Finally getting a break from life to sit and write a blog.
I have been so extremely overwhelmed that I haven't had the energy to keep up with this.
I put my roller derby on a hold until my medications are leveled out.
I'm losing my blood pressure quite often.
My sense of concentrartion has decline dramatically...
...and it's affecting my job
My meds are making my body physically depressed, in turn making me mentally depressed.
I'm tired all of the time.
My pregnant twin sister and my brother in law are moving in to help ME out (I feel guilty)
I'm getting another dog in order to keep my other one busy since I'm having a hard time playing with him by myself.
I've just spiraled down so quickly that I can't even keep my head on straight
Friday, March 28, 2014
Monday, March 3, 2014
The Sick Days
I'm not talking about the days where you start off with half the spoons as normal. I'm talking about the days where you have a cold, the flu, allergies that make you wish you you had the flu.
Nobody likes being sick, but the harder part, especially for you cardiac patients, is being sick and not being able to take anything for it and you just suffer with it til it's gone.
Sudafed, nyquil, sambucol, cold-EEZE...etc, etc.
...most of these contain ingredients that raise your blood pressure and heart rate. So using these usually means you'll be worse off.
Nobody likes being sick, but the harder part, especially for you cardiac patients, is being sick and not being able to take anything for it and you just suffer with it til it's gone.
Sudafed, nyquil, sambucol, cold-EEZE...etc, etc.
...most of these contain ingredients that raise your blood pressure and heart rate. So using these usually means you'll be worse off.
So cheers to plain chicken soup, Gatorade, saltine crackers, and Netflix!
Monday, February 24, 2014
It's All Good in the 'Hood!
Today has just been....awesome!
I actually feel productive for once. I have at least 10 more spoons left, which I need to give credit to my cardiologist because I think he and I found a med that works for me and I feel much more energetic. ANYWAYS:
I took Chevy to the dog park. Got my face painted for one of my nieces projects. I have done 3 loads of laundry, folded AND put away! (that's a huge feat btw) I finished editing my player profile pictures for this season. I redid my twin's baby shower invites because she had to change the shower date, I cleaned the bathroom....
...and leading to actual subject today:
I had a dentist appointment and scheduled 2 more for next week
I know that sounds extreme, but for those of you that may NOT know, just as "your eyes are the windows to your soul"...
..."your mouth is the window to your heart"
Cardiac patients should really make sure their oral care is meticulous. I'm a nurse, and honestly, most nurses are the worst patients, including myself. I hadn't been to the dentist in maybe 5+ years, I kept having insurance changes so it was hard to keep one, so I pretty much gave up. The college where I live happens to offer a dental hygiene/dental program. As disappointed in my dental hygiene as I am, my teeth and mouth are bad enough to get free dental care because I qualified to be a patient for the students taking their board exam for their practicing licenses. I finally decided I needed to get my mouth taken care of, and the reasons being:
1) the plaque that grows on your teeth is the same exact thing as the plaque that can grow in your circulatory system, which can increase your risk of stroke/heart attack.
2) An unhealthy mouth can tell you that maybe your heart is unhealthy, too. Keeping an unhealthy mouth will lead to heart diseases.
3) Being on heart medications will most likely cause your mouth to be unhealthy (which is why I decided to get multiple dental appointments)...I bet 90% of you on a cardiac medication suffer from constant dry mouth...which leads to gengival hyperplasia and decay, leaving your heart more prone to disease (the vicious cycle)
Like I said, my teeth are so bad that it will take multiple appointments to get my gums irrigated, my teeth completely cleaned, and get a couple of fillings refilled.
TAKE CARE OF YOUR TEETH PEOPLE! just because they are white after using whitener does not mean they are healthy.
Also** for dry mouth- use sugar free hard candies, biotene, and NON-ALCOHOLIC mouth rinse (i.e. listerine zero)
I actually feel productive for once. I have at least 10 more spoons left, which I need to give credit to my cardiologist because I think he and I found a med that works for me and I feel much more energetic. ANYWAYS:
I took Chevy to the dog park. Got my face painted for one of my nieces projects. I have done 3 loads of laundry, folded AND put away! (that's a huge feat btw) I finished editing my player profile pictures for this season. I redid my twin's baby shower invites because she had to change the shower date, I cleaned the bathroom....
...and leading to actual subject today:
I had a dentist appointment and scheduled 2 more for next week
I know that sounds extreme, but for those of you that may NOT know, just as "your eyes are the windows to your soul"...
..."your mouth is the window to your heart"
Cardiac patients should really make sure their oral care is meticulous. I'm a nurse, and honestly, most nurses are the worst patients, including myself. I hadn't been to the dentist in maybe 5+ years, I kept having insurance changes so it was hard to keep one, so I pretty much gave up. The college where I live happens to offer a dental hygiene/dental program. As disappointed in my dental hygiene as I am, my teeth and mouth are bad enough to get free dental care because I qualified to be a patient for the students taking their board exam for their practicing licenses. I finally decided I needed to get my mouth taken care of, and the reasons being:
1) the plaque that grows on your teeth is the same exact thing as the plaque that can grow in your circulatory system, which can increase your risk of stroke/heart attack.
2) An unhealthy mouth can tell you that maybe your heart is unhealthy, too. Keeping an unhealthy mouth will lead to heart diseases.
3) Being on heart medications will most likely cause your mouth to be unhealthy (which is why I decided to get multiple dental appointments)...I bet 90% of you on a cardiac medication suffer from constant dry mouth...which leads to gengival hyperplasia and decay, leaving your heart more prone to disease (the vicious cycle)
Like I said, my teeth are so bad that it will take multiple appointments to get my gums irrigated, my teeth completely cleaned, and get a couple of fillings refilled.
TAKE CARE OF YOUR TEETH PEOPLE! just because they are white after using whitener does not mean they are healthy.
Also** for dry mouth- use sugar free hard candies, biotene, and NON-ALCOHOLIC mouth rinse (i.e. listerine zero)
My mouth. My gums are red and puffy (gengival hyperplasia) most likely from chronically being on a heart medication, not flossing like I'm supposed so, and always having a dry mouth because of my heart medications. My gums are currently trying to pull away from my teeth because of the plaque that has been caught under there, (you can tell on my lower jaw front teeth the most).
Thursday, February 20, 2014
Gotta Love Experiments!
As most people with chronic disorders/diseases already know, medications are trial and error, repeat, repeat, repeat, repeat, repeat, OOO WE FOUND SOMETHING THAT WORKS! And then your kidney function or liver function declines and fails or something like that....then you've gotta start the hunt for a new medication regimen again.
Well, looks like I may have found the med that works for me (so far, knocking on wood)
So now the next step of the experiment is too see what you can and can't tolerate. Foods, workouts, etc.
So tuesday I put my skates back on for roller derby and attempted the sprints! I needed twice the amount of recovery time than planned for, but nothing cardiac rehab and diet can't fix.
I also tried the evil.....
......caffeine
And low and behold, it made me sick! my heart started going crazy almost immediately.
Ok, so caffeine is STILL a no-go. But that's ok, at least I know now instead of figuring it out at work.
I also gave a "long day" a test as well. This included one load of laundry, a mile jog with my pup, doing a mini photo shoot for one of my roller derby teammates, cleaning the room and living room, and going to the store to buy a survival kit for the flu (boyfriend came home from work throwing up and with a fever)
With the medication regimen I'm on now, I can say I have about 8 spoons left, where normally by now I'd only have a couple left. (If you don't know what I'm talking about, go back to my "Measuring Spoons" entry)
So now I can get dinner made, feed the dog, get my other half set up in bed so he can rest, and finish drying some clothes so I have a set of scrubs for tomorrow. Looks like I will do OK for a long enough period of time that we can instead plan a heart surgery around my schedule and my boss can work on getting me set up in an office ready to go so I can work immediately thereafter and not have to worry about anyone but myself for once (this is an almost IMPOSSIBLE thing for nurses to do)
So hopefully this pans out as I plan!
Gotta get started on looking for more experiments :)
Well, looks like I may have found the med that works for me (so far, knocking on wood)
So now the next step of the experiment is too see what you can and can't tolerate. Foods, workouts, etc.
So tuesday I put my skates back on for roller derby and attempted the sprints! I needed twice the amount of recovery time than planned for, but nothing cardiac rehab and diet can't fix.
I also tried the evil.....
......caffeine
And low and behold, it made me sick! my heart started going crazy almost immediately.
Ok, so caffeine is STILL a no-go. But that's ok, at least I know now instead of figuring it out at work.
I also gave a "long day" a test as well. This included one load of laundry, a mile jog with my pup, doing a mini photo shoot for one of my roller derby teammates, cleaning the room and living room, and going to the store to buy a survival kit for the flu (boyfriend came home from work throwing up and with a fever)
With the medication regimen I'm on now, I can say I have about 8 spoons left, where normally by now I'd only have a couple left. (If you don't know what I'm talking about, go back to my "Measuring Spoons" entry)
So now I can get dinner made, feed the dog, get my other half set up in bed so he can rest, and finish drying some clothes so I have a set of scrubs for tomorrow. Looks like I will do OK for a long enough period of time that we can instead plan a heart surgery around my schedule and my boss can work on getting me set up in an office ready to go so I can work immediately thereafter and not have to worry about anyone but myself for once (this is an almost IMPOSSIBLE thing for nurses to do)
So hopefully this pans out as I plan!
Gotta get started on looking for more experiments :)
Tuesday, February 18, 2014
CPR
Hey everyone
Today, my topic is a one subject matter that I believe everyone should know. Being a nurse, I know it is difficult for some to understand the concepts sometimes, so I will be attempting to teach you BASIC life saving skills. The most important to know is CPR.
I will be starting a new medication soon for my PVC's, and its pertinent for one of my household members to know how to react incase I have an adverse effect, one of them being cardiac arrest.
It may sound scary...because it is. But the best thing you can do is prepare someone for the fact of the matter versus them not knowing what to do and panicking.
The first and most important rule is to NOT PANIC. this plays a vital role in how emergency services are able to respond to a call. As a nurse, this is easy for me. I've dealt with emergencies with skeleton crews, and it makes it a whole lot easier if you work promptly and collectedly versus trying to rush and not know what next steps to take because you're TOO focused on the patient. The best thing for the patient is to hand them off to someone with more skills and/or better equipment.
I will be teaching you now on CPR basic for good samaritans, and these steps may help you one day! You can check your local area for CPR courses through American Heart Association so you can be licensed, as licenses will ensure you know the most up-to-date procedures. CPR has changed multiple times, but today I'm only worried about teaching you how to respond to emergencies as a good samaritan.
First thing- Assess the situation. Example: If a normally active person (like myself) is lying on the floor in the kitchen, of course that's going to raise a red flag. Here's what I told my boyfriend:
First thing you want to do is make sure you take in a deep breath, hold it for a couple of seconds and relax, then release slowly. Call 911 immediately after. while the phone is ringing or they have you on hold, put them on speaker phone, put the phone down near you, get down and check for a pulse. If there is no pulse and the person is unconscious, immediately start CPR. (As a civilian you DO NOT have to provide mouth to mouth, but it is especially recommended if patient has drowned). Most likely by the time you have started, 911 will be asking questions.
stop what you are doing so they can hear you clearly
Give them an address, sex and age of patient (estimations are fine). If they are not breathing, tell 911 "They are not breathing, I can't find a pulse, I will keep you on the phone while I give CPR" so they know you have not hung up and you can update them as needed.
> If 911 is unable to respond to you quickly and you do not know CPR, face the palms of your hands down. overlap one over the other and lace your fingers.
> Search or estimate where the patients nipples are and put the heel of your hand in between them in the center of the chest.
> you want to push down hard and fast. Rule of thumb is to attempt to compress the chest about 2 inches every second.
> Do 30 compressions, then take a quick 5 second break. Again, mouth to mouth is not absolutely necessary unless they are drowning.
> If someone has stopped to help, take turns doing chest compressions, as this gets tiring very fast.
> If patient wakes up, stop CPR immediately and notify 911 they are awake.
> If they are awake, use the most calming, low toned voice possible so you do not stimulate patient too much, and tell them "Relaaax, stay where you are, you fainted and we are getting you help. We'll be right here until the ambulance arrives."
The best thing you can do is to stay calm and collected. And so not to send the patient into a panic, tell them what has happened, do not ever sugar coat anything because lack of oxygen will make the patient confused and they may not understand "you had a doozy" versus "you fainted"., they may not even understand "you fainted" until they start getting oxygen to the brain. If you have a blanket with you, put that over your patient once they're awake.
JUST BE AWARE- CPR is for life saving measures, there is always a risk of injuring a patient, even if you are certified and are a nurse that may do this quite often. Most common injuries are broken ribs or a broken xyphoid (the bottom end of the sternum) If you hear a crack, dont let that freak you out, just keep going, injuries will heal later on and medical staff will treat that at the hospital. Just try to keep your patient alive.
I will be doing some teaching for my boyfriend and my twin. I'd prefer them to be ready for a scenario than to not be sure they know what they are doing.
Today, my topic is a one subject matter that I believe everyone should know. Being a nurse, I know it is difficult for some to understand the concepts sometimes, so I will be attempting to teach you BASIC life saving skills. The most important to know is CPR.
I will be starting a new medication soon for my PVC's, and its pertinent for one of my household members to know how to react incase I have an adverse effect, one of them being cardiac arrest.
It may sound scary...because it is. But the best thing you can do is prepare someone for the fact of the matter versus them not knowing what to do and panicking.
The first and most important rule is to NOT PANIC. this plays a vital role in how emergency services are able to respond to a call. As a nurse, this is easy for me. I've dealt with emergencies with skeleton crews, and it makes it a whole lot easier if you work promptly and collectedly versus trying to rush and not know what next steps to take because you're TOO focused on the patient. The best thing for the patient is to hand them off to someone with more skills and/or better equipment.
I will be teaching you now on CPR basic for good samaritans, and these steps may help you one day! You can check your local area for CPR courses through American Heart Association so you can be licensed, as licenses will ensure you know the most up-to-date procedures. CPR has changed multiple times, but today I'm only worried about teaching you how to respond to emergencies as a good samaritan.
First thing- Assess the situation. Example: If a normally active person (like myself) is lying on the floor in the kitchen, of course that's going to raise a red flag. Here's what I told my boyfriend:
First thing you want to do is make sure you take in a deep breath, hold it for a couple of seconds and relax, then release slowly. Call 911 immediately after. while the phone is ringing or they have you on hold, put them on speaker phone, put the phone down near you, get down and check for a pulse. If there is no pulse and the person is unconscious, immediately start CPR. (As a civilian you DO NOT have to provide mouth to mouth, but it is especially recommended if patient has drowned). Most likely by the time you have started, 911 will be asking questions.
stop what you are doing so they can hear you clearly
Give them an address, sex and age of patient (estimations are fine). If they are not breathing, tell 911 "They are not breathing, I can't find a pulse, I will keep you on the phone while I give CPR" so they know you have not hung up and you can update them as needed.
911 dispatch are certified in CPR and can give you instructions over the phone
> If 911 is unable to respond to you quickly and you do not know CPR, face the palms of your hands down. overlap one over the other and lace your fingers.
> Search or estimate where the patients nipples are and put the heel of your hand in between them in the center of the chest.
> you want to push down hard and fast. Rule of thumb is to attempt to compress the chest about 2 inches every second.
> Do 30 compressions, then take a quick 5 second break. Again, mouth to mouth is not absolutely necessary unless they are drowning.
> If someone has stopped to help, take turns doing chest compressions, as this gets tiring very fast.
> If patient wakes up, stop CPR immediately and notify 911 they are awake.
> If they are awake, use the most calming, low toned voice possible so you do not stimulate patient too much, and tell them "Relaaax, stay where you are, you fainted and we are getting you help. We'll be right here until the ambulance arrives."
The best thing you can do is to stay calm and collected. And so not to send the patient into a panic, tell them what has happened, do not ever sugar coat anything because lack of oxygen will make the patient confused and they may not understand "you had a doozy" versus "you fainted"., they may not even understand "you fainted" until they start getting oxygen to the brain. If you have a blanket with you, put that over your patient once they're awake.
JUST BE AWARE- CPR is for life saving measures, there is always a risk of injuring a patient, even if you are certified and are a nurse that may do this quite often. Most common injuries are broken ribs or a broken xyphoid (the bottom end of the sternum) If you hear a crack, dont let that freak you out, just keep going, injuries will heal later on and medical staff will treat that at the hospital. Just try to keep your patient alive.
I will be doing some teaching for my boyfriend and my twin. I'd prefer them to be ready for a scenario than to not be sure they know what they are doing.
Monday, February 17, 2014
Always Another Diagnosis
I haven't blogged in several days, I've been so busy that I'm too tired to even think about a subject to write about.
So today I would just like to update you all. I had my follow up cardio appointment today. I have a new diagnosis of PVC's, mostly in the bigeminy pattern. Which those of you with heart conditions, any ventricular contractions that aren't triggered by a normal rhythm, are not a good thing.
Ill start on meds today, but with the med there's a risk of cardiac arrest, so I will have a baby sitter all week with me LOL
Sooner or later we will have my dog certified to be an aid dog. My boyfriend somewhat joked about having a life alert system placed in the home. But in all seriousness, he'll be getting CPR lesson from me tomorrow.
So today I would just like to update you all. I had my follow up cardio appointment today. I have a new diagnosis of PVC's, mostly in the bigeminy pattern. Which those of you with heart conditions, any ventricular contractions that aren't triggered by a normal rhythm, are not a good thing.
Ill start on meds today, but with the med there's a risk of cardiac arrest, so I will have a baby sitter all week with me LOL
Sooner or later we will have my dog certified to be an aid dog. My boyfriend somewhat joked about having a life alert system placed in the home. But in all seriousness, he'll be getting CPR lesson from me tomorrow.
Wednesday, February 12, 2014
Living With a Positive Attitude
Don't get me wrong, you will always find some days harder than others. You may find yourself in depressed slumps. Actually yesterday I was in a bit of a sour mood, and my boyfriend (thinking he was being helpful) says "You're fine. You're perfectly healthy" For those of you with chronic illnesses, you know phrases like this will send your significant other to the dog house. I will say I am pretty anxious for my cardio appointments tomorrow. Luckily today was a busy day at work and kept my mind off of what is scheduled for tomorrow.
I'm not normally an anxious person, I generally perform better under pressure (I grew up playing multiple sports), but tomorrow I'll be consulting with my cardiologist about pacemakers/defibrillators/meds, whatever we deem necessary for my care. We'll be reviewing my heart monitor from last week and my echo that I'm also doing tomorrow.
So how can I stay positive about this? No matter what, I will be making life style changes tomorrow., so you have ALWAYS gotta match a positive with a negative aspect:
Well, honestly, I look at it as such. A life style change. We're most likely preventing an end of life situation, as I often get arrhythmias that can cause cardiac arrest, so that can't be a bad thing. There's a chance I will have to end my roller derby career, which sucks, but I'm young enough to find/learn/perfect new hobbies. Always learning something new is never a bad thing.
And the best part of it is that my boyfriend will be there holding my hand and giving his input at my doctors appointment, so the decision doesn't land on myself, he's willing to share a lot of this stress with me.
Many of you will find that people with chronic illnesses tend to have a brighter aspect on life. If you ever meet a small child suffering from something as scary as cancer, you'll find that they find happiness in the small things, and are often wise beyond their years. This is because you HAVE NO CHOICE BUT TO STAY POSITIVE. Even if you don't feel well, it takes more energy out of you to be in a bad mood. Those around you can feel that negative energy and it makes it harder for them to help when you absolutely need it.
Plus, having a positive in general will always help in the long run. I wear a smile even when I'm frustrated and wanna strangle someone at work. I still carry myself gracefully until I can get home and work out the stress. Because of this, my boss is attempting to fit me in where I can run around less and have to do a bit less hands on work with patients so I can make sure I am resting enough and not killing myself over keeping someone else alive. As nurses, we tend to forget to take care of ourselves because we're too busy taking care of others. But if we do find a place to set up an office for me at work, I can still help with my patients and not have to be as stressed about it. I can come and go as I please as long as I make my 40hour work week. So doctors appointments wont be hard to work around.
Really, positivity is the only chance you have at surviving a chronic illness. It's so exhausting being angry or mad or in denial all the time.
I'd prefer to die with a chronic illness on my shoulder than to die from the chronic illness itself. It's choosing to control something that others think controls you, and you do this by wearing a smile on your face and taking it one day at a time.
I'm not normally an anxious person, I generally perform better under pressure (I grew up playing multiple sports), but tomorrow I'll be consulting with my cardiologist about pacemakers/defibrillators/meds, whatever we deem necessary for my care. We'll be reviewing my heart monitor from last week and my echo that I'm also doing tomorrow.
So how can I stay positive about this? No matter what, I will be making life style changes tomorrow., so you have ALWAYS gotta match a positive with a negative aspect:
Well, honestly, I look at it as such. A life style change. We're most likely preventing an end of life situation, as I often get arrhythmias that can cause cardiac arrest, so that can't be a bad thing. There's a chance I will have to end my roller derby career, which sucks, but I'm young enough to find/learn/perfect new hobbies. Always learning something new is never a bad thing.
And the best part of it is that my boyfriend will be there holding my hand and giving his input at my doctors appointment, so the decision doesn't land on myself, he's willing to share a lot of this stress with me.
Many of you will find that people with chronic illnesses tend to have a brighter aspect on life. If you ever meet a small child suffering from something as scary as cancer, you'll find that they find happiness in the small things, and are often wise beyond their years. This is because you HAVE NO CHOICE BUT TO STAY POSITIVE. Even if you don't feel well, it takes more energy out of you to be in a bad mood. Those around you can feel that negative energy and it makes it harder for them to help when you absolutely need it.
Plus, having a positive in general will always help in the long run. I wear a smile even when I'm frustrated and wanna strangle someone at work. I still carry myself gracefully until I can get home and work out the stress. Because of this, my boss is attempting to fit me in where I can run around less and have to do a bit less hands on work with patients so I can make sure I am resting enough and not killing myself over keeping someone else alive. As nurses, we tend to forget to take care of ourselves because we're too busy taking care of others. But if we do find a place to set up an office for me at work, I can still help with my patients and not have to be as stressed about it. I can come and go as I please as long as I make my 40hour work week. So doctors appointments wont be hard to work around.
Really, positivity is the only chance you have at surviving a chronic illness. It's so exhausting being angry or mad or in denial all the time.
I'd prefer to die with a chronic illness on my shoulder than to die from the chronic illness itself. It's choosing to control something that others think controls you, and you do this by wearing a smile on your face and taking it one day at a time.
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