Getting some help!

We left Elkhart Campground on Tuesday this week and drove to Summit Lake State Park, near our old home in Mooreland. They have installed 50 amp and have water on every site with a dump station, so when we need to be in the area, that is a good choice for us. We reserve the one pull-through right next to the bathhouse and use the campground showers.

I had my dermatology appointment and got my cortizone shot for my psoriasis. It's the only thing that works, so three shots a year is what I get without any side effects popping up. After that appointment we returned to the motorhome, ate lunch, and headed toward Indianapolis by checkout time at 2 p.m.

We arrived in Indy at the Indy KOA which is actually at Mt. Comfort Road, and I guess technically in Greenfield. We had registered for two nights. Terry was scheduled into the Advanced Heart Failure Lab on Thursday. Starting at 9 a.m. we had a different appointment/doctor/medical person every hour till 4 o'clock.

Terry has had heart failure that we watch and treat for nine years. People live with heart failure. At the very worst, however, heart failure patients may elect a transplant. The problem for us was that all the people we saw thought we were there for consultations for a heart transplant. Nooooooo....... we didn't get that memo and didn't sign up for that. Heart failure can be treated and the very first doctor we saw, a transplant specialist, said Terry wasn't sick enough to even think about a transplant. He was confused as to why Terry's cardiologist wanted him seen in the clinic. But most HF clinics treat heart failure. Perhaps he doesn't want to there. . . I don't know. But he did request a couple tests and said that perhaps the new HF drug, Entresto, would be a good fit for Terry. The second doctor we saw was a lung transplant specialist who was also mystified at our appearance in the clinic. He reiterated what the first doctor said. He ordered a test as well. Those three tests are all scheduled next week. The next guy was a dietitian and he said he was going to try and get the rest of our appointments cancelled because we did not need to see those people since we were not there for a transplant and that's what they would all talk about. But the gal who had scheduled everything declined his recommendation saying that if we ever needed this, it would already be done. Course, that may be years down the road or perhaps NEVER. A few more years and Terry will probably be past the "age" for such a procedure and he really doesn't want to consider it. He just wants to get to feeling better.

So we went to all the appointments and the next to last one was a social worker which was a total waste of time. She put Terry to sleep with her drivel and she arrived late and kept us 90 minutes, making us miss our last appointment.

The last one was the one we really wanted because it was a physical therapy assessment. We went down to the office and we were able to get rescheduled for today. So we went in this morning. The PT was super and she assessed Terry for doing some PT. He hasn't been able to breathe well enough to walk, but she wants him to walk 10 minutes 3 times a day. We've already done 2 rounds today and he's done well.

The biggest problem has been his sleeping. He cannot sleep at night. He is up and down until he just gives up and stays up, sometimes not getting more than 2-3 hours of sleep a night or none at all. Then he sleeps off/on all day. Skipping sleep during the day does not necessarily mean he sleeps at night. He may still be up all night, so I have been insisting that he sleep when he can. His heart needs rest and when he doesn't get it, he looks terrible. He has been so much on edge with this doctor stuff this summer and his overall health, that these things have obviously contributed greatly to his condition. Last night after seeing all these doctors, he went to bed at 7 p.m. He got up once and slept till 7 a.m this morning. Today has been a great day. He looks and feels great and he is acting like himself. I hope he continues to sleep now that he has some answers and is getting some help to get back on track.

So, we have decided to spend the weekend here in Indy because his tests are scheduled for Monday and Tuesday. We plan to leave here Wednesday and visit with Mom in Claypool before heading back to Elkhart Campground on Thursday.

Till next time. . .

Dale