Snow...Again

It's very unusual to get two significant snow events in our state in the same week. But then, the weather has been so crazy this winter that I guess we shouldn't be surprised by anything. From day-to-day, we have 70 degree temps, then killer tornadoes, then wintry temps, followed by balmy days, followed by torrential rain, and then snow. It's a rollercoaster, but it's never dull.

It continues to snow this afternoon, so I took the opportunity to step outside to capture the photos above. I didn't venture off the front and back porches, since I don't want to risk falling. I don't need anything else to add to my current physical woes.

A Cardinal Day

It is snowing today, and the cardinals are flocking to the bird feeders. As usual, I can only capture the birds through the window of our sun room without scaring them away, which means the shots are not as sharp as I'd like, but they still manage to convey a winter-day story.

Master Gardener Program

Yesterday, the local Master Gardeners and a bank sponsored a program featuring an Extension Services horticulture specialist from our capital city. The event was scheduled from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., but was cut short by a winter storm that arrived earlier than expected.

I didn't feel up to sitting through a six-hour program, so Mother and Hubbie went early, and I joined them closer to lunchtime.

The event was held at one of our local colleges, just a mile or so from home. Considering the iffy weather, I was surprised at how many folks, especially folks from surrounding hilly communities, showed up.

Tables in the event room featured white table clothes, with napkins in light yellows, greens, blues and other spring colors, folded into shapes resembling flowers. At the "Go Red for Women" event, red napkins had been folded into the shapes of hearts. I wonder who the talented napkin folder is?

Small, live plants in decorated clay pots served as centerpieces, and became door prizes at the end of the event. Lunch, complements of the sponsoring bank, was catered by a local sandwich shop...deli turkey and Swiss cheese on a wheat hoagie bun for me. I cast aside the potato chips and cookie, of course, and opted for bottled water as my drink.

Lots of folks had heard about my bout in the hospital and came to my table to wish me well and ask lots of questions about my symptoms.

It began sleeting before lunch was over, and a few folks had received cell phone calls informing them that it was snowing pretty hard in their towns. After lunch, the speaker presented one more slide show before closing the program at 1 p.m. By then, quite a few folks had left, some of whom live about 40 miles away, in a mountain community accessed only by a narrow, winding, uphill road.

It was a brief outing for me, but it felt good to be among folks again. I'm not a gardener, but I still managed to learn a couple of things. For instance, we apparently have excellent mulch material in our yard....pine needles galore, and an endless supply sweet gum balls.

Heart Disease and Women

In a previous post, I noted that on February 13, Mother and I attended a "Go Red for Women" luncheon, sponsored by the American Heart Association and local businesses. The event was colorful, entertaining, and informative.

Part of the program included hearing from a heart disease survivor, an active, community-minded lady, who Mother and I know. She talked about watching her diet, and walking three miles a day for exercise. She was doing all the right things, it appeared, but at some point, she began experiencing fatigue. Finally, after caving in to her family's insistence that she see her doctor, she was diagnosed with coronary heart disease. A blocked artery required angioplasty to insert a stent. I remember thinking how lucky I was to have inherited my parents strong genes. Heart disease? Not in the cards for me, surely.



The next Tuesday, I was in the hospital. My symptom wasn't fatigue, though. I was energetic and up-and-at-'em all week...except for that nagging sensation in my left arm that came and went a couple of times a day and finally became so strong that it sent me to the emergency room.



The American Heart Association is doing a good job getting the information out that heart disease symptoms in women do not present the same as they do in men. Being aware of those symptoms possibly saved my life. Mine was simply a sensation in my left arm that radiated from my wrist to my elbow, then eventually to my shoulder, and then as light pressure against my upper chest, next to my neck, like the weight of a small book or magazine. The sensation became an insistent ache on the day that I finally relented and went to the emergency room.

My symptoms are included in the list below, along with others that women might experience as warning signs of heart disease. While in the hospital, I learned that one woman's warning sign was intense pain in her left elbow only. We were told that a man had an atypical warning sign...a hard pain in his left big toe.

So my advice to folks is that if you experience an unusual intense and persistent pain or discomfort (even if it comes and goes) that you've never felt before, see a doctor immediately. Symptoms can include:


Shortness of breath
Weakness
Unusual fatigue
Cold sweat
Dizziness
Pain or pressure in the back or high chest
Pain or discomfort in one or both arms
Discomfort may be described as pressure, ache, or tightness; may come and go
A burning sensation in the chest or upper abdomen
Irregular heartbeat
Nausea

Life's Unexpected Turn, Postscript

Life's unexpected turn means I must now turn in a new healthy-living direction. I was on the right track with diet and exercise, but I wasn't watching my sodium intake carefully enough. I was actually unaware of how high the sodium content is in many, many foods, particulary prepared foods. Our shelves at home are stacked with canned and boxed food items that are not safe for me to eat. We're now on a search for low sodium, and sodium-free products.

I'm also on the lookout for low-sodium, or sodium-free, but tasty, recipe ideas. Long ago, we stopped salting when cooking, and we began using lite salt at the table, but these measures were far from enough, since canned and boxed foods that we used in recipes still added unacceptable levels of sodium.

Dining out will present special obstacles. I haven't tried it yet, so I don't know if I dare eat anything beyond a salad at any of our local establishments. I'll have to ask around to see if any of the restaurants in our town can accommodate a special request for no-salt added when I order.

My challenge in the weeks to come will be to research, research, research. And learn to love a more bland diet in the meantime.

Life's Unexpected Turn, Part Nine

We left the heart hospital shortly after lunch on Saturday and arrived in our town midafternoon. I've never been so glad to see home. It's one thing to be glad to come back from a vacation, but it is quite another to arrive after a bout in a hospital.

My hat's off, though, to the excellent, skilled, and caring medical staff at the heart hospital. I wasn't crazy about submitting to the necessary procedures, but I was treated with respect, and I felt safe and secure in the knowledge that competent physicians, nurses, and aides, were carefully monitoring me.

Kitchen staff treat patients as guests of the hospital. Private rooms include room service menus that feature a decent choice of meal items. Of course, these foods are basically salt free, and no salt packets are served on the tray, but there are packets of seasoning blend and pepper. Trays arrive at the room with a knock on the door and a staff member announcing, "Room service."

I was particulary fond of the Egg Beater omelets. I think they might be the best thing on the menu. And, according to one of the nurses, they are only offered to patients.

Two of my meals came with live orchid blossoms as garnishments. They were beautiful, and I saved them atop wet paper towels placed in a styrofoam cup. I even brought them home with me, where they remained lovely for several days.

Room service was not the only way to obtain food. Throughout the day and evening, nurses and aides frequently asked if they could bring me juices, diet drinks, tea or coffee, and snack foods, like turkey sandwiches, graham crackers and peanut butter, healthy trail mix, etc. I took advantage of juice breaks in the afternoon, and snack times in the evening.

Even with all this special attention, I was still so very glad to be home again.

Life's Unexpected Turn, Part Eight

Back in my room after the procedure, I was taken off the nitroglycerin drip and carefully monitored throughout the day and night.

Son and daughter-in-law stayed around until after lunch, when Son had to return to work. Later in the day, after work, my daughter, younger son, and entourage of family visited. I had insisted that family members go to their jobs and only visit after work.

Younger Son and Grandson did drop by for a visit on their work break Thursday, since both were working on a construction job nearby.

I had not called or had Hubbie call anyone outside of family during the days of my hospitalization. In fact, I didn't even call family until after I'd arrived at the capital city heart hospital Wednesday evening.

During Tuesday and Wednesday, Mother was home alone with our dog. I thought about asking the daughter-in-law who doesn't work outside the home to come stay with Mother, but once Sis learned of my problem, she immediately drove to our town to stay with Mother until I could return home. I wanted to avoid anyone having to miss work because of me, but Sis was determined to help out. Knowing that she was here, though, meant that I could relax and not worry about the homefront.

Friday night, after family left, was long, of course, but I was cheered by the prospect of going home Saturday morning.

Life's Unexpected Turn, Part Seven

Friday morning, my son and daughter-in-law came to be with Hubbie while I was having the angioplasty procedure done. They walked beside the gurney on the way to the procedure room. Their eyes were on me, but mine were on the ceiling. I noticed that the flourescent light covers featured blue sky with fluffy white clouds. I pointed them out to everyone, and the young man wheeling the gurney said he didn't know quite how to take the designs. I took them as a reminder of happy, sunshiny days. Maybe he saw them as a reminder that we will all very soon rush heavenward.

With kisses and hugs, we parted (family, that is...not the gurney guy), as I was wheeled into the arctic-cold room. I couldn't stop shivering...maybe partly from the cold, maybe partly from fear of the unknown.

Several people scurried about attending me and preparing me for the procedure. When one of the young women noticed me shivering, she brought a heated blanket and layed it over my chest and arms. I was immediately soothed.

Peppy music played in the background, and I noticed the two very young nurses practicing dance moves as they awaited instructions. The site of the procedure was thoroughly scrubbed with an antiseptic solution, and I was given a dose of some sort of relaxant through my IV. Within moments, I was in a twilight zone.

The doctor arrived and quickly went about his task. I remember babbling questions that were ignored, until the doctor ordered more relaxant for me. He was trying to shut me up, maybe?

The procedure lasted 20 or 30 minutes, after which I was taken back to my room.

Life's Unexpected Turn, Part Six

If I counted right, over the course of three days, three blood thinner shots were administered directly into the fatty tissue of my stomach. Ouch.

Thursday night drug on...and on...and on, with nurses and nurse's assistants coming and going constantly. They drew blood. They weighed me. They recorded vitals. They brought a multitude of meds. They checked my water input and my urine output. They checked for swelling in my ankles. Someone came and X-rayed my heart. Someone else came and did an ultrasound of my heart.

Friday morning, I had a nose bleed from all the blood thinners, but no one seemed concerned. I was given a wet washcloth and told to squeeze my nostrils together until it stopped. It finally eased, but I was still holding the washcloth when I was...finally!!...wheeled to the procedure room a little after 9 a.m. Friday morning.

Life's Unexpected Turn, Part Five

If Tuesday night seemed long, Wednesday seemed even longer. The catheter test was performed around 9 a.m., after which I lay still for six hours. It's quite an adventure trying to eat lunch lying prone. Fluids are especially challenging, even with a straw.

It was around 4:00 p.m. before paramedics arrived with an ambulance to transport me to our capital city's heart hospital. My husband had returned home to gather what he thought I'd need for the next couple of days, and arrived back at the hospital just in time to follow the ambulance on our hour and a half trip. This was my very first ride in an ambulance.

Of course, by the time I arrived at the hospital, and was strung back up to drips and monitors, and had blood drawn, etc., it was past the kitchen's usual delivery time, but Hubbie was able to go to the cafeteria and pick up meals before the kitchen closed at 6 p.m.

Sometime after we'd eaten, there was a shift change, and a male nurse attended me. His first duty was to inform me that the doctor who was to perform my procedure would not be able to do it Thursday morning as anticipated, because he was already completely scheduled for the day.

Later, the doctor visited me to ask the same questions I felt I'd been asked 100 times since my arrival at the ER in my hometown. He reiterated that he would not be able to perform the procedure Thursday morning.

I was very disappointed. This would mean a very long Wednesday night, followed by a very, very long Thursday and Thursday night, before the procedure could be performed around 9 a.m. Friday morning.

I'm a very active person, so idling is not a happy time for me.

Life's Unexpected Turn, Part Four

At our local hospital, I was put in a semi-private room, next to an elderly lady with Alzheimer's Disease, who made what I thought were loud moaning noises. I was afraid she was in pain, but the nurse assured me she was only chanting.

When the heart doctor on staff visited me, he decided that I wouldn't get any rest that night with all that moaning going on, and he ordered the nurse to move the poor lady to another room. It was accomplished, and another, middle-aged lady was moved in. She kept to herself, quietly.

I napped on and off, but as anyone knows who has ever been to a hospital, there is not much rest to be had with nurses running in and out taking vitals, and drawing blood, etc.

It was a long night.

Life's Unexpected Turn, Part Three

The emergency room heart doctor spent quite a bit of time interviewing me about my lifestyle, and seemed pleased with my diet and exercise routines, among other things. He said making healthy choices will probably serve me well in recuperation and rehabilitation. I hope so.

Of course, I'd hoped that making those choices was going to spare me from heart disease in the first place, but that was not to be. Who knows...maybe my heart episode would have been even more serious if I'd been in poor physical shape.

I can't know why I have heart disease. I lost a half brother to a heart attack recently, and another half brother also has heart disease, so maybe my problem is genetic. Neither my mother, nor my late father, have (or were) plagued by heart disease, and I was hoping that I'd drawn from their gene pool. But apparently I did not.

An overnight stay in a hospital gives a person plenty of time to think. I concluded that I have no choice but to accept my health problem, deal with it intelligently and prayerfully, and get on with living.

Life's Unexpected Turn, Part Two

I arrived at our local hospital's emergency room frightened and desperate, hoping against hope that the pain in my arm was not what I now feared...heart disease.

The receptionist, upon hearing my symptoms, sent me quickly to the admitting nurse, who took my temperature and blood pressure, and asked specific questions about my symptoms. She didn't tell me at the time, but my BP was off the charts. However, the pain in my arm was dissipating and was completely gone by the time I was ushered to an ER bed. From then until I returned home four days later, I never had another pain. My prayer had been answered.

This time, an electrocardiogram revealed an abnormality. Blood was drawn. I was hooked up to a nitroglycerin drip. I was given a shot of blood thinner. All sorts of things were happening that unnerved me. But I had no pain.

It was determined that I needed a catheter test Wednesday morning to see what was going on with my heart. The procedure wasn't bad, since I was given a sedative that sent me to La La Land...not asleep, but in a dreamlike state. The worst part of the test was having to keep my right leg absolutely still for six hours afterwards.

The results were that I had a 95% blockage in one of my arteries that would require angioplasty and a stent.

The heart doctor on duty that night visited me to interview me about my lifestyle and to let me know I'd need a procedure to open the blocked artery. He told me that the doctor who performs that procedure was in Hawaii on vacation, and so he was sending me by ambulance to a hospital in our state's capital city. I'd be going sometime Wednesday afternoon.

Life's Unexpected Turn, Part One

On Tuesday, February 19, life took an unexpected turn that sent me to the emergency room of our local hospital.

For about a week, I'd been having strange sensations in my arm, beginning in my wrist and radiating to my elbow. I thought it might be a pinched nerve from exercises that used my arms, like treading water at the swimming pool, or upper body workouts with the crosswalk arms of my treadmill, or even holding my arms at shoulder height during ballroom dancing. In desperation, I even removed the rings on my left hand, reasoning (irrationally) that they might be hitting a nerve.

But as the days rolled on, the sensation became more frequent and insistent. I stopped exercising on the treadmill, thinking a little rest would do the trick. It didn't.

On Monday morning, I went to water aerobics, as usual. I was in the pool only minutes before the sensation returned. A fellow swimmer noticed, but I denied there was anything serious going on. Nevertheless, I left the pool and returned home, where I called for an appointment with my primary physician.

She did an electrocardiogram, which appeared normal. And then she scheduled me for a treadmill stress test on the following Wednesday afternoon. She cautioned me to go immediately to the hospital emergency room if I experienced anything else unusual.

On Tuesday, I went about my business. Mother and I got haircuts at our local beauty salon, and then enjoyed a visit that included tea and coffeecake at a friend's house.

Throughout the days, I'd prayed that if it was God's will, please let the sensation in my arm go away. During supper Tuesday night, He sent His answer. Not a sensation this time, but a powerful and pervasive ache beginning in my wrist, making it's way to my elbow, and then to my shoulder...an ache that would not go away, so strong that it could not be denied or ignored, and that would leave no doubt that I needed to go to the hospital emergency room.

I arrived at the ER around 6 p.m., and the adventure began.