For the first time since my open heart surgery, I woke up with two knees that looked like water balloons. Boy, was I ever surprised and a little scared. This means that my heart is not yet healed enough to prevent fluid retention.
Dr. Blake cut back drastically on my diuretics and I guess it was just too much of a reduction at one time. It seems that I'm one of those people that needs to reduce diuretics gradually.
I talked to Dr. Blake's nurse about my water balloons, and she said to try taking the Furosemide (a powerful diuretic) every other day instead of once a day. I'm to continue with the Spironolactone (a milder, potassium saving diuretic) as before.
A question that is bothering me is, what do heart patients do when they are not at all familiar with various medications or their own heart conditions. Most heart patients are older, and many of them do not know how to use the Internet to gather pertinent information. Often, I fear, they do not recognize telltale signals that could be life threatening.
While I was at New Heart Rehabilitation doing my rehab exercises a couple of days ago, I heard the dietician trying to explain to a recent heart attack patient the difference between his heart rate and his glucose level. My God! He thought they were the same thing. How does this man manage all the instructions and medicines? My guess is that he doesn't.
I've been fortunate in that I've been closely monitored, almost on a weekly basis, ever since my open heart surgery. I know for a fact that many heart surgery patients do not get seen nearly that frequently.
Our newest saltwater fish, a gorgous powder blue tang, died last night. Kathy and Judy gave her to us when they were here; we are so very sad. It looked like it had a little Ich, but that shouldn't have killed it. Maybe the change from its natural habitat to our tank was just too much for it.
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