Patricia took off work at school yesterday, as I needed a "responsible"adult to drive me home from Fort Wayne after the scheduled Epidural Injection on my spine.
Lucky for us the ice storm went to the north and west, and we were just stuck with fog and rain....temps hovering around 35 degrees...we got to Fort Wayne Orthopedics about 2:15pm, a good 45 minutes early...after filling out some minor forms I was whisked back to pre-op...and that's where the odyssey begins.
The trip over was rather painful, my pain had radiated to my right hip and buttock, it's usually, but not always, on the left side or square in the lower butt. The FWO nurses hooked me up to the pulse and blood pressure monitors....Now just for a little history, there are some blood pressure issues in the family, brother Mike, a life long smoker until 10 months ago, takes BP meds, my youngest sister Kelly, is also cursed with high BP...and mom, at 83 has some higher readings, and on occasion takes medication. Dad had high BP and died of a heart attack at 55....Me? Never, my BP usually sits on the moderate-slightly high ratings of 135/85 to 140/90...and my regular doc has always said "it's not a problem or concern"....well yesterday that all changed....the readings started out at: 212/118...well needless to say that was not going to work, so they hit me up with a small amount of morphine and then a relaxer...the readings were as follows:
212/118
175/96
197/107
183/88
177/97
then back to 200/92
Well Hell, that did that...off the outpatient surgery list, and across the street to Fort Wayne Lutheran Hospital ER....blood work proves negative but the readings really did not improve...actually by this time I was feeling pretty damn good(Morphine?), the back stopped hurting and I was in good spirits despite knowing there would be no back relief injection tonight...
The Readings at Lutheran:
188/114
185/90
169/100
213/115
The ER Doc said he was going to release me because besides the BP, I had no blood work problems...he gave me prescription to get filled for a low dose BP prescription....and off we went back to Ohio through the rain....now with a nice headache in hand, the morphine, the fasting, no caffeine?
Anyway here I sit...not really pissed, not really worried(just not in my make-up)...I will call Doc Bergman this morning, see what he has to say, and then start the process over again....in the meantime, screw it.....after no pain meds for a week, I took a nice dose of Ibupropan this morning to try to knock out the headache, and ease the pain, now back in my left hip and buttocks somewhat.....
Here we go again.....now I never want/wanted to be one of those old farts that sit around talking about illness or medical problems until my dying day...and I won't...but this blog is a pretty good way to bitch about it...
{photos..your basic BP Kit...and the BP reading from FWO...with the ER reading Patricia added as I sat in ER at Lutheran Hospital}
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5 comments:
Well, Dang. That's NOT good news at all. Have the Ortho folks rescheduled your injection, pending some time on the blood pressure drugs?
Buck...went to my Doc this afternoon(BP was still at 202/100...his comment.."What the Hell has changed in the past 12 months?" I got a physical in August 2006 my BP was 135/85....told him, a Hell of a lot of pain and about 15 pounds, that is it....so we go on the BP Meds for a week before my next appointment....then go from there....I guess I can handle this until after New Years if I have to....will see what happens.
Dude, you have to get a handle on that BP...soon!
Pain will do it, but also salt, stress/worry. I have been on Hyzarr for several years and seems to do the trick for this old man.
I was recently put on a minimal dose of Lisinopril and it seems to be doing thew trick. He found my BP slightly high a few months ago and put me on this stuff, but I saw him last Wednesday and it was ok. My bad cholesterol was down, my good was up, and my diabetes numbers were better even though I'd cut my pill dose in half without asking him. Proves that drinkin' and smokin' cigars and gettin' laid regular is good for your health.
Sounds like a lot of drama you're goin' through, but don't feel bad about sharin' it with us. Hell, as you can see from these comments, we're all goin' through it.
Hell yes---bitch-away! It doesn't SEEM as if you scared anyone away from here yet!
I used to have b.p. issues, but once I got out of the rat-race for about a year, I got to drop the meds I had been taking for it, and my Type 2 diabetes has stabilized to basically a diet-controlled level. Like Mushy said, that stress---and too much salt---can rip you a new ass-hole with that blood-pressure issue!
But---the DOWN side to my new life of "r-and-r" is that it allowed me too much time for the ol' joints to start "rustin'-over"! And it's hard to find new parts for us "heavy-duty" models!
NOW---THAT'S the PROPER way to "piss, moan, and groan"!!!
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