Salmon already thawed out, I decided to make a Seafood Soup. Merete created a Great Cheesy Garlic Bread to go along with the soup.

I sauteed onions and garlic. Then added canned chopped tomatoes, wine, chicken broth, a shot of Chinese hot sauce and finally the Salmon and Mussels.






Here's the finished product.
Add a little pepper and a pinch of Parmesan Cheese.

You can never have enough cheese.






Add the Garlic Bread and you can't move for a few hours.

Makes you hungry doesn't it!.

Went mad and the Pigs ate him.

I just got back from seeing Doctor Pocock this morning. No news is good news as they say. Apparently my blood work is good. I have to increase my Spironlactone from 12.5 mg to 25mg per day. This also means I have to have blood tests every two weeks to check my potassium level.

I have to watch my intake of raisins, bananas and all things containing potassium. Dr. P also wants me to start doing more exercise. I told him I would start doing laps around the yard. He is hoping this will stem my loss of muscle and build up my energy by pumping more oxygen into my system.

Doctor Novak has yet to indicate a possible surgery date, this will be effected by the Spironactone increase.

Just maybe we'll have an answer within a couple of weeks. As you know I am not a good at waiting. Luckily for me I have been painting basically 7 days a week for 5 to 6 hours which has kept me as sane as I can possibly be.

I have no doubt that I will get the call for surgery when some large family event is slated or when we find out we will be getting a special visit.

Let's just hope in the meantime that when and if anyone phones Merete won't say 'Sorry he can't come to the phone, John went mad and the Pigs ate Him!'

Sometimes You gotta.....

First, this picture of Brando my main man has nothing to do with this post. Well maybe it does, I wish I could be that relaxed.




Sometimes you gotta wonder how exact a science medicine is when things unfold in a bizarre manner. I was going to say stupid but maybe I'm too harsh.

Here's what happened during the last week. I have had to go in for two blood tests, one for my INR (Warfarin) and the second for my Potassium level on the new drug. It unfolded like this, I tract my INR and for the past 3 weeks it has been steadily climbing back to a decent level. This means it was going to be between 2.0 to 3.0 and bingo I hit exactly 2.5! This is good, however it was steadily climbing up. My thought was I better drop my Warfarin just slightly so I didn't excede the target.

It didn't work, last Wednesday I tested 4.5, too high. The doctor's office told me to skip a dose and retest on Monday. Now, I have to say that Dr. Pocock had somebody covering for him because he was away.

Monday I retested and the INR was 1.5 too low. Dr. Pocock is now back and the question his office asked was......wait for it......."Did I miss a dose?"

Duuh! You gotta wonder sometimes do they communicate within the same office? You gotta wonder maybe with this kind of medication if it is really up to you to monitor yourself!

One thing I do know is I'm getting really sick of being a pin cushion. Once again I have to go visit my friends at the lab before the end of the week and get yet another bruise.

Yes I am still waiting for my surgery and I will let you all know when it's going to happen.

Sometimes a Dogs' Life looks pretty good, just ask Brando or Molly.
But maybe that's just my opinion.

A Small Post

No real news on the implant front! I had a meeting with Dr. Pocock this morning regarding a change or rather an addition to my medication list.

Apparently I left Dr. Novak's office on December 22 before they could give me a prescription. That, I found amusing because they told me to get dressed and leave. In the letter to Pocock they made it sound like I ran for the hills after being examined.

For those of you who are counting or wondering what and how many drugs I'm taking here's the current list.

Bupropion 150mg - 2x a day
Carvedil ol 25mg - 2x a day
Digoxin 0.25mg - 1x a day
Rampril 10mg - 1x a day
Lipitor 10mg - 1x a day
Warfarin 5mg - 1x a day
Spironolactone 12.5mg - 1x a day
Symbicort - as needed (inhaler)
Salbutamol Sulfate-as needed(inhaler)
Nitro-Dur 0.2- 40mg Patch released at .2mg per hour at bedtime

Vitamin B-50 - 1x a day

I thought of a question while I was driving into see Dr. P so I asked about possible side effects of these drugs on my Liver. He said my Liver should be fine. He also mentioned that the new Spironolactone will increase my Potassium level so now I have a standing order for that blood test as well.
This drug will counter some of the Potassium loss caused by the Lipitor .
That means I won't have to eat so many bananas.

That's a good thing because I had started dragging my knuckles on the ground and raising my hands over my head in a waving motion when I laugh.

New Stuff

I went and saw my GP Tuesday morning. It was great seeing him first thing in the morning, he is way more relaxed.



I ended up getting two prescriptions.

The new Beta blocker dose was changed to 25mg twice a day. The other prescription is for a Nitro patch. It helps my breathing at night. This way I don't have to sleep on a pile of pillows. I tried it last night and got to sleep in a normal fashion. There is only one catch, Nitro drops your blood pressure and gives you a headache. Fortunately for me, I didn't have the headache until about 5:45 am. After staggering into the kitchen and finding the Tylenol I climbed back into bed and then peeled off the Nitro patch.

It's great to get medication to resolve health issues but the side effects are really irritating.

I did a little research on Stem Cell implantation to revive heart muscle. If I went to Duesseldorf treatment is available. Researchers have been working on this precedure for about 10 years now. When you start digging for information on this work it's like a maze. UBC keeps coming up but I can't find anything solid about their research. I would gladly volunteer for clinical trials.

Here's a link to the German site.

http://www.xcell-center.com/treatments/diseases-treated/cardiovascular-diseases.aspx

Just Waiting Again

Yes the many shades of waiting continues.










I have a meeting tomorrow with Dr. Pocock, really it's a prescription renewal but we'll go over Dr. Novak's plans for me.

This morning I got a chance to talk with my Rona Manager Super Sue Tibbits and found out she will be moving back to Calgary. She is a bright, energetic and gifted manager and we share a birthday. I am sure my Rona friends will miss her as much as I will .

We had a good chat and I filled her in on the progress or lack there of my treatment. No matter how much time seems to drag there is progress and that's the main thing. Now my 4 doctors have a plan, that should improve my quality of life. Most of you realise that waiting is not my forte. I like to keep busy, but when I can't walk more than 40 feet without getting short of breath it gets a little tedious.

Hopefully my next post will include my surgery date.
Ta Fer Noo