Drinking Problem

I bet that got your attention. I do post a lot of pictures that include alcohol as our weekend activities often include our favorite beverages. I'm don't often drink alcohol during the week, except the occasional Thursday night. That's when we meet folks from Paul's work for "Teambuilding".

My drinking problem is with good 'ol H2O. I don't drink enough of it. Water. I never have. During this past couple weeks, not drinking enough water has taken its toll. I was recovering from an illness and became dehydrated. Now I have a knot in my calf that won't go away. I'm suffering from other things like foot cramps too.Yuck.

I read an article recently that said that women don't hydrate enough - especially as they age. That causes dehydration. Dehydration is the reason many women fall. Two of my dear friends' mothers have fallen in the past year. Those falls have had severe consequences! A broken hip and nerve damage. I feel so badly for my friends' mommas and their families. They are in good hands now as they rehab in good facilities.

I've never been a water drinker. I usually have water available - for just in case! But subconsciously I don't want to drink it up.

• I don't feel thirsty
• Then it will be gone
• I will need to pee
• I'll need to refill my bottle with water that tastes bad

I know, pretty weak! Except for the not thirsty thing. That one is tough. It doesn't seem to be a problem on Friday night during cocktail hour! 

I haven't been working out with my trainer since I got back from Florida - recovering from illness. I'm booked for Monday. This leg thing isn't going to help. I hope the workout helps the leg! Torie, my trainer told me about an "app" I could download on my phone to help remind me to drink water. Today I did that. I'll need to drag a water bottle around more. I try to avoid single-use plastic bottles whenever I can. But bad-tasting water can stop me from drinking water when away from home. 

The app I downloaded is Drink Water. I put in my gender and weight and it figured how much I need to drink. The app reminds me every 45 minutes during my waking hours. We'll see how this goes towards building a good drinking habit! Wish me luck. Sip, sip.

Non Goiter Graves

Les
 

The good news...what I have is curable with treatment. And I don't have a goiter. Or any kind of growth according to Dr. Doelle, the doc I saw Monday at the University of Iowa Specialty Clinic. He reminded me a little bit of Les Nessman, the nerdy guy on the retro sitcom WKRP in Cincinnati. But he inspired much more confidence.



Dr. Doelle

I liked Dr. Doelle. He spent quite a bit of time with Paul and me, answering all our questions. I'm afraid I got a bit emotional - it's been a long few months a feeling kinda crappy ya'll. Describing my symptoms made me sad. Dr. Doelle listened carefully. I could see his wheels spinning as he considered just what the hell might be wrong with me. He wanted to get another blood test before making his final diagnosis. But it was looking like Graves' disease.

That's a scary word - disease. So when Dr. Doelle called me today after I got home from work to confirm the diagnosis, he was sure to reassure me by saying, "this is curable with treatment." First with a prescription - Methimazole. Long term I'll likely need to decide the best way to kill my thyroid - with radioactive pill or with surgery. Then I'll replace my thyroid with meds.

I'm looking forward to feeling better! I'm sharing this so that if any of my relatives or others have symptoms...they will not waste many months feeling crazy and lost as I did. Dr. Doelle said this is hereditary in the sense that it was probably in my body...and then something set it off. Like many things - they don't know why. My symptoms are:

• frequent bowel movements - which had been coming on for a while. But it's gotten ridiculous. I had even tried to Google that...but came up with nothing. I didn't try to get medical help until I got painful cramps to go with them.
• pounding heart - mine has been masked since I take the Beta Blocker Atenolol for migraine prevention. I can hear it in my ears. It now still beats funky sometimes.
• poor heart tolerance - I thought that was just menopause
• swelling legs - that has been infrequent, but scary when it happened
• anxiety - I was sure I had bowel cancer, and spent many hours worrying about that. I've always been a fretter, but not to that extent
• sleep problesm - not sure about that. I slept pretty well until this should froze...
• Muscle cramps - is that what caused my abdominal problems? I've had feet cramps that are very painful.
• There are other Graves' symptoms that I've not had, thank goodness 

After my appointment in Iowa City, Paul and I walked around Kinnick Stadium. They grow corn there by the stadium. It's actually right by the hospital. I remember attending a few games there - some long ago, when I was actually a Hawkeye fan!

Here I am making a C for Cyclone - just in case you didn't know...





Dr. Wilcox and his black leather bag

I've had some health issues this summer and fall. One night, as I couldn't sleep due to this darn shoulder, I thought about health care. How does it stack up today vs. health care back in the day. I'm not one of those people who constantly reminisces about the "good old days" selectively weeding out the bad stuff. Because face it...there always was some... and there always will be! But here's what I know.

In small town Iowa our docs knew us from birth. And they cared. If you had a good doctor, like I believe ours was, you were in good hands. I remember Dr. Wilcox coming to our house and examining me in our formal living room. He took my temperature and gave me a shot in the butt - probably penicillin. He had a wonderful leather doctor's bag - similar to Mary Poppin's bag. I bet that thing held a little bit of everything! But back then...flu shots hurt like HELL. My sister still refuses to get them - traumatized from our childhood. (see, bad stuff)

Atlantic was blessed with good doctors. In fact even today as I visited my surgeon's office at DMOS, there was a picture on the wall of Matt Weresh - another orthopedic surgeon in that practice (not a shoulder guy). His dad John Weresh was an A-town doc. And for a Creston connection, I believe John's parents are buried at Calvary - the Catholic Cemetery in Creston. Another doc at DMOS - Devon Goetz, son of Larry, former Creston doctor.

Of course Dwain Wilcox's daughter Tressa went back to Atlantic to practice medicine herself. She treated Dad. It says a great deal about the profession and the parent that those children wished to follow in their footsteps...What does it say that neither Amy nor Jud have chosen to follow Paul and me into public service. haha. I don't blame them - it's not what it once was.

Our children were brought up with family doctors too - no house calls though. Sometimes for emergencies I would get Dr. Gandhi - who had an Indian accent. That was rough over the phone when one had a child with ear infection! Marty Meindl - was a pediatrician in Creston when we first moved to town. Mark Young practiced there and was our family doctor. He delivered Jud. Mark was the husband of someone I knew in college - small world!

The best thing about small town healthcare? The nurses. They would get to know you - and you them! Barb from Dr. Hoyt's office became a friend. I miss her!

Especially now. I call nurses who don't know me and don't seem to care as much as those who did. With the new medical software - which I think will be a good thing eventually - I dislike how the nurse spends her time facing a computer screen away from me. It's so impersonal! I think they'll eventually correct this with better computers - iPads? Besides taking my blood pressure, they hardly look at me. Ick.

Now I'm awaiting a specialists office to deem me worthy of a phone call. Really? Hmm think I'll shop around. Sigh. I miss Dr. Wilcox.

Weird weather June

This has been a strange spring. It has been fairly cold. Unless it's been really hot. There have been very few "perfect" days where one doesn't need a coat or isn't sweating. I've hardly sat on the deck.

Usually one has a nice few weeks where there aren't yet a lot of bugs. This year they're out in force already. It has rained a lot. Today it absolutely poured whilst I was driving to my dermatology appointment. It was hard to see, and windy too.

I'm happy to report my skin check went fine. Doc Ava Feldman didn't see any pre-cancers this year. A first! I did ask her about the crusty bumps (non-cancerous). She told me she could take eight (8) off for a mere $200, but doesn't recommend doing that during summer as it's best not to have sun exposure after doing that. What a gal!

Last week I saw former Crestonite Sheryl Young ARNP for my annual physical. I like seeing Sheryl, she's very personable and knows my fam. She thought I seemed depressed!?! Not sure what that was about. Maybe I need a vacation...

Had my blood work drawn in Creston on Friday. That cheery woman did it. If you are from Creston, you know the one. She's anything but cheery. Talk about depressed. She's been reprimanded in the past due to her attitude. She wasn't bad this visit, just not cheery. That's okay. I don't like fake cheer either...

Mammogram is set up for the 24th. Tit in a wringer day definite won't make me cheery