Me and my luck landed me in hospital

#1

I wouldn’t really consider this ‘falling off the horse’ as it’s only been 3 days and I didn’t have a huge amount of choice, but figured I’d stick this here anyway…

So I suspected a while back that there may be an issue with my pacemaker as I was getting some dizzy spells and weakness. Called the hospital to see if they could move my yearly check up forward as I had concerns… and was told no -_-

Go in the day before yesterday for the check, and they find that one of my leads was kaput and the device was in emergency unipolar pacing, it was also deciding that any flex of my left chest muscle was actually my heart beating by itself and it was backing off. Grand.

Thankfully, the replacement surgery actually went ahead the next day (I was in for 2 and a half weeks the first time after being told it would just be a couple of days).

Naturally, I had to eat some hospital food which is honestly a bit of a horror even when you’re not Keto xD

Annoyingly though, I now have to abstain from anything strenuous for quite some time while I heal up again. Typical timing, given that I was really starting to enjoy my exercise again!

Asked one of the consultants how long it would be before I could ride my bike again and she told me at least 2 months… mostly ‘in case there’s anything wrong again, meaning we want to avoid any unnecessary strain’. Wow. I mean, I’d rather they could say it would be OK again now xD

Hey ho. I’ll obviously be sensible. Gonna feel like my left shoulder has been hit by a truck for a while in any case. I guess I can go for walks. It’s honestly my least favourite exercise, but I’m gonna have to expend my keto energy somehow ; )

(You've tried everything else; why not try bacon?) #2

What an experience! Sorry you had to go through all that, but glad you got through it. Take it easy on the recovery. You’ll get there.

I was just reflecting on hospital practices, however. Too bad they aren’t set up to give people bacon-grease drips instead of glucose, lol!

#3

Maybe one day, eh? xD

As soon as I was home and settled, I’m straight in the fridge like, OK… there’s some bacon needs using, chicken, heavy cream, parmesan… ; )

#4

yikes! Glad they fixed it. And hospital food is awful. If you’re lucky you get a plain piece of skinless chicken or fish, not breaded, limp veg, and four things no person should eat. I have a plan if I’m in hospital. Tell every visitor to bring me a Son of Baconator, no ketchup, no bun when they visit. Two per day should keep me alive.

I read through Owsley’s/The Bear’s old posts on carnivore on a defunct forum a month ago, and he managed to eat carnivore while in prison for years (he was there for LSD manufacture). It involved working his way into a job in the cafeteria and trading his own grain or bean portions for the pork Muslims wouldn’t eat… The things we have to do to cope in this carby world!

#5

Wow wishing you the best and a fast recovery. Scary but ya got it handled and forward you go…be kind to yourself truly now :slight_smile: exercise can wait, med procedures do require heal time and rest so take care of you!!

(Robin) #6

I think people (I want to say “women” but will get dinged for it) are inclined to accept a NO from doctors, because we don’t want to be seen as exaggerating the pain or problem. I have been that way in the past, only to be asked later why I didn’t let them know sooner! I did! I did let them know!
But I guess I wasn’t distraught enough or stubborn enough to say GET ME IN NOW!
lesson learned. We know our bodies.

#7

Then you’d just be “an over reacting, menopausal hypochondriac seeking to waste their time.”
Six months before I was diagnosed T2, I asked the doctor if I was diabetic, he just shrugged. Even though I was obese, he didn’t even do an HbA1c test. And I didn’t speak up but I did get a new doctor.

#8

Tell me about it. I had to beg and plead for years and years and still couldn’t get a hysterectomy until I was old enough to be considered ‘past it’. I routinely bled out so badly I had to be transfused, and the pain was excruciating. It was ruining my life, but heaven forbid a woman know what she wants for her own body.

It was actually during the pre-op for the hysterectomy that they discovered I had total heart block. I thought it was just my anemia making me feel so exhausted and just did my best to deal with it like everything else. It’s been a ‘fun’ few years.

(Bob M) #9

Women are always the last to be believed or get examined. That might change in the future, though, as I’ve read there are >50% women in medical school now.

One would hope this helps.

#10

Honestly, some of the female GPs and Gynaes I saw were among the worst for dismissing me. Funny how that works.

(Robin) #11

Yep. That’s the reason they came up with the word HYSTERectomy. To exorcise our demons of hysteria. Dang it, if my husband says his tooth is a bit sensitive, they get him in TODAY!

Thankfully I’ve had a very good doc for decades who knows I tend to under emphasize issues. Or hope they will just go away. So when I started crying in his office after covid brain brought me to my knees, he was ON IT!

Sometimes I have to remind my husband that I’m ill. He assumes if I’m not whining (like him) or in bed (like him), I must be fine. And that’s honestly not a knock on him…. I need to speak up.

#12

I am actually thankful me and my family only experienced Hungarian hospital food… I know about Australian hospital food (one hospital, no idea about the others) and it’s insane. Even my high-carber SO with a huge sweet tooth would get sugar poisoning there. Or if not, being very upset with all the sugar and other things (he is very health conscious and eat accordingly. high-carb isn’t a problem as long as it’s his style). Hungarian hospital food is very little and simple, desserts aren’t really a thing as far as I know. But people with special needs get their special food. Maybe little and simple but most people have a reduced appetite and even energy need there. Not all (my broken wrist wasn’t traumatic enough for me to change much, I still needed long walks and a nice amount of fatty food) but that’s where visiting family members come in… Our hospital food is famously bad - but I didn’t experience that in the 2 days I was in hospital. Probably it depends on the hospital. Of course, no one could handle my special default woe.

But school lunches, they truly were bad when I was a kid… Maybe hospital food was awful when I was a kid.

And before I forgot, best wishes and get better soon, of course, @ElgynsToy! :heart:
And gimme some of your energy if you have sooo much… I could give you a tiny bit of my love towards walks? Well, it’s more like I NEED to move to get even my lowish energy and it’s the easiest and nicest I can do. Today I walked and saw a blue heron and an egret, how cool is that? Such things definitely help.

(You've tried everything else; why not try bacon?) #13

Whereas men usually think that going to the doctor in the first place makes one a wuss.

How you present the problem has an effect, too, I’ve learned. If I say “I think my gall bladder is acting up,” that will colour the doctor’s subsequent thinking, to say nothing of my own. Best to say simply, “It really hurts, right here,” and force the doctor to think it through completely.

And getting them to take you seriously is a challenge for both sexes, although women are easier for patriarchal male doctors to dismiss. My mother bounced between physicians and psychologists for several years, until an alert doctor sent her off to the allergist. All those symptoms that were “just in her mind”? They were the result of allergies to her favourite foods.

Sometimes that’s the better course. Is it really worth the trouble to get a jerk to pay attention? The sharpest doctor I ever met was brilliant, but didn’t listen well. When his residency was over, the new resident might not have been quite so brilliant, but he really knew how to listen. I loved him best. And he was better for my health.

#14

Hi, I’m sorry to hear you’ve had a rough time but soooooo glad you’re home and sounding on good form! I’ve missed you and wondered where you’d gone.
Please take it easy, exercise can wait! Do you have support/help to get supplies in?

Hope you’re not in pain. Bet you’re glad to be back in your own bed! Sending hugs.x

#15

Thanks, my lovely : )

I’m very sore and a bit grumpy, but definitely glad to be back home!

As I won’t be able to cycle to the supermarket for quite some time (sadness) I’ll just order home delivery. Have Tesco coming this morning so here’s hoping it’s one of their more seasoned and useful drivers as I won’t be able to carry the crates in myself xD

#16

I am fortunate as in I never hit the ‘dismiss the woman’s reason and illness and pain’ level from any of my med issues. Maybe just lucky or was it ME. I gotta say I voice me like there is no tomorrow HAHA

Plus I got a younger female Dr when I moved South and she happened to be new in practice and we hit it off. I had my only kiddo at age 43 and she had twins at age 41, her only ones and we just ‘chat real life’ so a connection to a Dr means alot I think also. They tend to ‘believe a known person’ over ones who hit an appt and they don’t know your history or past.

but I also know what you say is very true out there in the real world for sure!!

I have to be dying before I hit a Dr LOL
when my entire arm finally went numb and I couldn’t hold anything in my hand, dropped right out with some ‘shoulder and upper arm pain’ I finally said I GOTTA go and Dr. Suzanne said oh Karen, that is your neck and I am like, nope, my arm and shoulder and she is like, you idiot, listen to me THAT is a neck issue and I trusted her even tho I didn’t wanna. She recommended a neck surgeon and off I went for eval. He said you got this budging disc etc and reason your arm is numb and gone and I said what to do and he said surgery and I said, you got this man, are ya sure, and I said I can wait longer and HE had to convince me and I got neck surgery and after 3 mos of horrifying recovery of intense pain…boom. fixed. totally fixed to this day. that was like 30 yrs ago! So hey life works out sometimes for all of us.

I don’t know…I do best if I control a Dr visit. I am a control type freak, not a doubt about it, and when they see me coming they best be on alert cause I DO FOR ME as I need.

I went to Dr for chest congestion way long ago and couldn’t hardly breathe. He says, and I didn’t get Dr Suzanne I wanted, but the Dr guys says Ahhh, lungs sound ok to me, you will be fine and off ya go and I said NOPE. I come in and say I can’t breathe, my chest is crushing me, coughing up hunks of ICK like no tomorrow and if you think I am leaving here without meds you are crazy…we had more words, I won. Got antibotics and in like 3 days I was recovered and feelingfine and I can say without those meds my happy azz probably woulda ended up in the ER thru how hard it was to breath at that stage. I tell ya I don’t go unless I ‘feel I am one step’ from dying LOL

OK Just chatting on the crazy of the med system we ALL gotta walk thru, bob and weave and hope and pray!!!

I guess for me I can be my own worst advocate at a Drs office or I can be my bestest advocate when I feel I need it :partying_face: eh, that isme tho :clown_face:

boy we all got the stories don’t we on what we have to endure but if we keep what we need in mind for ourselves, then we might have a better go around thru the med system.

#17

Ah yes. One other thing that came out of this hospital stay is that they of course wanted to weigh me. I asked the nurse not to tell me after having estimated my weight as about 100 kilos. She didn’t give me a figure, but couldn’t resist telling me that it was less than I guessed. So, unfortunately, curiosity got the better of this cat lady and I weighed myself today for the first time in forever; 94 kilos. So I think I probably started out WAY higher than I estimated as I can definitely see more than a 5 kilo loss. That, or I’ve gained a lot more lean mass… or both xD

Now the battle to not want to keep checking o_O

#18

your are OK. You are in your new eating lifestyle which will change you and now you got a medical emergency that you had to deal with and don’t ever put that scale as ‘meaning anything’ right now for your path as you are changing…

but hey, you are now less than :slight_smile: :slight_smile: You are lower than what ya guessed and sooner the clothes will show you more too and key being, JUST STAY on plan and don’t let ‘that medical scale’ mean something to you.

Because THEY NEED THAT info to ‘administer medications’ to you based on milligrams per dose to ‘heal you’ thru your body weight and not overdose ya and kill ya with meds they might prescribe! LOL

so Drs must have your weight for their med prescip side of this story, all for your help and what to adminster if required, you on a scale never is your side of this ongoing personal change toward better health story!!!

Don’t check. Literally let it go. Keto Plan is freedom from that if we allow it.

#19

Yeah, I’ve been very good about it so far. Sneaky nurse had to make a comment xD I’m not really worried about it, but I know what I can be like when I start fixating ; )

#20

fixate on super forward good health and your next Keto meal ya plan.
let it go, let it go :sunny: