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colcolt

Part of the Furniture Now
Jun 11, 2012
856
0
About ten years ago I was diagnosed with very high cholesterol...over 250 and triglycerides over 550. After a regiment of about four different pills they finally hit on something that was working-Fenofibrate and Pravastatin. Not great but it did lower the bad and raise the "good" a little. It's been an ongoing battle.
Some seven years back I had to have an operation on my left leg due to no detectable pulse in my left foot. Turns out there was an eight inch blockage in the main artery. I had a nine inch piece of medical grade Teflon tubing bypassing that artery in that was the only option. I was put on Plavix and aspirin. More pills to take. Diagnosis was PAD(Peripheral Artery Disease) with intermittent claudication.
Several years back they diagnosed me with borderline diabetes and wanted to start me on some pill whose name doesn't come to mind and I refused. I told them to let me try controlling my diet first. I lost 35 pounds, got off so much bread and sweets, no regular cokes, pies, cakes, cookies, etc for nearly a year. My blood sugar went from 155 or so down to 92-110 as it is to this day.
Fast forward to 2009 and I was due for a hernia operation but due to being on aspirin and Plavix I had to come off those two for five days prior to the operation to prevent bleeding to death on the operating table. The morning I was to have the operation I got up, went down the hallway and a severe pain hit my left leg and I had to get to the emergency room. Being off the Plavix had caused blood clots and a stricture in my left calf so, yet another operation on that same leg I initially had the bypass surgery. I damn near lost my leg. Now I'm on not only aspirin and Plavix but Coumadin(Warfarin) as well.
For two years I had to go to the Coumadin Clinic for protime(PT or prothrombine) checks to see how my INR level was doing which had to be within a small deviation of 2.5-3.0. Test strips are expensive at about $15-20/ea. You don't want to screw up too many of those. Now I measure my INR myself with a meter that looks like a standard blood glucose meter on steroids and the strips are large and expensive.
Enjoy your youth, you guys that are under 60 as you never know what may hit you after that. All this happen to me at about 58 and I'm now 66.

 

sherlock

Can't Leave
Aug 21, 2011
464
6
I understand your pain. I had a kidney transplant when I was 22 and have had kidney problems since I was 9. Medicine can and doctors visits really add up, not to mention take up time. I just try to think of the alternative, anything is better than that.

 

jah76

Lifer
Jun 27, 2012
1,611
35
Colcott your right. I'm still in my mid thirties but I try and appreciate as much of every single day as I can. Its tough sometimes when you start focusing on what you don't have instead of what you do, but I've really been trying to be thankful and respectful for the things in my life.
Its good to be mindful.

 

colcolt

Part of the Furniture Now
Jun 11, 2012
856
0
I think I was probably at my physical best in my mid thirties. I had plenty of strength, stamina and endurance and seldom even took a Tylenol and just an occasional antibiotic. That sure changed over the years. I'm sure there are many on here that have infirmities of the flesh such as I and I feel your pain. But, you have to just keep keeping on and do whatever you have to do. Nevertheless, I'd sure like to be what I was in my mid thirties...forties, for that matter. I'm just glad I live in an age of such technological advances in medicine as I'm sure 50 years ago I'd probably be a goner by now.

 
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