Since the accident, I've gone to a lot of follow-up exams. The ribs are healing, so not a problem. I have different sets of cardiologists - Virginia Cardiovascular Specialists (VCS) were the people I saw for my first heart attack and the installation and replacement of the ICD/Pacemaker. The second heart attack found me at Southside Regional Medical Center which is now Bon Secours, and my doctor was Dr. Thomas of Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU Health). Dr. Thomas and I have agreed that a single cardio specialist is better, so I'm doing more follow-ups with him. I will not, however, be using his prescription for Entresto Tablets, for which I would have to pay over $500 for each 30-day supply. I've lived without them so far. I will hope to do so still.
Of course, that isn't what this post is about. Every doctor or clinic has a pre-check-in sheet to be filled out for every visit. It's the same batch of questions, for the most part, and some of those questions sent me off on a tangent. I was a diabetic for about 15 years. Now I'm a recovering diabetic, with an A1c in the non-diabetic or pre-diabetic range. I no longer take any diabetes-specific meds. But one of the symptoms of diabetes is frequent urination, so the questionnaires all ask if you suffer from "frequent urination" or "excessive urination." So I looked it up, and the average person goes 6-7 times per day, with a volume between 800 to 2,000 milliliters. Their fluid intake is around 2,000 milliliters. The source cited 4 - 10 times as okay.
Frequency often increases with age or medication. One of my meds is Furosemide, generic for Lasix, a diuretic. "Furosemide is used to treat fluid retention (edema) in people with congestive heart failure, liver disease, or a kidney disorder..." In other words, it makes you pee more often.
I use spreadsheets. I ginned one up to track times and volumes of micturition. Then I included formulae to calculate averages and counts. Turns out I pass about 221 milliliters of water about 8.8 times a day for a total of 1,948 milliliters. That roughly matches my fluid intake. That's perfectly normal for my age and medication, but it's very nice to have data to back that up. :)
The next appointment should be with Virginia Eye Institute. It's time to get my cataracts taken care of.
While I am on the subject of my health, there's that "high blood pressure" diagnosis. For years, I have taken a fasting glucose test and a blood pressure test, mostly daily. The fasting glucose is almost always in the 80-120 range. I had a couple of 64s this year, but those are easy to fix. I keep a jug of Cran-Apple juice in the fridge.
I have an Equate blood pressure cuff. It measures blood pressure and heartrate. My averages are 104 over 64 and 59, respectively. Perhaps that's a testimonial to my meds, but those are not high numbers.
One final entry from the Micturation.xlsx spreadsheet before I delete it. After three full weeks of tracking every drop, the averages work out to 8.0 times per day and 1 cup/8-oz. each time, near enough. Input and output match up, more or less.
A pain I was blaming on the ribs may be my right kidney or a urinary tract infection. I've upped the allowed volume of fluids, but banned coffee for a week to see if that helps. If not, I'll need to see my Urologist. Also, on advice of dotter, I'm slamming that cranberry-apple juice, because cranberry juice might be efficacious.
Blood pressure is running 106/66, heart rate 60 bpm for the year-to-date.
