Dealing with never-ending doctor visits

Rants are absolutely welcome here. This is the place to do it.

Welcome to getting old.
Before I turned 50, I felt about 30-ish - physically & mentally.
As soon as I turned 50, things started to fall apart. Until I was 40, I didn't even *have* a GP.
Now I'm on first-name basis with a bunch of doctors & surgeons.

It's horrible, but the reality is that the alternative is dying from cancer or whatever.
Around 35 000 guys die from prostate cancer each year - many due to late detection.
Easy to say, I know... but we should all be grateful that we have these health professionals keeping an eye on us.
The alternative is not good.
I'm on meds for high blood pressure & cholesterol. I'm incontinent & waiting for an artificial urinary sphincter.
But I'm alive to say that.

Think of the people you knew who didn't make it as far as you.
My mother died at 42.
I'm 60. I win.

Every day above ground is a good day.

I'm so sorry. My mom got anaplasmosis from a tick bite in the summer, and was sick for month, including afib (when she's always had a strong heart).

The good news is that when the afib started, the meds they put her on fixed it in 2–3 weeks, without the need for the planned cardioversion. Here's wishing the same for you.

And yes, it sucks when health issues cascade like a line of dominoes falling one after the other. Stick with it, and trust that there's another side where you can come out strong and your doctors stop worrying much about you — a number of us here in the forum have made it through to there.

Your itemized description covers most prostate cancer victims. We are keeping the doctors gainfully employed.

Was the drug they gave her Metoprolol? I am a little puzzled by What you wrote about cardioversion. They don’t let you go two or three weeks Staying on afib. Normally, they cardiovert it the first day.. do you mean the Afib kept coming back?

Over a year ago, I was in the hospital for four days with afib. They couldn’t Cardiovert me because my PCP had given me an antibiotic that had a four day half-life and screwed up the electrical charges in your heart. They did try to Cardiovert me the first day, and it didn’t work. On the third day gave me metoprolol and within about an hour the afib stopped.

Since then, I’ve spoken to a retired cardiologist friend and he told me he takes metoprolol whenever he feels his heart speeding up, Or if he’s under stress, Because it prevents afib, for him.

I had my doctor switch me from Coreg to Metropolol and it has resolved my heart rate rising unexpectedly and hopefully he prevents the next afib event.

@scottbeammeup I ended up in the hospital over the long weekend, completely ruining it, because I went into Afib which wouldn't stop, and which apparently can be triggered by anemia.

You have really awakened me to something I had never considered. My recent blood tests have shown very low RBC and HGB. Nobody ever mentioned to me that anemia could cause afib. Ever since taking abiraterone I have had a few afib events and when I start on a PARP inhibitor it will probably make me anemic. Now I gotta be concerned about it causing afib as well.

Thanks for the heads up

I don't know the details, but she'd been on strong antibiotics for the anaplasmosis before the afib started, so that might have affected the timing. The afib stopped for two days and then restarted, and then a few days later it stopped altogether and her heart went back into normal sinus rhythm.

You still get to do everything you describe regarding books, Food and Bird chirping appreciation… In between the annoying doctors visits, which may help you appreciate those moments under the tree even more, as they may feel a bit more sacred.

Hey Scott, Hear ya loud and clear! Just finished reading an article this AM by a hospice nurse who said that her dying patients’ greatest regret was that they never appreciated their health! But isn’t that the truth??
Many of us are on drugs we can’t even pronounce or have conditions we never heard of - let alone the “specialists” who only treat THAT disease…WTF??
But this is just another bump along the way, OK? Your Afib could be caused by a variety of things, not just anemia. And to say that it is caused by 5 sessions of targeted SBRT is ridiculous, IMO. You need a LOT of whole body exposure - or certainly more than that targeted to something as small as a prostate - to get anemia.
You might have low iron too, which is very common as we age, or low B12 levels. Hopefully this array of MDs will figure it out.
On a personal note, my wife consistently runs very high Potassium levels on her bloodwork. Her MD finally sent her to a kidney specialist who ran all kinds of blood and urine tests - even collecting all her urine in a 24 hr period. Guess what he found? NOTHING! He told her she was fine and simply ran high potassium. Duh??
So do what you gotta do, don’t get frustrated and remember that all those waiting rooms are filled with people just like you who would rather be gardening, playing pickleball or eating a bucket of Chicken Wings with a couple of beers…hang in there, bud..,

No problems with "ranting "

I am 69, at that age where some family and friends are not "here."

Somewhere around age 50 I had a discussion with my primary care physician during my annual physical.

We talked about growing old:

We agreed it was a "crap shoot," where genetics may cone into play, accidents...but there were things we could do to increase the quality and quantity:

Diet
Exercise
Managing stress
Social interactions
Activities

But most important, staying on top of one's health by seeing your medical team for regular checkups, vaccinations and when necessary, seeing specialists for specific issues.

I had Afib, medications didn't work, neither did the cardio version, the cardio ablation did.

I had DVTs and PEs

Cataracts, yep.

High BP, yep.

High cholesterol, yep.

In each case, seeing my medical team to address the issue has "solved" it.

I am grateful for the opportunity to be here, packed a lot of living into that time. Wife and I are planning vacations this year to Sedona, Lake Tahoe with our daughters and either Yellowstone or Door County in September. Heck, if the wife is up to, Niagara Falls in October.

I plan on skiing with friends in Colorado in late February. My sister and I are riding the Garmin Unbound in June.

Yeah, all these health issues despite a "healthy" lifestyle are annoying but, if you had asked a young me about what life would be at 65+, the answer likely would have been one of a nursing home, cane, walker...,

I am grateful for my "health," medical team, medical insurance and my financial ability to live this life.

Not all are so blessed.

Kevin

I get where you're coming from. Before my PCa diagnosis I went to the doctor once a year for my annual checkup. Maybe twice a year if I got sick with the flu or something. Then the PSA went up and had to go through all the pre diagnosis tests, some of them twice because of Incidental findings..... After surgery I've been blessed with only the routine PSA tests and all have been normal since surgery in August of 2022. Yes, each blood test bothers me as I not only dread the PCa return but all the testing that goes with it. But, we are blessed it is treatable. I truly hope your blood work returns to normal so you get a break. We all need a respite from doctors, but we do need them. You may want to schedule a vacation as soon as you can. I find it helpful to have a trip to look forward to. Good luck and this is definitely a great place to "rant". 😆