Medical issues and procedures

[vreihen16]

Thank you for talking me out of this surgery!!!!!

[cmyx6go]

Originally Posted by vreihen16

Thank you for talking me out of this surgery!!!!!

It honestly wasn't bad at all. I'm terrible when I don't know what to expect, so I was extremely nervous and anxious when they did the first eye. The second one was a piece of cake. Do it.

[vreihen16]

Because of the plot complication in my chest, they want me to have the procedure done at the regional trauma center. I've been putting it off for a year, and guess I'll have to do it soon because black-on-black (or even reading the analog instrument cluster in the almost-Mighty Freightliner) is increasingly becoming a challenge for me.....

[Esteban]

Originally Posted by vreihen16

Because of the plot complication in my chest, they want me to have the procedure done at the regional trauma center. I've been putting it off for a year, and guess I'll have to do it soon because black-on-black (or even reading the analog instrument cluster in the almost-Mighty Freightliner) is increasingly becoming a challenge for me.....

As cmyx6go said, it's a piece of cake. Get it done. Doctors are really good at it and you'll see so much better after.

Just don't move or blink.

[///MPhatic]

Originally Posted by G35POPPEDMYCHERRY

tamsulosin is a very effective drug and provide relief for his symptoms. does he have luts ....lower urinary tract symptoms? it will only progress worse causing retention leading to stones and utis. aging is a part of life and medicine helps us not suffer. everything has a side effect.

risk vs beneift

Originally Posted by G35POPPEDMYCHERRY

but why suffer lol?

i get the wait till you need it mentality. but this isn't a self resolving condition

So the Tamsulosin (Flomax) works like a charm, unfortunately it's just as he had thought, he has the most common side effects, including a stuffy nose so bad that he's unable to sleep as well as he used to, and mouth-breathes the entire night.

He's now looking for a different solution, possibly Alfuzosin.

[SpeedBuggy]

Originally Posted by Esteban

As cmyx6go said, it's a piece of cake. Get it done. Doctors are really good at it and you'll see so much better after.

Just don't move or blink.

The nurses and surgeon said the same thing. And they did strap my head down, caught me off guard as I wasn't expecting that either.

Went flawlessly and great results. Noticeable difference already. Again the eye was dilated and remained that way thru the evening. Other eye drops included numbing agent and antibiotics. The anesthesia/twilight was the most interesting. Could just make out the procedure although blurry and the kaleidoscope affect was there, actually could see the shadow of the old lense being removed and the new one inserted. Could also hear doctor and nurses talking and background noise, although I couldn't seem to move or speak. Kinda sureal, just needed Dark Side of Moon album playing in the background.

Vision in eye is near 20 Vision. Still some side effects, just a small blurriness and flashes but should clear up within the day.

Looking forward for my other eye, scheduled in a couple of weeks. Hoping to convince the Doctor to play a little Pink Floyd during surgery. 😆

[Esteban]

^ Glad to hear it went well. Second eye will be easier because now you know what to expect.

And yeah, A little Pink Floyd would hit the spot. Cue up Comfortably Numb.

[SpeedBuggy]

^ Thanks!
Was a bit nervous going into this, but agree the second should be a breeze.

[Maynard]

I've had mine done and can't say enough good things about it - improved my vision both clarity and they put in corrective lenses so now I have good vision w/o glasses. They told me that almost everybody has to go back to get the remnant sheath 'zapped' afterwards, nothing to worry about (I think this is that YAG mentioned earlier?) - did that w/ me and it took about 10 minutes, just a new and different lightshow.

[Llarry]

For some years now I've gotten an annual and, more recently, semi-annual, checkup with a dermatologist. About six years ago or so, she found a precancer on my left ear lobe and I got that area excised in a quick surgery -- leaving me a bit asymmetric.

Just recently she found squamous cell cancer on the top of the same ear and so now I fear I will be a bit more lopsided with surgery scheduled for June 17th. The left ear is the one that tends to get the sun when driving.

My hope is that she will not have to take too much tissue.

[CLTMDA]

Had open-heart surgery 2.5 years ago to replace my Aortic Valve at 55 years old. I was born with a bicuspid Aortic Valve instead of the normal tricuspid version. The bicuspid version tends to calcify quicker than the normal valve. I found out about it about ten years ago, with the cardiologist telling me, "you WILL need to have that replaced at some point, can't tell you when, 3, 5, 10 years, but you will know when you do". August 2021 I am walking up the hill in front of my lake house and I feel "weird", have to take a breather. Call my cardiologist and he refers me across the floor to the surgery side of their practice. I see the surgeon and he tells me it is time, not immediate, but within the next year. It's mid-August and we schedule it for 10/20. The anxiety gets the better of me and I call him after Labor Day and ask when the earliest he can get me in is. I am on the table on 9/17. Post surgery he comes in and says he wished he had videoed the surgery as I was a textbook case. Surgery supposed to take 3-5 hours, but I am in and out in 2.5. I was up the next day and discharged "as soon as he was allowed". So, I have a bovine manufactured valve with a 10-15 year life. It will need to be replaced and they would probably do that via a TAVR, going in through my groin in an out-patient procedure.

[cmyx6go]

Originally Posted by Llarry

For some years now I've gotten an annual and, more recently, semi-annual, checkup with a dermatologist. About six years ago or so, she found a precancer on my left ear lobe and I got that area excised in a quick surgery -- leaving me a bit asymmetric.

Just recently she found squamous cell cancer on the top of the same ear and so now I fear I will be a bit more lopsided with surgery scheduled for June 17th. The left ear is the one that tends to get the sun when driving.

My hope is that she will not have to take too much tissue.

I hope all goes well.

[///MPhatic]

Originally Posted by CLTMDA

Had open-heart surgery 2.5 years ago to replace my Aortic Valve at 55 years old. I was born with a bicuspid Aortic Valve instead of the normal tricuspid version. The bicuspid version tends to calcify quicker than the normal valve. I found out about it about ten years ago, with the cardiologist telling me, "you WILL need to have that replaced at some point, can't tell you when, 3, 5, 10 years, but you will know when you do". August 2021 I am walking up the hill in front of my lake house and I feel "weird", have to take a breather. Call my cardiologist and he refers me across the floor to the surgery side of their practice. I see the surgeon and he tells me it is time, not immediate, but within the next year. It's mid-August and we schedule it for 10/20. The anxiety gets the better of me and I call him after Labor Day and ask when the earliest he can get me in is. I am on the table on 9/17. Post surgery he comes in and says he wished he had videoed the surgery as I was a textbook case. Surgery supposed to take 3-5 hours, but I am in and out in 2.5. I was up the next day and discharged "as soon as he was allowed". So, I have a bovine manufactured valve with a 10-15 year life. It will need to be replaced and they would probably do that via a TAVR, going in through my groin in an out-patient procedure.

Stuff scares the hell out of me, especially the part about feeling "weird" and needing a heart valve replacement. Hell, I feel weird all the time!

Glad it worked out great for you!

[Esteban]

Originally Posted by ///MPhatic

Stuff scares the hell out of me, especially the part about feeling "weird" and needing a heart valve replacement. Hell, I feel weird all the time!

Glad it worked out great for you!

Do you see a cardiologist on a regular basis? If not, maybe you should.

[///MPhatic]

Originally Posted by Esteban

Do you see a cardiologist on a regular basis? If not, maybe you should.

Yeah, I'm quite healthy, and everyone is less worried than me, it's a curse. I'd like to get an angiogram with contrast, just for the hell of it, but it'll cost me at least $2500, so I'll wait until the doc says he thinks I need it.

[Esteban]

Originally Posted by ///MPhatic

Yeah, I'm quite healthy, and everyone is less worried than me, it's a curse. I'd like to get an angiogram with contrast, just for the hell of it, but it'll cost me at least $2500, so I'll wait until the doc says he thinks I need it.

Glad to hear you're healthy.

I changed my medical group recently and don't have a cardiologist at the moment. I take some BP meds and need to get a new one.

[///MPhatic]

Originally Posted by Esteban

Glad to hear you're healthy.

I changed my medical group recently and don't have a cardiologist at the moment. I take some BP meds and need to get a new one.

As long as you keep a close eye on your pressure I'm sure it'll be fine until you find another one. A lot of times people on BP meds don't take their pressure at all, just assuming it's where it needs to be because they are taking meds for it.

[CLTMDA]

Yea, my doc says it's the people that never think about checking their BP that most worry him. Prolonged high bp is not good. My condition was genetic and did not present itself until the calcification was enough to cause a murmur. The week before I had the procedure and had a pre-surgery visit with a nurse, she said she could hear it clearly. I had my surgery at 55, but my surgeon told me he had done the same surgery on a 27 year old the week before I went in.

My Angio showed no other blockages, which helped to make my procedure vanilla in the eyes of the surgeon.

[Esteban]

Originally Posted by ///MPhatic

As long as you keep a close eye on your pressure I'm sure it'll be fine until you find another one. A lot of times people on BP meds don't take their pressure at all, just assuming it's where it needs to be because they are taking meds for it.

I've been taking BP meds for a long time, and yes, you need to keep an eye on it. To assume your meds are always working as they should be is... well, you know what they say about assume.

[RockCrusher]

Originally Posted by Maynard

I've had mine done and can't say enough good things about it - improved my vision both clarity and they put in corrective lenses so now I have good vision w/o glasses. They told me that almost everybody has to go back to get the remnant sheath 'zapped' afterwards, nothing to worry about (I think this is that YAG mentioned earlier?) - did that w/ me and it took about 10 minutes, just a new and different lightshow.

Had cataract surgery in both eyes (left middle of October, the right middle of November) back in 2020.

For replacement lenses to replace the organic lenses removed I opted for the standard lenses with distance correction.

Both surgeries went well.

But was a bit nauseous from the anesthetic after the 1st surgery. Second time just before surgery I was given something to counter the nausea and I was given less anesthetic. First surgery I was out. Don't recall a thing. But I was "awake" during the 2nd surgery but all I remember is a bright light and the doctor telling me to turn my head slightly once or twice.

No complications. Both eyes recovered in nearly no time.

Distance vision was superb.

For near vision I tried off the shelf reading glasses for a while but it was a pain having to put them on then take them off. Decided better just to have glasses that gave me reading correction yet didn't mess up my good distance vision.

After my eyes settled down I got corrective lenses (clear and dark/polarized) to deal with a bit of astigmatism and to provide reading correction. I chose the progressive style rather than bifocal or trifocal lenses with the distinct lines. I had progressive lenses before surgery and adapted to them very well.

At some point I did have to have one inserted lens "zapped" to deal with a bit of fogginess. But the lens in the other eye never needed this.

[tturedraider]

Had my second colonoscopy recently. Thankfully all clear. Not a single polyp. I’ve been having some occasional trouble swallowing over the last several years. That’s actually what prompted the first colonoscopy. At that time I also had an endoscopy and it showed nothing. They did the endoscopy and colonoscopy at the same time. Recently the swallowing difficulty had become more frequent. It usually happens just as I begin to eat and I have to pause for a minute or two and it passes. But, recently I had an episode where it lasted at least five minutes and I couldn’t even swallow my saliva and I had to step away and go spit. Then I had to wait several minutes before it passed. That made me think I have to get it checked again. So, I went to the gastroenterologist for that and since it had been seven years since the colonoscopy I talked him into doing it again, just like before. This time he also stretched my esophagus some. The endoscopy didn’t show anything this time either, thankfully. My throat was a little sore for two or three days, but the stretching was pretty successful, because I haven’t had any swallowing issues since. Very thankful for that. Feeling like you can’t swallow is pretty disconcerting.

[Esteban]

Originally Posted by RockCrusher

Had cataract surgery in both eyes (left middle of October, the right middle of November) back in 2020.

For replacement lenses to replace the organic lenses removed I opted for the standard lenses with distance correction.

Both surgeries went well.

But was a bit nauseous from the anesthetic after the 1st surgery. Second time just before surgery I was given something to counter the nausea and I was given less anesthetic. First surgery I was out. Don't recall a thing. But I was "awake" during the 2nd surgery but all I remember is a bright light and the doctor telling me to turn my head slightly once or twice.

No complications. Both eyes recovered in nearly no time.

Distance vision was superb.

For near vision I tried off the shelf reading glasses for a while but it was a pain having to put them on then take them off. Decided better just to have glasses that gave me reading correction yet didn't mess up my good distance vision.

After my eyes settled down I got corrective lenses (clear and dark/polarized) to deal with a bit of astigmatism and to provide reading correction. I chose the progressive style rather than bifocal or trifocal lenses with the distinct lines. I had progressive lenses before surgery and adapted to them very well.

At some point I did have to have one inserted lens "zapped" to deal with a bit of fogginess. But the lens in the other eye never needed this.

When I got my cataracts done my doctor inserted one lens for close vision and one lens for distance vision (monovision). The brain switches to the close eye for close up vision and the distance eye for far vision. Doesn't work for everybody but it does for me. They tested me first to see if it would work for me.