Dr. R

I had been expecting today's visit to be intense, but I was not expecting what happened. The first thing was that my blood pressure decided to give Dr. R a live example of what it was doing while I was in the hospital. The first reading done by L was 186/111. Kinda up in the OH SHIT! range. The five consecutive readings were equally high. Considering that on three blood pressure medications my blood pressure is usually maintained in the normal to low pre-hypertensive range. That was Dr. R's chief concern today. We discussed what had happened in the hospital, and he explained that he felt that the reason they didn't find anything at the hospital was because the doctors were looking for a plumbing problem and not an electrical problem. He said that the pain could have been caused by the palpitations that I was having. He is glad that Dr. K is having me wear a monitor. He told me that he is changing my lisinopril to lisinopril/hydrochlorthiazide. I told him that I don't tolerate hydrochlorthiazide well and he explained to me that he feels the combination of lisinopril and spironolactone will keep my potassium levels reasonable. He said that the only other choice is to add a channel blocker and that could complicate the LQTS. So I'm going to try it for a week and go back to have blood drawn to check potassium levels and to check my blood pressure. He also told me to not consume caffeine, no more Coke Zero. We also discussed the hyper-coagulation and that thrombosis runs in my family. He decided to repeat the d-dimer.

The blood draw was rough this time too. S hit the vein, but the blood refused to flow freely. I wonder if that was the thick blood. She had to start two more times to finally find a vein that would bleed. I have three large purple bruises to show for it.

Back to back, two really rough appointments. This is very disappointing. I changed my diet. I lost 52 pounds. I take my pills the way I'm supposed to. I don't smoke. I exercise. I go to the doctor when I'm supposed to. I don't get it. I do what I'm supposed to do to control my blood pressure and my arrhythmia, and still my heart wants to circle the drain. So tonight on the way home I will stop by the pharmacy to pick up one more pill to add to my big bag of pills. I will have to listen to my brother and sister complain that I'm doing exactly what Daddy did. And they would be right except my father rarely got exercise. He smoked at least a pack a day. He didn't even try to lose weight and had no interest in changing his diet. He frequently skipped doctor appointments and would let his pills run out, or just refused to take some of them. Still, he died of an inherited condition.