This is not my idea of what Arizona is supposed to be. 

We had to go to Benson for a 2 PM Dr. appointment. You would know about noon it started snowing blizzard like. White out... The interstate was nut much fun driving 45 mph. On our way back at about 3:30 PM it had stopped but at 4 PM it started again so will see how much we get tonight.
This is fun watching since we are home but not driving it.  Brings back memories of a former life of winters in Iowa. 
Now if I could just sleep in tomorrow on Thursday but I have a another Dr. visit scheduled for 8:15 AM in Benson. 
Does life exist at that time of day?  And that is just the begining... Will be scheduling appoints for Nephrology, Castroenterology  (time from my 5 year colonosocpy) and a possible Endocrinologist. As you can see I have some conditions that need to be investigated. 

More pics form last night and this morning. 

It felt just like being back in Iowa getting up and having to be in town at 8 AM for a Dr. appointment.

 Pics below from  yesterday...

Monday Feb. 18

Some days just don't work the way you planned...

I had a scheduled hospital follow up my cardiologist Dr. appointment today for 11 AM with Tucson Pima Heart. They are located in north Tucson so not an easy commute to get there. About  1 hr 20 min drive from our place near Benson, AZ. 
So we get there and get our dually wide rear end truck parked into one of those Oh so small parking spaces after the back and forth backing to get the pick-up  placed just so. I get inside and stand inline for check-in. Pima Hearth is a big deal with many Drs. so this time the check in line was several people deep. So afere waiting several minutes I check in and she tells me my Dr. is not there today.  I say TMC hospital made the appointment as I look forlorn at her.  She confers with others and came back saying the Dr. is at their satellite office location today.  BENSON AZ.  I said  I was from Benson.... Told her I was told to go to the Tucson office as the hospital  TMC that made the appointment as I had asked since I knew he did go to Benson on Thursdays. So I'm in Tucson and my Dr. is 40 miles east where I started out.
I didn't get upset as after what I had been through this was a non event. 
So they set me up with  8:15 AM for this Thursday at their Benson office so I can get together with the Dr. for my follow up.
I'm retired so 8:15 AM is not a concept I am familiar with...  It will be OK as Benson is only 7 miles away from our place so can do that. May have some stubble on my cheeks but who cares, he is looking at my heart not my face.
But with what I have been through (two hospital stays) guess I'll get up and make the best of it. 
BTW feeling better... 

I think they solved my onset of A-fullter which is different from my long history of A-fib. 

After was released  from the TMC hospital on Thursday.  I did on Friday night at about 9 PM go into A-Fib, took my meds and came back to normal soon later.  (three hours) Now seem to be back to where I was before in years past. A-fib is manageable and under control.  What they fixed at the TMC in Tucson with the Ablation was out of control heart Flutter   99% success rate to fix Fullter.  Which is different from A-Fib. 

They said it might correct both but it didn't... such is life. 

So I still have A-fib which I hope can be managed with drugs like I have been taking as needed in the past. 
Or if it gets worse can with 70% success rate with a much more complicated Ablation procedure for A-fib. 
If I only get a A-fib event once a month or less I can deal with that. As it is not as they say life tthreatening. 

Now with both these coinditions the worry is a blood clot going to the brain which can cause a stroke. So a blood thinner is needed so this does not happen.  I take 20 mg Xarelto once a day with food. 
 I am on Medicare and have a secondary plan (UnitedHealthCare) with my former employer (retired from) my monthy premium for that plan is $128.  It mostly covers the above 80% Medicare pays.  Still have co-pays etc.  So I have to pay $75 for 90 days for Xarelto. The secondary plan pays (I just looked it up)  $625 for the 90 days of Xarelto. So this will give some info to compare on what you find your plan pays. 

But all this is silly stuff and Feeling like a happy camper again....

Thursday Feb. 14 

Sent to the Tucson Medical Certer.  A good move for me.
 

My new cardiologist at Pima Heart in Tucson saw me on Tuesday and right away sent me to the Tucson Medical Center hospital.
By the time we got there my room ws ready.  They have about1200 beds at this center... not that many for cardiac care but still all those beds are on one ground floor. They use gulf carts etc. and transportation teams to push beds of patients around from their rooms to surgery, cath labs. etc.   See a map of this huge hospital.

This was the view from me laying on my back in the hospital bed.
The IV drip controller one the left and heart monitor on the right. (This monitor pic shows my numbers doing good at that point in time) After awhile my RN allowed me to reach up and punch out the orange button (lower left) to silence the heart monitor beeping alarm as they were also monitoring it from the main nurses desk. As with A-Fib and A-flutter the monitor will go nuts so not much can be done at the time. Did you know A-Fib and A-Fultter is not the same? 

My primary hospital RN had 5 patients assigned to her. I did receive very good care. Every contact with a staff member was above expectations. Also you know laying in that bed that you are at last getting the care you have been in need of for some time.... 
and whatever the outcome is, you now have skin in the game... so blow the whistle and move the ball forward.  Good or bad no stopping now. That takes the pressure off as you now are in trusted hands. That's mind relaxing. While also watching and questioning everything they do, if you don't fully understrand or agree, so mistakes are not made, as you are a part of this in partnering with the health care professionals.  Health care people respect this, and apericiate that you are working with them for the expected outcome. If you are a noncooperative patient, how could you expect them to care. Please and Thank You and remembering their names goes a LONG way in a hospital setting.  Take that to the health-care-bank.
I learned more about what the meds I have been taking and my blood tests than I ever knew. 
A informed patient is better able to help in the decisions. Information is power... this is your life... can't have too much knowledge.
You don't know what to ask... Google on the internet and write down the results.  Or just ask the DR. or RN what questions you should ask.  Saying that you don't know what to ask, will get you more informatiom... 
Ask your Dr. an intelligent question and see his eyes light up knowing he is dealing  with a  person  who is involved in their care. Now he can jump in maybe in higher level and feel needed, unlike how he my have interacted with a blank uniformed person. Now you might get better care if you are able to be active in the process. At least try to sit up if you can and give your Dr. eye contact to show you care about your outcome. 
NOW OK off my bed pan... soap box... It's getting slippery as my foot got wet as I kind of missed.

Anybody got a towel for the floor as someone may slip on some special so called water next to my bed in the hospital room.  Someitmes we just have to accept we are human... would a bird do that.  I missed the pissing contest bottle... just a little bit...did I say that.

Now what they did for me....
Tucson Medical Center Tucson Medical Center – a recognized Atrial Fibrillation Center of Excellence has great cardiac electrophysiolgists and performed  a invasive procedure which may provide me long-term successful treatment, and stop additional medications.
I had a invasive procedure called Radiofrequency Catheter Ablation  which electronically burns and destroys some abnormal conduction pathways in the atria. Tucson Medical Center is the first hospital in Arizona to be awarded Atrial Fibrillation Certification by the Society of Chest Pain Centers. The only place in all of AZ to provide this even today. 
The abnormal pathways are located, via a catheter insertred in the groin and up to the heart. Much like a coronary angiography but this used a vien and not the artary. 
After proper placement, the catheter delivers radiofrequency energy that interrupts (ablates) a portion of the abnormal electrical conduction pathway. This ablation inactivates the abnormal pathway to provide the normal flow of electrical impulses.
This technique is safe. When it works, atrial flutter may be permanently cured. Radiofrequency catheter ablation has few complications and, unlike surgery, requires little recovery time.
I felt like the cat lab was something out of a science fiction movie.  And I was the one being sent off into space via transporter.

It WORKED so as it stopped my flutter and I hope also will stop my A-Fib events in the future. We shall see. But for now I am feeling better with much more energy. What more can one could ask for .  I was released from TMC and am now home at our winter location doing this blog. I have appointments for next week for follow ups.. Modern medicine has done well by me...
Now I know there is a big difrence from A-Fib and A-flutter. Two diferent things . Now if you don't have one or the other don't worry. Otherwise Google is standing by for you. 

I'm strating to collect these hospital arm bands. 

Anyway we are doing well and both happy to be at our winter home with each other. 
It's one of the reasons we bought this place. 
Things are looking up with the last lab results from the them better. 
More Dr. appointments next week and will go from there... looking forward to warmer weather and life just getting better and better. 
Now doing great and planning to have a good nights sleep in my home bed...
Ya All Take Care Out There....
 

Tuesday will be a big day for us.

I'm still having heart sync problems. A-Fib and flutter.  Used to happen less than once a month...  now... every day. Blood sugar has gone real high with this new heart situation. There has to be an underlying cause why my system is reacting this way. 
We are taking readings ... BP, Pulse, Blood Suger several times a day and putting it all on a spreadsheet.  I helps to be able to look at the readings over several days. At least I hope so. I have been in A-Fid and Flutter several times over the last few days after released from the hospital last Thursday. With a time recording of my situation readings can only help my new caddiologist...
So have appointment with cardiologist tomorrow at Pima Heart. 

Hope my Dr. has some ideas. Just hanging in there and hoping for the best. 
What can I say...  it is what it is.
This is clearly a life changing event.... And I am looking for a good outcome. 
 

Friday Feb. 8 

We made it back to Benson from Quartzsite. 

Our last campfire in Q. Most everything was packed up.

 

Our key to the lock on the front gate worked this time, so we felt good about that and glad to back at the winter property.
Now to get the 5 th wheel unloaded and all the stuff into the house. To say the least Terry is doing most all of that. as I'm just not feeling all that good. I had a good Wednesday night but Thursday (last night) didn't work out so well as woke up in A fib again. Took most of the night to get back in sync and this AM my BP was very low. 70/45 pulse 50. Had a hard time holding my head up. I got stronger as the day went by, but right now at 7 PM my pulse is back up again to about 130 after shower. I hope it goes down on it's own.
I have appointment for Tuesday with a cardiologist in Tucson on Tuesday so hope I can hold on till then,
without having to go to the ER. 

NOW would you people up north get your act together. Please open your windows and get some heat going so it warms up down here in southeast Arizona.  We were just getting some 70 like temps in western AZ in Quartzsite but now in Benson the weekend looks like a mess of cold and snow. Yes temps in the upper 40s for the high and snow during the day on Saturday. 1 - 2 inches for us. Lows in  the 20s. It's just not acceptable for it to be this cold in AZ. 

 
 
 
 
 

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