Three times in six days George has had difficulty breathing & his color has not looked too perky either.
He has a referral to a pulmonologist in Crystal River but we still haven't heard from that office.
Today, he got up from a lawn chair on the screen porch, staggered to the door to cool off in the AC & stumbled head first before regaining his balance. Said he felt light headed. As usual, I insisted he go to the docs or the hospital 5 miles south of here.
Good thing I turned to the right to close the door because he swung for all he was worth.
I WAS NOT hit & he's not a violent man but - when his oxygen is low & he's feeling he's lost control any mention of medical attention usually elicits a growl.
Personally, I believe he's deteriorating more & struggling with that realization. Add 60 years of smoking, male ego, finally living in Florida & not being able to do what you used to and humidity & it's a tough road for a stubborn, independent man.
Last night, we ran the AC all night - not that it ran continuously, mind you, but it's a significant change for this household.
He seldom ever drinks water, preferring coffee or diet coke but in two days he's had three glasses of water. A first for him.
He going to ask his old pulmonologist what med the shot was he received there & ask the local doc to give him the same thing until he sees the new pulmonologist. We suspect his lungs need that antibiotic kick start to supplement the oral antibiotic he takes every other day FULL TIME.
I sympathize with any physician trying to treat him because he's the classic non-compliant patient. But, I love him & want to keep him around a long time.
Please say a prayer that he'll lose some of his stubbornness and get into the doc on Monday.
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2 comments:
Will do. And I'm the same way, don't go to the doc unless they drag me in on a stretcher...
I add one teaspoon Morton Lite Salt to each gallon of drinking water, and am better able to cope with the heat and humidity of East Texas.
One teaspoon is 40% iodine, 1400 mg potassium and 1160 mg sodium.
http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/custom/756195/2?print=true
hydration in hot weather
I add 1/2 teaspoon Morton LiteSalt to my 2 liter backpack canteen
page 118 Let's Eat Right by Adelle Davis
Under normal circumstances, a healthy person runs little risk of deficiencies of sodium and chlorine. In extremely hot weather, however, so much salt can be lost through perspiration that death may occur.
Death from salt deficiency occured during the construction of Boulder Dam and similiar projects. During the blistering summer of 1933 I corresponded with an engineer who was working on Parker Dam. Each letter contained some such note as, "We had a wonderful cook but he died yesterday of sunstroke." The symptoms of sunstroke are now recognized as caused largely by loss of salt through perspiration.
A lack of salt causes symptoms varying in severity from mild lassitude, weariness, or hot-weather fatigue, common during heat waves, to heat cramp, heat exhaustion, and heatstroke, familiar to those who work in iron foundries, furnace or boiler rooms, and industrial plants such as steel or paper mills. Even persons who play tennis or take similar exercise during hot weather may suffer from heat stroke.
Persons working in extremely hot weather are often advised to take a salt tablet with each drink of water.
page 187 there are three nutrients - potassium, sodium and chlorine which we need in quite large amounts. Sodium and chlorine are supplied by tablet salt. Potassium is widely occuring in ........
Morton LiteSalt 11 oz about 99c
1 oz = 6 teaspooons
11 oz = 66 teaspoons= 76,560 mg sodium, and 89,760 mg potassium
1/4 teaspoon serving
290 mg sodium
340 mg potassium
40% iodine
If you put one teaspoon Morton LiteSalt per gallon of water, an 8 oz serving will contain 72 mg Sodium, and 85 mg Potassium.
8 oz of Gatorade
contains 110 mg sodium, 30 mg potassium. (per Gatorade label.)
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