tommysgirl
07-09-2006, 06:46 PM
Here we go again! We are now on the last dose increase of verapamil. We had to increase again last Wed evening. Tommy spent all day in bed with a bad episode of a-fib. It seems to get harder on his body each time it breaks through. Our PMD spoke with Dr. Lever and he agreed that we will probably only hold it off for about 7 - 10 days before he is in again. The cardioversion wasn't a month ago until 7/14.
The new plan of action is to put Tommy in the hospital for 3 days and start sotalol. They will put him in the ICU unit here. Personally I want him to have it done in Asheville at Mission Hospital. Tommy won't agree (yet) because Mission is an hour away. We went to see the "GI" doctor on Friday, she told us "Personally, I'd go to a specialty center for any testing. We can't handle pt's like you here. We aren't educated enough in this field" WOW!! It impressed me that she was this up front and honest. You don't find many docs that will admit when things are beyond there education!
Yet, she thought that the ammonia level and alk phospate elevation was due to the heart and his surgery (myectomy/maze) in March. "Liver congestion " and the medication prescribed by the PMD was the correct course of action.
I called and left a message for Dr. Lever to call back to discuss results of visit. (Happy, Stuart?) :) :)
Dr. Lever calls that evening. Everything in the conversation is going good, until he realizes that the ammonia level is elevated by 20 points. Then look out! The conversation became interesting and technical. Ya gotta love the guy!! He takes each pts case so personally and fights to find the problem and solution. He wants us back in Cleveland (like tomorrow) I agree that we will go back to Cleveland, but not tomorrow. I can't jump up and run back tomorrow. These trips have ate up our savings and I'm the only person working to support our family. Work has been great about letting me "jump and run" at a moments notice. I have to know that the bills will get paid and that my job is still secure, after all if it wasn't for the insurance with this company, he wouldn't have coverage for all of this.
So, he's giving me two weeks to work things out. He figures that, the a - fib will return and the initial plan will be put into place by then. If it fails, we will have no choice at that point. He can't go on ammiodarone with an elevated ammonia level. "A-fib" is starting to kick his behind everytime it shows up. We will be out of options and have to go back for an inpatient evaluation of the "GI" tract and new plan of action for a-fib. When we said that it'd be nice to travel the US, we didn't have this in mind. :) All in all Tommy is holding up and going with the flow.
Please continue to pray that we find a way to return to Cleveland and get answers to this new mystery.
God Bless!
Sherry
The new plan of action is to put Tommy in the hospital for 3 days and start sotalol. They will put him in the ICU unit here. Personally I want him to have it done in Asheville at Mission Hospital. Tommy won't agree (yet) because Mission is an hour away. We went to see the "GI" doctor on Friday, she told us "Personally, I'd go to a specialty center for any testing. We can't handle pt's like you here. We aren't educated enough in this field" WOW!! It impressed me that she was this up front and honest. You don't find many docs that will admit when things are beyond there education!
Yet, she thought that the ammonia level and alk phospate elevation was due to the heart and his surgery (myectomy/maze) in March. "Liver congestion " and the medication prescribed by the PMD was the correct course of action.
I called and left a message for Dr. Lever to call back to discuss results of visit. (Happy, Stuart?) :) :)
Dr. Lever calls that evening. Everything in the conversation is going good, until he realizes that the ammonia level is elevated by 20 points. Then look out! The conversation became interesting and technical. Ya gotta love the guy!! He takes each pts case so personally and fights to find the problem and solution. He wants us back in Cleveland (like tomorrow) I agree that we will go back to Cleveland, but not tomorrow. I can't jump up and run back tomorrow. These trips have ate up our savings and I'm the only person working to support our family. Work has been great about letting me "jump and run" at a moments notice. I have to know that the bills will get paid and that my job is still secure, after all if it wasn't for the insurance with this company, he wouldn't have coverage for all of this.
So, he's giving me two weeks to work things out. He figures that, the a - fib will return and the initial plan will be put into place by then. If it fails, we will have no choice at that point. He can't go on ammiodarone with an elevated ammonia level. "A-fib" is starting to kick his behind everytime it shows up. We will be out of options and have to go back for an inpatient evaluation of the "GI" tract and new plan of action for a-fib. When we said that it'd be nice to travel the US, we didn't have this in mind. :) All in all Tommy is holding up and going with the flow.
Please continue to pray that we find a way to return to Cleveland and get answers to this new mystery.
God Bless!
Sherry