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Nights' Medical 2006
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 My name is Joe.
I'm a biker, hunter, registered nurse and all around good Joe...This is the history of my heart trouble in 2006. 2006 Joe is currently in the hospital at TGH for heart problems. He started to feel poorly while we were on vacation in Seattle and Port Townsend, Washington. When we returned, he visited our doctor on Tuesday (4-18) and was driven across the street to South Florida Baptist Hospital. He was admitted and they ran lots of tests. They determined he has cardiomyopathy - an enlargement of the heart. It can be from several reasons and in his case, it's from a virus he picked up while sick a few months ago that attacked his heart. His tests also showed a blood clot in his heart. They did a cardiac cath to check the damage to his heart on Thursday evening (4-20). They didn't find anything else and he's been on blood thinners and other medication to help strengthen his heart - in addition to tons of bed rest. They did another test Friday and did not get readable results, so will redo it . Joe will need at least 3-6 months of rest before returning to work. He will not be returning at full speed, most likely. His heart will need at least a year to heal completely - or as completely as it will heal. More updates as I have them. Robin They redid the test and it was also no good, so they will redo it soon. He is resting. I will no longer be sending out email updates. Return to this page for the latest. Robin He sounds in good spirits. Dr. said his "levels" aren't where they need to be, so he's probably looking at Tuesday instead of Monday to come home. Robin
Joe was in pretty good spirits most of today and tonight. His energy level and color were better than they have been, so he was up out of bed several times and even walked to the elevator! Pastor Russ Martin and several friends visited him today. Pastor Russ took the photo with his phone and emailed it to me. (The sticker says "CHF" for congestive heart failure.) All of Joe's co-workers from 4F have been visiting him, calling and sending cards, a basket of fruit with "legal snacks", a bamboo plant with a huge balloon that plays "Don't Worry, Be Happy" and just keeping his spirits up. Robin Joe is home! Robin Today we went to the doctor and lab and he was completely exhausted and could no longer stand on his own. Took a short nap and felt a little better. Had lunch and is watching TV. Dr. says he is doing well for his stage of recuperating. Robin Joe had a bad morning and a better evening. We had company tonight - his brother Mark and sister-in-law Kelly, who cooked a sodium appropriate dinner and brought it over - along with their adorable kids... He took several short naps today, so he did fine when they were over. Robin Taking lots of naps and breaks from doing the usual things of life. Visitors max him out at about 2 hours. He's going outside quite a bit and sitting at the pond. He also cleaned it out and refilled the water one day. We have found tastier foods that don't contain a lot of sodium, so he isn't so disappointed at meal time... Eating tons of fruit! Joe drove me to the doctor on Friday and then to his dad's, where he fell asleep and I drove us home. Visitors are okay and he's looking forward to seeing co-workers from TGH. Robin I'm not posting updates as often because Joe is doing about the same each day, with a little more energy as time goes on. We attended a family party over the weekend and we stayed for 4 hours. He was exhausted and really worn out the following day. He is doing more around the house and in the yard with the pond. The doctor has adjusted his meds a little bit, but he still takes 6 different ones daily. He looks really good. Taking trips to stores wear him out before we even get in the door. He is following his low sodium diet and I continue to look for ways to make that more interesting. Robin
Interesting Quote... "No man needs a vacation so much as the person who has just had one." -- Author: Elbert Hubbard Joe's been having some rough days lately. Gets extremely tired easily and we've missed some family events as a result. Our doctor changed his medication a little and we're hoping that will make a difference.
Robin Feeling much better lately, and plan on getting my 2-D Echogram in a couple of weeks (give or take) -I have high hopes for good results, and look forward to returning to work (and to my floor). The weather has been good, and I miss riding my bike with a passion -but as soon as the ticker is pronounced 'good', I hope to be doing THAT as well! :)
Joe Joe's 2D Echogram in October was good - 42%. He has been working his way towards being a nurse again by working part time by monitoring the telly monitors on a different floor of the hospital. He is going to go back to nursing in a few days, still part time, to see how he does. Wish him luck!
Robin
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