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Caregiving Frustrations: When the stuff hits the fan!

Caregivers | Last Active: Sep 21, 2019 | Replies (34)

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@colleenyoung

Hi @bradmm , I wanted to check in to see how you're doing and your wife? Have you been able to shift the focus on the here and now?

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Replies to "Hi @bradmm , I wanted to check in to see how you're doing and your wife?..."

Sweet of you to ask! Yes, the focus has shifted to here and now but that's not looking so great at the moment. We got back from Belize in June and she apparently got a cold on the way back. Cold, turned into bronchitis which turned into pneumonia. She was in a great deal of pain from coughing. Along the way, her leg started hurting as much or more so, after 1 visit to PCP and not getting anything to help with her cough or pain (we're changing now!) I took her to ER three times and, on the final visit, she was admitted to hospital where we finally got an x-ray and later MRI of hip which showed that she had a fractured L5 vertebrae, presumably from coughing. Chest problems seem to be resolved but pain in her hip (which moves around because it's an aggrieved nerve causing the problem) is still ongoing. It's getting better but it's a slow process. In the middle of all that, I passed out while waiting in line at a sub shop. Refused ER to take me to hospital but went later on my own and spent the night wired to a monitor. Nothing found. Chose to go to a cardiologist just because I'm older, it made sense and he sent me to do a calcium score which is an indirect determinant of arteriosclerosis. It came back very high and at a very high risk which is VERY IRRITATING because, for 20 years at least, we have consciously eaten very healthy and I've exercised religiously 4-5x/wk. Both of us feel that we did nothing to cause these problems but they are likely genetic (or simply unexplained). So, yes, we're focusing on the here and now but it's not looking so good. We have each other and that's our main focus at the moment while we just deal with the rest. All we can do.