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I have updates on the health issues I discussed in the previous post. My dad was out of the hospital Tuesday last week (later in the day that I made that post), and had a meeting on Thursday with a specialist of some sort to help figure out what the problem is. This past Monday, he became too weak to stand from a sitting position, so they brought him down to the hospital in Boston. However, they have finally made progress: they've learned that there's a past history of some patients having this reaction to a particular medication he's been taking - it's rare, but it is documented. Apparently they've also definitively ruled out infection, cancer, and other causes. So now they're going to transition him off that medication, and then he'll be in some kind of (physical) rehab program for a bit. This all sounds good, hopefully he'll be back to normal - as normal as things are, being an almost-15-year heart transplant survivor - soon.
My anxiety symptoms eventually went away - I think it was Wednesday that for most of the day I just had the tension and tingliness in my head, but definitely by Thursday I seemed to be mostly back to normal. However, I did make an appointment for a general physical, and had that done Friday morning. I checked out generally okay, in particular my blood pressure rating was good and my cholesterol was great. I had a tetanus booster, which left me feeling tired and headachy through Sunday. I discussed the apparent anxiety problem with the doctor, explaining that's what prompted me to make the appointment (although I'd been meaning to have a physical for months), and he discussed options of medication and therapy. As these events seem to be just once a year or less, I felt I'd rather hold off on getting into medication or therapy for now, but if I still seem to be having problems over the next month or so then I'm supposed to get back in touch with the doctor. I'm also supposed to get back to the doctor in a month for another problem - my throat feels like it never really recovered from the cold I had back at the end of October, it's just felt slightly scratchy and irritated since then. He took a swab to check for strep, although that was rather unlikely; if it's still bothering me, he said he'd check for other infections, but it's more likely to be an acid reflux problem, which is definitely something I occasionally suffer from. In all, though, I seem to be basically healthy, and I probably just need to get some regular exercise in.
In other matters, today is the sixth anniversary of my arrival in Seattle. Like last year, I did not do anything special today to mark the occasion, but I do still like to take note of it in the journal (as you can tell). Recently I was asked, in the context of life in general, "are you happy where you are?" I'm not fully satisfied with the state of my life yet, but taking the "where" part of the question literally, yes, I am happy where I am, here in Seattle, and rather pleased that I've been able to say that each year for the past six. I'm looking forward to saying it again next year, and the next, and the next...
My anxiety symptoms eventually went away - I think it was Wednesday that for most of the day I just had the tension and tingliness in my head, but definitely by Thursday I seemed to be mostly back to normal. However, I did make an appointment for a general physical, and had that done Friday morning. I checked out generally okay, in particular my blood pressure rating was good and my cholesterol was great. I had a tetanus booster, which left me feeling tired and headachy through Sunday. I discussed the apparent anxiety problem with the doctor, explaining that's what prompted me to make the appointment (although I'd been meaning to have a physical for months), and he discussed options of medication and therapy. As these events seem to be just once a year or less, I felt I'd rather hold off on getting into medication or therapy for now, but if I still seem to be having problems over the next month or so then I'm supposed to get back in touch with the doctor. I'm also supposed to get back to the doctor in a month for another problem - my throat feels like it never really recovered from the cold I had back at the end of October, it's just felt slightly scratchy and irritated since then. He took a swab to check for strep, although that was rather unlikely; if it's still bothering me, he said he'd check for other infections, but it's more likely to be an acid reflux problem, which is definitely something I occasionally suffer from. In all, though, I seem to be basically healthy, and I probably just need to get some regular exercise in.
In other matters, today is the sixth anniversary of my arrival in Seattle. Like last year, I did not do anything special today to mark the occasion, but I do still like to take note of it in the journal (as you can tell). Recently I was asked, in the context of life in general, "are you happy where you are?" I'm not fully satisfied with the state of my life yet, but taking the "where" part of the question literally, yes, I am happy where I am, here in Seattle, and rather pleased that I've been able to say that each year for the past six. I'm looking forward to saying it again next year, and the next, and the next...
