A visit to the doctor and good / bad news
Entry posted by scottm
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The wife and I went to the doctors yesterday as a followup to our annual checkups. She got her results first and it was better than good. I opined that she was now assured of out surviving me. That got me the hairy eyeball and a 'we'll get to you in a minute' from the doc. Anyway, she is in excellent health and all her numbers are good.
Now he gets to me and starts with 'you have challenges that cause me to reexamine you a lot'.
OK, that's not how I wanted him to start.
Then he runs down my history and finishes with 'and your brain is a minefield of all the plaque that was in you coronary arteries before they knocked it loose.'
This is going down hill fast...
Then the zinger, For someone who has been through what I have I am physically very healthy. My cholesterol is 145 BP is high but controlled, all my enzymes and other lab measures are good or better. EKG has a barely noticeable extra pulse on it, doc declares my heart sound and assures my wife barring the unforeseen asteroid strike we should survive a while yet.
Oh yes, the bad part. When he finished complementing us on my recovery I asked him a simple question that I'm used to getting very nonspecific answers to. "Given my recovery to date and the improvements I've made, can I expect my cognitive function to improve? I feel like I've hit the wall there."
He looked me straight in the eye and said "No, that part of the brain is gone but it will keep trying to rewire and you'll continue to adapt". So I got a direct answer from my primary that all the specialists dance around. My body will continue to strengthen, even my spastic right arm and I will continue to adapt both physically and mentally. As I used to say in rehab when I could suddenly accomplish some task, "I'll take it."
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