Apostolic Friends Forum - Sam -- Health Update

This is an update on my health and will probably be the last one I send out unless there is some big change. I have completed the home rehab (both physical and occupational therapy) and have been discharged. I've gained 4 pounds and now weigh 192, which is a lot better than the 240 pounds I weighed earlier this year.

I am walking every day with the help of a walker. I cannot go very long or very far yet. Some times I lean pretty heavily on the walker and some times it is just there for support. I use both legs equally for walking. My left leg which was almost useless back in June is working pretty good (thanks to the folks at Mercy Hospital Rehab). So far I am limited to one step (stair step). The 8 inch step from the garage to the family room and the 8 inch step from the family room to the kitchen seemed “impossible” to me when I first got home but now I can do them pretty easily. I have not done any stairs yet so right now I don’t think I’ll be going anywhere where for a while if there is more than one stair step involved. That will come later when I am more sure on my feet. I still get winded very easily but that is probably due in part to the lung disease (ILD). I expect that to get better in time. My left leg is still scarred from the shingles and still hurts. From the knee up I have pain every day. They use a scale of 1 to 10 to describe pain. Well, usually it is a dull ache in the 3-4 range but several times a day it becomes a 9.9 and almost unbearable. Thank God that level of pain does not last long and it goes back to a dull ache again. My primary care doctor said that shingles pain can last a year. I use percoset and ibuprofen for that and a couple of days ago my doctor prescribed a lidocaine patch which I put on in the morning and take off when I go to bed. They used that patch in the hospital also along with the percoset. I don’t see how it makes much difference but maybe it would hurt worse of I didn’t use it.

Our bathroom has been modified. The shower doors have been removed and we now have a shower curtain. I have a bench I use to get in and out of the shower. Poor Pat says she feels like she’s living in a nursing home. Well, we have the shower bench in the main bath and a higher seat on the toilet in the half bath and my transport chair stays in the kitchen and my walker is with me wherever I go and I keep the pill caddy and list of meds on the kitchen table. She has been great as a nurse. I really thank God for her. I don’t know what I’d do without her. I tell her she is a combination of Nurse Ratched (from One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest) and Nurse Goodbody (from Hee Haw). Probably nobody under 50 would know who those nurse characters are.

I had an echo cardio gram this past Wednesday and a bunch of blood work ordered by my cardiologist. He has cut some of my medications for blood pressure and cholesterol and I will go see his Physician’s Assistant the week of Thanksgiving to see how I am doing.

Things are going well. I’m just not out and about except for doctor visits and then we usually stop somewhere and get something to eat. I’ve only driven once so far. I don’t know just when I’ll be back to some of the activities like church, etc. This is really taking longer than I thought it would but I have improved a lot since getting out of the hospital/rehab on October 15. And, of course, I’ve improved a lot from when I couldn’t even sit up by myself after 2 weeks in ICU. Those guys in the hospital rehab and the home rehab have been great. I keep on exercising my arms and legs daily following the instructions they have given me.

Thank you all for your prayers and your concern.