Today Mom and I made an unscheduled visit to the lung doctor (Dr. Iatredes). He took two x-rays and ran her through two breathing tests; how much air she could blow out - lung capacity, how much saturated oxygen was in her system. She was compromised on both tests.
1. She has some kind of congestion in the left lower lung. I'd say it looks like 1/6-1/5 of the lung is cloudy.
2. Her saturated oxygen levels were low after 3 minutes of walking so he has put her on oxygen for when she sleeps and or is going to move about for more than 3 minutes.
3. He has her on 8 days of prednisone in case this is allergy related.
4. A 3 tier barium swallow is scheduled for Wednesday to see if there is an obstruction in the esophogus (or what happens when she swallows) which is routing some food particles into her lung. It takes three different kinds of swallows. Thin fluid, medium fluid, thick fluid. This will be done this coming Wednesday, May 22.
5. He does not think it is heart related and he could see no reminants of the pneumothorax.
We will see Dr. Iatredes for follow-up on Nov. 3rd
Monday, October 20, 2008
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
October Update on Mom
Well, a lot has transpired since I last posted. Mom had her pacemaker put in. She also got a pneumothorax as a result of a nick in her lung allowing air to get into her chest space. This means she got air between her lung and lung sac. As of today, however
The air in her lung sac is gone
Her pacemaker was adjusted from a 60 beat per minute to a 70 beat per minute pace. This means that her heart will never go below 70 beats per minute.
Doctor Cohen changed her prescription. He has deleted one 25 mgToporal XL and replaced it with Verapamil which is the lowest dose med. and a diuretic which she is to take in the morning. I need to give him a call as Mom/Karen/Mary don't think she is retaining water.
From the question list:
Mom can sleep on any side she wishes.
The extreme pain she experienced the night she came home was probably the air leak pressing on her lung. That is gone now and she has no pain.
She can now shower whenever she wants. Swimming pool next week when the last little corner of the incision is healed.
The light-headedness, floaty feeling and shortness of breath is a result of three things:
Doctor Cohen hopes that the additional meds will take care of the heart issues otherwise, he stated again, that Mom is a candidate for ablation, which means he would cauterize a spot on her heart and she would be totally dependent upon the pacemaker. I asked him about risk and he said that 1 in 5000 have problems and yes, he has had some patients die. An ablation would, however, stop the AF and have her tick just like clockwork. Obviously this is something that can be discussed down the road if necessary.
Mom's coumadin levels went from 1.3 to 2.3 in one week. We will check it again next week, the 22. On the 23 we will see the lung doctor. We will see Cohen again on Nov. 12.
Mom can drive, lift her arm and, in general do what she wants but she shouldn't be lifting heavy objects for a while yet.
Dr. Cohen said it took him 2 months to get his energy back after a small pneumonia last year. So Mom should be patient with getting her energy back as hers was a bit larger than his.
The air in her lung sac is gone
Her pacemaker was adjusted from a 60 beat per minute to a 70 beat per minute pace. This means that her heart will never go below 70 beats per minute.
Doctor Cohen changed her prescription. He has deleted one 25 mgToporal XL and replaced it with Verapamil which is the lowest dose med. and a diuretic which she is to take in the morning. I need to give him a call as Mom/Karen/Mary don't think she is retaining water.
From the question list:
Mom can sleep on any side she wishes.
The extreme pain she experienced the night she came home was probably the air leak pressing on her lung. That is gone now and she has no pain.
She can now shower whenever she wants. Swimming pool next week when the last little corner of the incision is healed.
The light-headedness, floaty feeling and shortness of breath is a result of three things:
- The pneumonia which can take a long time to return to health
- The Atrial Fibrillation - which means that when the heart does the extra ta-da's the blood is not sent out of the heart and thus there is a reduction in oxygenated blood to her organs
- The fast heartbeat which wooshes blood through her system too fast and thus, isn't oxygenated enough.
Doctor Cohen hopes that the additional meds will take care of the heart issues otherwise, he stated again, that Mom is a candidate for ablation, which means he would cauterize a spot on her heart and she would be totally dependent upon the pacemaker. I asked him about risk and he said that 1 in 5000 have problems and yes, he has had some patients die. An ablation would, however, stop the AF and have her tick just like clockwork. Obviously this is something that can be discussed down the road if necessary.
Mom's coumadin levels went from 1.3 to 2.3 in one week. We will check it again next week, the 22. On the 23 we will see the lung doctor. We will see Cohen again on Nov. 12.
Mom can drive, lift her arm and, in general do what she wants but she shouldn't be lifting heavy objects for a while yet.
Dr. Cohen said it took him 2 months to get his energy back after a small pneumonia last year. So Mom should be patient with getting her energy back as hers was a bit larger than his.
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