Finding Direction: The Wind Vane Chronicles

My autonomic vascular system has failed.

In laymen's terms, my blood vessels no longer constrict and open as they should due to my diabetes and my blood pressure plunges precipitously when I go from lying down to sitting to standing.  And the options to correct it are few and nebulous because of all of my other health problems.

This has been coming on for a few months, but Monday it apparently failed completely.  When I first got up, I was extremely lightheaded and could not even get dressed properly or get through the house.  My arms and legs began to shake uncontrollably and I fell twice, cracking my head and back, before I could get to the sofa to lie down.

I felt really bad and didn't try to get up again until about noon, when Tom came home for lunch, at which time I was able to get up for a few minutes and seemed okay.  But, I still felt bad and rested a couple more hours.

When I got up again about 3 p.m., I lost control and fell a third time, bruising my back and arms badly, so called Tom to come take me to the hospital E. R. in Slidell.  I couldn't function at all.

They admitted me and I spent the rest of the week bedridden while my internist and cardiologist ran numerous tests to try to determine and eliminate the cause of my nearly passing out when standing up at all.

They first did heart enzyme tests (3 blood tests) to see if my heart was involved (lacking in oxygen), but they were negative.  Then they kept doing orthostatic tests, which means that they kept checking my blood pressure while lying down, then sitting up, then standing.  Nothing helped.

Because of all of my health problems, including my congestive heart failure, there is only one medication that the cardiologist was able to try on me to raise my blood pressure when changing positions and it can only be taken on a limited basis each day during the day because it causes the systolic blood pressure (the higher one when you check your blood pressure) to go too high even when standing and for sure when you are lying down all night long sleeping.

I didn't start on it until noon Wednesday on a very low dose and since then we are trying to adjust it to the point where it will raise my blood pressure enough that I can function most of the time without raising it too high.

I wasn't released from the hospital until last night (Friday) until about 6 p.m. and so it was about 7 p.m. before we got home.  Tom and I were both wiped out and I was badly in need of a shower and to wash my hair.

I did that and then just what I had to do before watching TV for a while and then going to bed.

This is going to be a permanent condition and it is going to be very limiting, for at least a while.  I'm to take it easy for the next few days and not try to drive or get out walking a lot because I might pass out and fall again.

From now on I've got to sleep with my head elevated, wear support hose, at least on my lower legs, and move very slowly from a lying down or sitting position to standing up.  Like stand still for two or three minutes before trying to walk or move around.

Right now, I'm having to do orthostatic blood pressures (the 3 at a time from lying down to standing) at 8:30 a.m. and 3 p.m. and then check my blood pressure sitting down both at 5 p.m. and 10 p.m.  I'm taking the medication at 8:30 a.m. (5 mg.), 12:30 p.m. (2.5 mg) and again at 5 p.m., only if my systolic pressure (the upper number) is not over 150.

The 5 p.m. blood pressure and/or third dose of medication will probably be a permanent necessity, also, along with checking my blood sugars four or five times a day, thus necessitating me having to carry around everywhere not only my "sugar checker", but also my blood pressure monitor in the late afternoons and evenings.

This morning at 8:30 a.m. when I did my first orthostatic blood pressures and took my first pill my standing blood pressure was 85/53, which is really low for me and causes me to be very light headed.  At noon today, four hours after that dose, my standing blood pressure was still only 85/53, which is barely functioning.  I'm very concerned.

My blood pressures go up in the afternoon and have been the last two days in the evening, so it looks like, if this holds up, my functioning time in life from now on may only be in the afternoons and rest of the day.

I already have not been doing very well in the mornings, but have been able to get going most days by 9 a.m. or so.  Now, it looks like that's been pushed back until noon or after, so I can basically forget about mornings, except for probably sitting, which I can do in here in front of my computer and thus blog, etc, so that is a consolation of sorts.  Of course, it really limits what I'll be able to do in the mornings and that can be a huge drawback if I need to get out and go anywhere in the a.m.'s, like to fly out to see my mom in Abilene, which I had planned to do on Thursday!

This condition is going to be much more limiting than my diabetes with an insulin pump (the last 8 years) has been.  Tom had to call the airlines and cancel my reservation Wednesday, which is going to cost me $100 more to re-book sometime within the next year.  Not only that, I just don't see how I can fly anywhere any time soon because there's no way I can function all day long to try to catch planes and change planes, etc.  

I might be able to go if I can get help from the airlines with a wheelchair, so that I don't have to be standing and trying to maneuver through airports.  Of course, that means, also, allowing enough times between flights to make it from one terminal to another to fly from Dallas to Abilene.  Sometimes it is a very long hike.

I guess that's about it for now.  I'm sort of in a state of shock over all of this at the moment, I have to say, and it's weighing heavy on my mind and heart.  

Tom, as always, has been an absolute God send for me and never ever waivers in his love and dedication for me.  He has been constantly present and positive about everything, and I do mean everything, as we face this new phase of life together. 

His attitude is that whatever comes, we can and will handle it together, taking just one day at a time and coping for that day.

Today (Saturday) has been wonderful.  We slept in (I got up and took my medications at 8:30 a.m. and went back to bed, and have had a leisurely afternoon after I worked on some laundry, which was piled up, and worked on the house in all that needed to be done.

He has had a terribly sore foot (the ball of his left big toe) all week, and not only has it kept him awake all night with pain, it is swollen to where he can hardly get his shoe on.  He's been on his feet with work all week and coming back and forth to the hospital (20 miles from our home) to see about me and to bring me good lunches two days.  (The hospital food lacks a lot, to say the least.)

He has been staying off of his feet today and his foot is feeling much better.  He hopes that if he can rest tomorrow, as well, the ball of his foot will begin to heal.

We're a pair, I'll tell ya.

Poor guy had go leave a few minutes ago to go pick up just a few groceries for us because I'd been out of pocket all week.  But, he plans to grill a couple of steaks for us this evening and then we'll sit together on the back porch with blues music playing in the background, so that is my great evening to look forward to.

God has been my constant companion this week, as well as the encouragement of all of y'all's prayers and best wishes.  I taught Tom how to get into Finding Direction so he could do that post the other night and he was able to do it from his new cell phone from the hospital.  Isn't that really neat?!  He brought his laptop down from work, but the hospital isn't connected wirelessly, so I couldn't use to to do anything myself.  And, boy did I miss my computer this week.  I could have really used one to write blog posts and to read blogs, because I was bedfast and terribly bored.

Please continue to pray for both of us.  We both need prays in different, but integral ways.  Me to be able to gain stability in my functioning and he to minister to me.  And, of course, for his foot to get better, which it seems to be doing.

I'm sorry this is such a long post.  I hope that I've explained everything to where you can understand it.  The important thing is that I'm home and Tom and I are together and God is constantly with us through all.  I have overcome much before in my life over the years in a myriad of ways and God has never failed to help me in my need.  I have faced times before when I thought my life was basically over that made a turn for the better to the point that they didn't seem like such limitations at all.  I trust that this time will prove the same.

God bless you all for being such dear friends!  I will post again in a day or two, as I have time between blood pressure/blood sugar checks(!) and hope to hear from you all in the meantime.  

Much love,

Dee

Trackback URI | Comments RSS