Good luck, Ardiril.

Damn, sorry to hear about that, buddy... sounds like a miserable time. :( I'm sure Sookie was fine- I'm just glad you're okay!

This is pretty much just another lifestyle adjustment, luckily one with many acceptable substitutes and options to upgrade to a higher grade of ingredients but using less. With just a little more caution in watching my fluid levels, I should be able to avoid repeating past experiences.

I'm so sorry to hear you're going through this. Certainly moving to a cooler climate will help with not needing to take in so much fluid. I'd find it so hard to give up salt, good luck with that, Ardiril. I'm sure Sookie was just fine. And now you know what the problem is, you don't need to rehome her.

Whew! I've been thinking about you (for all the good it did ya).

I hope you're getting lots of purrs after Sookie gets over the upset.

Kitty cat is happy to have you back at home. Now it's your turn to do what you need to do to keep coming home.

And yeah, Pounce treats buy a lot of kitty goodwill.

Sookie seems to prefer the Friskies Party Mixes, and yep, when snack time rolled around, she was all ankle-rubby and purring. Leaving her alone wasn't really my worry; it's my fear of how little time I may have of living independently.

That the worst symptoms of hypoxia now come when I have only 1 liter of excess fluid is a bit unsettling when you consider the blood chemistry involved. I thought the problem was low oxygen levels, but the SpO2 monitor disabused me of that notion. My oxygen saturation levels were normal, and additional oxygen did little.

My problem apparently is that blood dilution also affects the ability to transfer oxygen from the blood to cells, even when oxygen saturated. When the heart is receiving too little oxygen, it can concentrate the blood supply to itself at the expense of the rest of the body. Also, the kidneys prefer a wet body, and without diuretics they happily filter out the wastes but not necessarily the excess water. This is just the quickie ER doctor analysis (as I understood it) right in the middle of a major ER crunch, so accuracy may be problematic. I'll get better info from my regular doc.

Two things came out of this: I have been doing the right things all along, and I should have continued with what I knew on Wednesday and avoided the ER trip, and second, when things get extreme, particularly the confusion, and I doubt that the usual course may not work, calling for an ambulance is the best choice. How's that for a script to follow? heheh

It never hurts to go to the hospital (other than the wait/hassle), if in doubt. Better to go and not have needed it than not go and have needed it. That's what they're there for.

In any case, glad you're feeling a little better...

Glad you're back home with Seattle on the horizon!

I can't imagine being able to drink only a litre a day. And no added salt? *whimper*

On the other hand, as I think I've mentioned, I'm also on a diuretic. I hadn't been aware of the confusion thing and will try to keep aware of that. The mister is pretty good at picking up on things if I go wonky, but I'll let him know about it too.

Sounds like you did everything right, Ardiril. I'm thinking of you (and Sookie!) and wishing you the best -- sending out "Get your ass to Seattle!" vibes big time. :-)

- I know how easy that is to say, believe me, but as in this case, even a (semi-sorta) false alarm for me means an automatic admission and one overnight to at least the cardiac ward* if not the cardiac ICU.

Even still, I avoided a second overnight by the skin of my teeth by not including my cardiologist and going with the hospital's staff doctor. Otherwise, I would have most likely been there all weekend as well, and trying to get any additional tests in on a Monday with any chance of a discharge that day is a grand feat. This could have easily turned into a 6 day stay for something that I already had the resources to handle myself.

I have to maintain some level of self-sufficiency, otherwise I would be calling for an ambulance three times a month. This also weighs in on the quality of life versus quantity of life equation. Hospital stays equal zero quality of life and are a negative factor for quantity of life (short term) with only a slight possibility of it turning into a positive factor. Hey, that's a differential equation! Now those I can handle!!!

- As I understand it, this is not at all common and appears primarily in the most advanced . Accompanying the confusion is a euphoria, and that really makes deciding to call 911 a chore because 'hey, who cares, right?'.

- Amen to that! I am trying to decide (oh no, not again) whether to take this little bit of furniture or just buy new once I land somewhere. Taking everything means having firm plans of how to handle it once I get there, and those I don't have. My son lives there now as well as a cousin, but their own resources are pretty limited beyond information gathering.

I am really looking forward to the Seattle meet-ups. That town seems to do meet-ups often and really well.

* Fresno's hospital has devoted a quarter of its beds to the cardiac wards and ICU, and they are still overflowing. The overflow goes into (or stays in) the ER and pushes regular ER visitors into beds in the hall. It is a very strange sight to see so many obviously injured people crowded into hallways while ordinary looking people are in their own rooms or private areas.

Modern medicine has done wonders for keeping cardiac patients alive way beyond normal, and emergency measures are getting both easier to achieve and cheaper to implement. However, the costs for ordinary cardiac maintenance have blown off the roof. I can easily see two levels of cardiac ICU in the near future, if some places haven't already implemented such. In fact, someday we may see a completely separate system altogether for cardiac patients.

I certainly did not mean to sound glib or to make you sound glib -- I think it's hugely difficult to find the right balance between "I have the strength and knowledge to handle things myself" and "I have the self-awareness to know when I need to ask for help." Especially since, as you said, you need to be able to hold *both* of those seemingly conflicting ideas at the same time. (Didn't Fitzgerald or Eliot call that the definition of sanity?)

I've watched a lot of clients struggle with that balance of strength and humility, as well as struggled with it myself, and I think those who survive the best (physically and emotionally) are those who can, as you said, manage those differential equations.

I didn't take it at all that you were sounding glib, occhiblu. Your voice is one of the few online that I trust implicitly to be an honest statement of your knowledge and/or opinion.

I don't know if it's helpful, but I did once work with a client to devise a kind of flowchart for when to call for help (she was super self-sufficient and lived by herself, but had flares that would sometimes cause psychosis). We basically came up with:

1. What are the symptoms (physical, emotional, cognitive) that I've noticed right *before* I become unable to function? How can I tell that these symptoms are different from my usual functioning?

2. When I feel those symptoms, I should call ... (e.g., MD, 911)

3. I will do X (program these numbers into my phone, post the phone numbers near the phone, post this list of symptoms near my phone) to make sure I can easily identify these symptoms and call the appropriate people.

(Which is more or less what it seems like you did -- decided your confusion was a red flag symptom, dealt with it on your own until it became bad enough that you worried it would make you unable to function safely, and called for help. I'm posting this just because it can sometimes be helpful to realize that you do have a system in place and it's a system that seemed to work for you.)

On preview: Good, and thanks.

I see the problem now. My 13:25 post should have started with my quote from pips's comment - "Better to go and not have needed it..." It was there throughout the previews, and my first few statements were not meant to be a direct response to you.

(This is why I do not like unnested comments.)

I'm going to use your steps to prepare something on paper, btw.

... and there it is. I waited 3 hours after my morning diuretic should have worn off, and then drank a 12 oz lemonade. 90 minutes later and the nausea, headache and floaty feeling have all returned. (The floaty feeling is distinctly different from a THC high, and much more powerful.) I think I've got this bastard's number now.

Woo!

Ha! I went for the mail, and I found the walk the doc told me about, a drift to my nondominant side. Now, the cough has kicked in as well. This is good. If I can elicit it, I can control it. I'm going to chalk this day up as a good one. I'm breaking out the good humidor, just as soon as I pee.

Sorry, Ardiril. I guess I'm a natural worrier. My birth mother, who suffered years with emphysema and heart failure (she was a lifelong smoker) checked herself out of the hospital AMA and passed away three days later alone in her apartment at age 59. So I guess I like to err on the side of caution. Maybe consult again with your cardiologist about when to go to the ER or not? (Though I can see how he might be even more cautious.)

Anyway, I don't presume to know. Take care, my friend.

good luck Ardiril.

Nothing to apologize for, Pipsy. It's good general advice, and it did apply to my situation and was appropriate. This hospital trip opened my eyes to many things, and most of what I write at this juncture falls under Lessons Learned.

Thanks, Ardiril. You're a love...

*kisses cup* (that's yiddish for forehead ; )