Bob had an appointment with the cardiologist today. The results of the thallium stress test indicate that his carotid artery may be having a/some problems. Two of the three arteries have been totally blocked for a long time (neither of us was aware of there being 3 with 2 blocked - Galli was not Bob's original cardiologist). Those are the two lesser arteries. At some time after the replacement of the ICD, they will have him in for an angioplasty to determine what is really going on with that artery.
Bob asked him about the urinary problem he is having. Dr. Galli said he would suspect a possible bladder infection. So he gave Bob a form to take to the lab for a urinalysis and some blood work. Dr. Galli called here just before 6:30pm to say that the lab tests confirm that Bob has a bladder infection. He wanted to know if Bob could take Cipro. Bob has taken it in the past, so Galli wanted to know which pharmacy to send the order to. Our regular pharmacy is not open this time of day so I had him direct it to Walgreens at Fremont Ave. and Mary Ave. where we have had some prescriptions filled. Since Bob will start taking the Cipro today, Galli figures the infection should be sufficiently under control by Monday that they can go ahead with the ICD replacement.
Shortly after Galli's call I headed out for Walgreens. Of course they had not had time to fill the prescription when I got there but they said it would only be about 10 minutes since the order was in their computer. Well, it was closer to 20 min. but that was not a problem. I was interested in getting Bob started on the Cipro as soon as possible.
Bob is not back to where he was when his #4 daughter arrived but he is highly interested in getting back to the point where he has the stamina to do a little walking down the sidewalk (with his oxygen) and build his muscles back to where they were.
Sunday, June 19, 2011
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
Health update
Monday morning last week, Bob had an appointment with the nephrologist. His kidney function is sufficiently stable that Dr. Zargahmee said to make the next appointment for 6 months out instead of the usual 3 or 4 months between visits.
That afternoon Bob had an appointment with Dr. Saw the pulmonologist who has taken over Dr. Beck's practice since Dr. Beck retired at the end of December. Dr. Saw highly recommended that Bob start exercising again. Bob seems to like Dr. Saw and will probably start doing some exercise when the weather improves. Dr. Saw recommended starting out slowly since Bob has not been doing any exercising for several months.
Wednesday last week Bob had an appointment with the hearing aid guy to take new ear impressions for his hearing aids because he was having so much trouble with the aids. Robert was unable to do the impressions because of the amount of wax in both of the ears. He said Bob would have to have the wax removed before he could help Bob in any way. He also recommended that Bob have the wax removed every 6 months on a regular basis.
Thursday Bob had an appointment at the cardiologist's office to have his INR checked. It was in the proper range so no change in his dosage of warfarin.
Monday morning Bob had the wax removed from his ears. The doc had some difficulty getting the wax out of the right ear because it was so badly impacted. The hearing aid place at Costco does not open until 10 am. So I called at 10 to see when Robert could do the impressions. Fortunately, someone had cancelled an appointment so we went to Costco at 11:30. So the impressions have been sent off to get new ear inserts made for Bob's hearing aids.
Today Bob had an appointment with the dermatologist. Dr. Cho froze a few spots on Bob's arm and then had a long discussion with him about all the spots on his head, face, and neck. He could freeze all the spots every few months or he could give Bob a prescription for some chemotherapy creme to apply for 2 weeks and then come back for an evaluation. If the creme bothers him too much he can call the doc and stop the creme but would then need to have the spots frozen plus there are 2 spots on his head that would need to be biopsied. Bob decided that he would try the 2 weeks of creme. So Dr. Cho sent an email (fax?) to our local pharmacy for the chemotherapy creme.
We ran an errand on our way home from Dr. Cho's office. After we were home I called the pharmacy to see if they had received the order. They had, but they do not have it in stock. However, they can have it available in the morning. That will work out just fine because we have some of this particular creme left over from when Bob had the first chemotherapy creme last year and it won't expire until Dec. of this year.
So, starting tonight I will be applying the creme using the method suggested by the doc. Theoretically this creme will have fewer side effects than the 2nd, stronger creme had that Bob used last year.
That afternoon Bob had an appointment with Dr. Saw the pulmonologist who has taken over Dr. Beck's practice since Dr. Beck retired at the end of December. Dr. Saw highly recommended that Bob start exercising again. Bob seems to like Dr. Saw and will probably start doing some exercise when the weather improves. Dr. Saw recommended starting out slowly since Bob has not been doing any exercising for several months.
Wednesday last week Bob had an appointment with the hearing aid guy to take new ear impressions for his hearing aids because he was having so much trouble with the aids. Robert was unable to do the impressions because of the amount of wax in both of the ears. He said Bob would have to have the wax removed before he could help Bob in any way. He also recommended that Bob have the wax removed every 6 months on a regular basis.
Thursday Bob had an appointment at the cardiologist's office to have his INR checked. It was in the proper range so no change in his dosage of warfarin.
Monday morning Bob had the wax removed from his ears. The doc had some difficulty getting the wax out of the right ear because it was so badly impacted. The hearing aid place at Costco does not open until 10 am. So I called at 10 to see when Robert could do the impressions. Fortunately, someone had cancelled an appointment so we went to Costco at 11:30. So the impressions have been sent off to get new ear inserts made for Bob's hearing aids.
Today Bob had an appointment with the dermatologist. Dr. Cho froze a few spots on Bob's arm and then had a long discussion with him about all the spots on his head, face, and neck. He could freeze all the spots every few months or he could give Bob a prescription for some chemotherapy creme to apply for 2 weeks and then come back for an evaluation. If the creme bothers him too much he can call the doc and stop the creme but would then need to have the spots frozen plus there are 2 spots on his head that would need to be biopsied. Bob decided that he would try the 2 weeks of creme. So Dr. Cho sent an email (fax?) to our local pharmacy for the chemotherapy creme.
We ran an errand on our way home from Dr. Cho's office. After we were home I called the pharmacy to see if they had received the order. They had, but they do not have it in stock. However, they can have it available in the morning. That will work out just fine because we have some of this particular creme left over from when Bob had the first chemotherapy creme last year and it won't expire until Dec. of this year.
So, starting tonight I will be applying the creme using the method suggested by the doc. Theoretically this creme will have fewer side effects than the 2nd, stronger creme had that Bob used last year.
Monday, January 31, 2011
Breathless
We went to 8:30 mass yesterday morning and after mass one of the parishiners called 911 because Bob was white as a sheet and could hardly stand up leaning against the outside wall of the church near the side entrance. So someone brought out a chair for him to sit on. He looked like he was going to pass out. He said he was short of breath.
The fire truck arrived very shortly before the ambulance did. In Sunnyvale the firemen and policemen are all trained in EMT so any of them are good to have show up in an "emergency."
Bob is due for another check on his ICD on Feb. 17 because the battery is getting low. He gave that info to the EMT people. The EMT lady thought Bob's problem might be caused by the low level of the battery in his ICD since her grandmother had had a similar situation last year.
Of course Bob had not wanted anyone to call 911 but he looked like he needed professional help. So they took him to El Camino Hospital. I took a detour by the house on the way to the hospital to put on some warmer clothes because I had gotten rather chilled standing in the wind by the church. Bob had been situated where he was not in the wind.
By the time I got to the hospital a doctor had already seen Bob and they had started an IV (saline solution), taken some blood and had him on oxygen. Of course the EMT folks had put him on oxygen as soon as they arrived at the church - standard operating procedure. Bob's color was already back to normal when I arrived and had probably returned to normal while he was being transported to the hospital. Very shortly after I arrived a lady came in to take some more blood for a "heart enzyme" test. They took blood for that same test and hour later for comparison and then another hour later they did it again.
It all boiled down to a diagnosis of "Breathless". His heart had not done anything out of the oridinary and all of the tests were "normal."
So, by 2:30 in the afternoon they released him from the hospital and we came home. When we got home I had to take care of a couple of things and then planned to ask Bob if I could fix him some lunch. When I got back to the kitchen he was in the process of fixing his own lunch and was doing quite well. I had had a Danish and some coffee at the hospital about 12:30 while we were waiting for the test results.
After Bob started eating his lunch I went to Saratoga to a "Celebration of Life" for a good friend of mine who had died on New Year's Day. I was a couple of hours later arriving than I had originally planned but was able to talk with my friend's husband and with her mother and various mutual friends. When I returned home, Bob was still doing fine.
So today Bob wants to go get a haircut and go grocery shopping -- back to normal activities.
Magie
The fire truck arrived very shortly before the ambulance did. In Sunnyvale the firemen and policemen are all trained in EMT so any of them are good to have show up in an "emergency."
Bob is due for another check on his ICD on Feb. 17 because the battery is getting low. He gave that info to the EMT people. The EMT lady thought Bob's problem might be caused by the low level of the battery in his ICD since her grandmother had had a similar situation last year.
Of course Bob had not wanted anyone to call 911 but he looked like he needed professional help. So they took him to El Camino Hospital. I took a detour by the house on the way to the hospital to put on some warmer clothes because I had gotten rather chilled standing in the wind by the church. Bob had been situated where he was not in the wind.
By the time I got to the hospital a doctor had already seen Bob and they had started an IV (saline solution), taken some blood and had him on oxygen. Of course the EMT folks had put him on oxygen as soon as they arrived at the church - standard operating procedure. Bob's color was already back to normal when I arrived and had probably returned to normal while he was being transported to the hospital. Very shortly after I arrived a lady came in to take some more blood for a "heart enzyme" test. They took blood for that same test and hour later for comparison and then another hour later they did it again.
It all boiled down to a diagnosis of "Breathless". His heart had not done anything out of the oridinary and all of the tests were "normal."
So, by 2:30 in the afternoon they released him from the hospital and we came home. When we got home I had to take care of a couple of things and then planned to ask Bob if I could fix him some lunch. When I got back to the kitchen he was in the process of fixing his own lunch and was doing quite well. I had had a Danish and some coffee at the hospital about 12:30 while we were waiting for the test results.
After Bob started eating his lunch I went to Saratoga to a "Celebration of Life" for a good friend of mine who had died on New Year's Day. I was a couple of hours later arriving than I had originally planned but was able to talk with my friend's husband and with her mother and various mutual friends. When I returned home, Bob was still doing fine.
So today Bob wants to go get a haircut and go grocery shopping -- back to normal activities.
Magie
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
The Stitches
As promised, once the bandage could be removed, I took a couple of photos of the stitches on RaderBob's schnoz.
The first one is the one that took two passes to get clean margins.
The second one is the one that only took one pass to get clean margins.
Just as a reminder, this is what RaderBob's schnoz looked like after the biopsies had healed, but before the surgery. I expect that, by the time he finishes healing, he'll look pretty much like this again.
The first one is the one that took two passes to get clean margins.
The second one is the one that only took one pass to get clean margins.
Just as a reminder, this is what RaderBob's schnoz looked like after the biopsies had healed, but before the surgery. I expect that, by the time he finishes healing, he'll look pretty much like this again.
Friday, December 17, 2010
RaderBob and Jack Nicholson
Have you ever seen the movie Chinatown starring Jack Nicholson? What do RaderBob and Nicholson's character, J. J. Gittes have in common? (There's a hint in the link above.)
Recalling the last post, RaderBob needed to go in and have a specialist shave off the cancerous bits on his nose till the pathologist said that they had "clean margins" (cut away enough good tissue that they can be *sure* that all the cancer is gone). At the time of the last post they didn't yet have an appointment.
Wednesday was the day! He was warned that the procedure could take the whole day, so his missus packed the two of them sandwiches, snacking grapes, chilled water, reading material, etc so they could camp at the doc's office for the day. And off they went.
Oh yeah. This is what RaderBob looked like on Monday while beating on his computer.
As it turns out, they were done by noon! The first spot on the top of his nose only took one pass at trimming. The second pass on the side of his nose got the last of the cancer there. So, they packed up their lunches, snacks, water, etc and headed for home.
This is what he looked like on Thursday afternoon.
The bandage above is supposed to stay on for 48 hours. He's finding that it's not particularly painful so much as it is uncomfortable and annoying... so far. Once he changes bandages or gets to go bandage-free, I'll see about posting a new photo. Also, as we get more news, I'll post again.
Recalling the last post, RaderBob needed to go in and have a specialist shave off the cancerous bits on his nose till the pathologist said that they had "clean margins" (cut away enough good tissue that they can be *sure* that all the cancer is gone). At the time of the last post they didn't yet have an appointment.
Wednesday was the day! He was warned that the procedure could take the whole day, so his missus packed the two of them sandwiches, snacking grapes, chilled water, reading material, etc so they could camp at the doc's office for the day. And off they went.
Oh yeah. This is what RaderBob looked like on Monday while beating on his computer.
As it turns out, they were done by noon! The first spot on the top of his nose only took one pass at trimming. The second pass on the side of his nose got the last of the cancer there. So, they packed up their lunches, snacks, water, etc and headed for home.
This is what he looked like on Thursday afternoon.
The bandage above is supposed to stay on for 48 hours. He's finding that it's not particularly painful so much as it is uncomfortable and annoying... so far. Once he changes bandages or gets to go bandage-free, I'll see about posting a new photo. Also, as we get more news, I'll post again.
Monday, November 15, 2010
RaderBob's Latest Check-Up
Ever since RaderBob went to see Dr. Cho back in March 2009 and found that he had a bunch of patches of two different kinds of skin cancer (Basal Cell Carcinoma and Squamous Cell Carcinoma) and went through all that surgery and chemo cream, he's been going back for 6-month check-ups.
Well, back on November 8th he had another 6-month check-up and the doc found two spots that looked like trouble and a bunch of spots that looked like pre-trouble. The doc used the nitrogen freeze-spray on all the pre-cancerous spots and took biopsies on the two spots that looked like cancer.
This is a photo of a frozen spot on his right cheek (a week after the fact). The slightly scabrous spot in the middle of the photo is the frozen spot.
This is a photo of the two biopsied spots on RaderBob's schnoz.
There was minimal bleeding on the biopsy spots and he mostly got by with two little round spot BandAids. The spots should be healed by his birthday, but will likely be pinker than the surrounding skin.
This morning Dr. Cho called with the biopsy results. The spot on the top of his nose is Squamous Cell Carcinoma and the spot on the side of his nose is Basal Cell Carcinoma. Like before, he's got a mixed bag. Unlike before, they are not going to treat him with chemo cream. (For those following along, between the antibiotic to kill the MRSA on top of his head and the two different chemo creams over a protracted period, they made him feel icky enough that he wasn't inclined to eat and that's what got his weight down to the current level.)
So, the plan going forward is that they need to call the recommended doc who specializes in surgery of the nose and set up a plan for him to go in to have the rest of the two spots removed. The thing is that, since the skin there is so thin, they don't want to cut off his nose to spite his face. They'll cut around the spot, little by little, having the tissue checked by a pathologist immediately, until they get "clean margins." (A margin is the zone between the cancer and the healthy tissue. A "clean margin" is a certain specified distance from the known cancerous tissue and the healthy tissue. They want to get enough healthy tissue so they KNOW they got all the cancer without actually taking half his nose off.)
No appointment set up as yet, but they're working on it.
There was minimal bleeding on the biopsy spots and he mostly got by with two little round spot BandAids. The spots should be healed by his birthday, but will likely be pinker than the surrounding skin.
This morning Dr. Cho called with the biopsy results. The spot on the top of his nose is Squamous Cell Carcinoma and the spot on the side of his nose is Basal Cell Carcinoma. Like before, he's got a mixed bag. Unlike before, they are not going to treat him with chemo cream. (For those following along, between the antibiotic to kill the MRSA on top of his head and the two different chemo creams over a protracted period, they made him feel icky enough that he wasn't inclined to eat and that's what got his weight down to the current level.)
So, the plan going forward is that they need to call the recommended doc who specializes in surgery of the nose and set up a plan for him to go in to have the rest of the two spots removed. The thing is that, since the skin there is so thin, they don't want to cut off his nose to spite his face. They'll cut around the spot, little by little, having the tissue checked by a pathologist immediately, until they get "clean margins." (A margin is the zone between the cancer and the healthy tissue. A "clean margin" is a certain specified distance from the known cancerous tissue and the healthy tissue. They want to get enough healthy tissue so they KNOW they got all the cancer without actually taking half his nose off.)
No appointment set up as yet, but they're working on it.
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
How Did You Two Meet?
The other day, while trying to get some genealogically useful information out of Bob, I got him to talking about how he met Betty. He told me about how his boss had been going on for some months about knowing the perfect girl for him. That eventually led to her being invited to the party where they actually met. He saw her home after the party and they exchanged contact info.
Later, he called and set up a date to meet her for an actual date. In those days, very few people had cars -- and neither did he -- so he borrowed a car from a friend and a pair of roller skates from another friend because they were going to go roller skating. He went to pick her up at an ice rink where she was taking ice skating lessons (you know, like figure skating... not just the skate-in-circles stuff).
Well, the date didn't go as planned. When they got back out to the car where he had parked it near the ice rink, his borrowed car had been broken into (along with ALL the other cars parked in that whole block) and the borrowed skates were stolen. They spent the first hour of their date standing in line at the police station waiting to report the crime (along with all the other drivers). Then they went off to the roller rink. She went in to change and reappeared in a well-filled sweater, skirt, and tights. Woo-woo!
Betty was in good physical condition. She wasn't just a skater, she was also a good swimmer and diver. She was good enough that Betty got a job working for Billy Rose's Aquacade in the 1939 World's Fair. She got to keep her job for a week before her father found out, came apart at the seams and made her quit.
After the roller skating first date, Rader Bob saw her home and they agreed to continued to date. The problem was that, without a car, the commute to see her was l-o-n-g. He lived out near the end of one line and she lived out on a completely different line (he living in Queens, she living in Brooklyn, and no direct subway route between Brooklyn & Queens at that time), so he had to go all the way to Manhattan, change trains, and all the way out the other line... and back again at the end of their date when the trains were less frequent. This led to a foreshortened courtship and an early marriage.
Later, he called and set up a date to meet her for an actual date. In those days, very few people had cars -- and neither did he -- so he borrowed a car from a friend and a pair of roller skates from another friend because they were going to go roller skating. He went to pick her up at an ice rink where she was taking ice skating lessons (you know, like figure skating... not just the skate-in-circles stuff).
Well, the date didn't go as planned. When they got back out to the car where he had parked it near the ice rink, his borrowed car had been broken into (along with ALL the other cars parked in that whole block) and the borrowed skates were stolen. They spent the first hour of their date standing in line at the police station waiting to report the crime (along with all the other drivers). Then they went off to the roller rink. She went in to change and reappeared in a well-filled sweater, skirt, and tights. Woo-woo!
Betty was in good physical condition. She wasn't just a skater, she was also a good swimmer and diver. She was good enough that Betty got a job working for Billy Rose's Aquacade in the 1939 World's Fair. She got to keep her job for a week before her father found out, came apart at the seams and made her quit.
After the roller skating first date, Rader Bob saw her home and they agreed to continued to date. The problem was that, without a car, the commute to see her was l-o-n-g. He lived out near the end of one line and she lived out on a completely different line (he living in Queens, she living in Brooklyn, and no direct subway route between Brooklyn & Queens at that time), so he had to go all the way to Manhattan, change trains, and all the way out the other line... and back again at the end of their date when the trains were less frequent. This led to a foreshortened courtship and an early marriage.
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