tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-55465092012-01-10T22:56:28.429-08:00My Adventures with Heart FailureI got diagnosed with Congestive Heart Failure in December 2002. I've learned a lot and continue to learn. Thought I'd share some of it. Watch for medication information, links, low-sodium ideas, pacemaker/ICD info, etc.Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01544677246103285261noreply@blogger.comBlogger1451100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5546509.post-6204845492821349122007-03-13T14:04:00.000-07:002007-03-13T14:10:10.381-07:00Apparently, the marketing people from Coreg read this blog. They asked me if I'd be willing to add a link to Coreg's web site. I checked out the site, and decided that it would be worthwhile to add a link to the part of their web site that specifically discusses heart failure. There are some interesting bits of information in there, including differences in the incidence of heart failure among Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01544677246103285261noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5546509.post-57315722291659574562007-03-13T13:42:00.000-07:002007-03-13T13:52:29.284-07:00Another article of interest (I've been on antidepressants since long before I got diagnosed with CHF):Depression Worsens Outcomes for Heart Failure PatientsMarch 6 (HealthDay News) -- Depression is a major factor in poor medical outcomes for heart failure patients, says a new U.S. study.The study, conducted by researchers at Duke University Medical Center and the University of North Carolina, Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01544677246103285261noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5546509.post-83915410483764702412007-03-13T13:39:00.000-07:002007-03-13T13:41:55.420-07:00This week's article:Lipitor Approved for Additional UsesMarch 8(HealthDay News) -- Pfizer's anti-cholesterol drug Lipitor (atorvastatin)received expanded approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration onWednesday to reduce users' risks of non-fatal heart attack, fatal and non-fatalstrokes and hospitalization for heart failure, and for use in certain types ofheart surgery, the company Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01544677246103285261noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5546509.post-1167894128577465102007-01-03T22:57:00.000-08:002007-01-03T23:02:08.586-08:00Happy New Year!Well, 4 years (and a couple of weeks now) since I got diagnosed. The good news, I'm still alive. The bad news, my EF hasn't budged from 20% despite all medications, and three tries at implanting a third lead from the pacemaker to do bi-V pacing have all failed. Oh well.I gained a few pounds this past year, and I need to lose it again. I think that's a battle all of us fight. I'm Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01544677246103285261noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5546509.post-1166143184579834632006-12-14T16:29:00.000-08:002006-12-14T16:40:38.386-08:00Easy recipe time!Roasted Winter Vegetables1 bag "Golden Nugget" or other fingerling (tiny) potatoes1 bag pearl onions1 sweet potato1 butternut squash1 bag parsnips (giant white carrots)optional: 1 small box brussels sprouts, if you're not a supertaster who hates themolive oilfresh rosemaryfresh thymeScrub the potatoes, but you don't have to peel them. Peel the outer layer off the onions. Peel theKellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01544677246103285261noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5546509.post-1165964277036402892006-12-12T14:57:00.000-08:002006-12-12T14:57:57.046-08:00This week's article:Magnets may interfere with pacemakers and ICDs Dec 08 (HealthCentersOnline) - Certain types of magnets that are becoming increasingly popular in clothing and jewelry may interfere with the function of pacemakers and other implanted cardiac devices, according to new research. Implanted in the chest, pacemakers and implantable cardiac defibrillators (ICD) are two types of Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01544677246103285261noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5546509.post-1165354901677697292006-12-05T13:40:00.000-08:002006-12-05T13:41:41.690-08:00This week's article:Possible cause found for deadly rapid heartbeats Nov 30 (HealthCentersOnline) - A recent study may help researchers to better understand the mechanism involved in a certain type of heart failure. Heart failure is a chronic condition in which at least one chamber of the heart is not pumping well enough to meet the body's needs. This leads to congestion in the lungs or pulmonaryKellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01544677246103285261noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5546509.post-1164353998835405922006-11-23T23:38:00.000-08:002006-11-23T23:39:58.863-08:00This week's article:Blood pressure may help predict heart failure riskNov 20 (HealthCentersOnline) - A simple vital sign taken during admission to the hospital may be able to predict whether a patient's heart failure will worsen, according to a recent study. Heart failure is a chronic condition in which at least one chamber of the heart is not pumping well enough to meet the body's needs. This Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01544677246103285261noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5546509.post-1163806121267933452006-11-17T15:23:00.000-08:002006-11-17T15:28:41.280-08:00My local newspaper (the Baltimore Sun) had an article a few days ago entitled "Working on MRIs that are safe for pacemakers." Subhead: "Patients with heart implants may be able to undergo diagnostic scanning procedure." The article was cautiously optimistic; a study of the first pacemaker designed to withstand MRIs is scheduled to start at the end of this year. However, the article doesn't say Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01544677246103285261noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5546509.post-1163659735520448722006-11-15T22:28:00.000-08:002006-11-15T22:50:40.186-08:00Three magazines that might be useful (put 'em on your wish list for Chanukah/Christmas/Solstice/Festivus):First off, strange as it may sound, I find the magazine Diabetic Living to be very useful for someone with heart failure. Many, many of the health concerns are the same for the two chronic illnesses, including the need to watch one's weight, to get regular medical care, to be very careful in Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01544677246103285261noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5546509.post-1163574318397772382006-11-14T23:04:00.000-08:002006-11-14T23:05:18.410-08:00This week's news article:Pump, with drugs, can reverse heart failure Nov 03 (Reuters) - A device that helps severely damaged hearts pump may be able to do what was once thought impossible -- reverse heart failure in people who are weeks away from death, British researchers reported on Wednesday. The left ventricular assist device, or LVAD, can boost the heart's ability to function, allowing itKellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01544677246103285261noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5546509.post-1161850932295338042006-10-26T01:21:00.000-07:002006-10-26T01:22:12.306-07:00An article from a few weeks ago:Stomach acid drug may slow heart failure Sep 26 (Reuters Health) - Treatment with famotidine, which is sold under the names Pepcid and Fluxid as a stomach acid blocker, appears to improve the symptoms occur with chronic heart failure, new research shows. Famotidine blocks histamine receptors that exist on gastric cells, and this decreases stomach acid production. Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01544677246103285261noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5546509.post-1161672473900042222006-10-23T23:30:00.001-07:002006-10-23T23:47:53.910-07:00Hey, did I tell you that my new ICD fired up only 5 days after I got it put in? At the data dump* a couple days later, it showed my fibrillation at about 300 beats per minute, and the doc swears I wouldn't have been sitting there talking to him without this ICD. Odd, though, since the previous ICD had not fired in 2.5 years... We have to wonder a bit if the surgery perhaps acted in some sort of Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01544677246103285261noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5546509.post-1161671817182967662006-10-23T23:30:00.000-07:002006-10-23T23:36:57.193-07:00Well, I've just been busy. Busier than I should be, perhaps - we had houseguests for a weekend, and between the clean-up before-hand, the staying up late talking, and the running around doing stuff, I was wiped out - pretty much slept straight through afterwards, waking up only briefly for lunch and dinner the next day. My sleep schedule is still a bit rocky after that.On the bright side, my 6 Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01544677246103285261noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5546509.post-1158974627738306962006-09-22T18:10:00.000-07:002006-09-22T18:24:01.873-07:00It itches while it's healing. To tone down the itching a bit, I've been putting some gel on it. There are a couple of kinds of gel that do a good job of muting the itching: antihistamine gel, such as CalaGel, and sunburn gel, such as Solarcaine with Aloe Vera, which has the topical anesthetic lidocaine in it. If you don't want that many ingredients, plain aloe vera gel is better than nothing, butKellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01544677246103285261noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5546509.post-1158287749616542032006-09-14T19:26:00.000-07:002006-09-14T19:35:49.633-07:00Well, I have my new ICD/pacemaker, as of Monday, and as expected, they did NOT get the 3rd lead in this time either. The new device is on my right side, since the left side now has too much scar tissue; this means that the leads had to be placed across the chest, behind the sternum.Things they don't tell you about placing leads across the chest: it winds up irritating and inflaming the tissue in Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01544677246103285261noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5546509.post-1157598037494556852006-09-06T19:59:00.000-07:002006-09-06T20:00:37.496-07:00And another article:Initiative helps minority heart failure patients Aug 16 (Reuters Health) - A nurse-led program can improve functioning and reduce hospitalizations among African-American and other minority patients with heart failure, a study shows. Despite the availability of effective therapies, heart failure "continues to cause substantial hospitalization, and death, especially among Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01544677246103285261noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5546509.post-1157597944625772692006-09-06T19:57:00.000-07:002006-09-06T19:59:05.166-07:00This week's article:Surgery may help people with heart failure Aug 31 (Reuters Health) - Quite often, people with heart failure have some degree of blockage of the coronary arteries. In such cases, those who undergo surgery to clear to arteries have markedly better survival than those treated with medication, researchers from Canada report. "Our main finding," Dr. Ross Tsuyuki told Reuters Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01544677246103285261noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5546509.post-1156918626959903202006-08-29T23:15:00.000-07:002006-08-29T23:17:06.970-07:00Wednesday I saw the electrophysiologist my cardiologist had referred me to, the one who's something like head of the entire department at Johns Hopkins, and yes, he did manage to convince me that I should go ahead and get another defibrillator/pacemaker. If they can't get the third lead in, he promises that they won't spend a couple extra hours poking around; instead, they'll close it up as is, Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01544677246103285261noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5546509.post-1155247982691252742006-08-10T14:51:00.000-07:002006-08-10T15:13:02.813-07:00Surprising variety of low-sodium foods at Trader Joe'sI'm lucky enough to have a Trader Joe's about 5 miles away. If you are near one and haven't checked it out, try it. There are quite a few items that are low-so! For example, over in frozen entrees, there's two I particularly like: the Chicken Vindaloo (340 mg sodium for the entire 11-oz meal, and only 4 grams of fat), and the Thai Style Lemon Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01544677246103285261noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5546509.post-1153842015224485362006-07-25T08:37:00.000-07:002006-07-30T23:01:43.660-07:00This week's article:High-dose diuretics raise mortality in heart failure Jul 20 (Reuters Health) - As the dosage of loop diuretics increases in patients with advanced heart failure, the risk of death also increases, according to findings of a study conducted at the University of California at Los Angeles. "This is the very first study to look specifically at the relationship between various Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01544677246103285261noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5546509.post-1153447323374125362006-07-20T18:50:00.000-07:002006-07-20T19:02:03.460-07:00Well, the stress echo shows that my ventricles are discordant - one side blobs OUT when it should be squeezing in; when I exercise, my EF DROPS from 20% down to the 10-15% range. (In the middle of the walk, my blood pressure started dropping because of this. Apparently, this is significantly abnormal enough to wind the test down early.) The bi-ventricular pacemaker would definitely be at least a Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01544677246103285261noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5546509.post-1153109442133943902006-07-16T21:05:00.000-07:002006-07-16T21:11:10.736-07:00I read a short blurb somewhere recently, that said that researchers have discovered a genetic basis for whether or not heart failure patients respond successfully to beta blockers, and that they are developing a fairly quick genetic test for it. This should mean that it will be possible to test new patients and see whether or not to waste anyone's time, energy, and money on expensive drugs such Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01544677246103285261noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5546509.post-1152236740571976122006-07-06T18:40:00.000-07:002006-07-06T18:45:40.596-07:00The July issue of Prevention magazine has ratings of various salsas they tested. Salsa certainly adds zing to food, and has the added advantages of being low-fat and generally low-cal. However, finding low-sodium salsa can be a pain. So, from among the 9 salsas that they gave the highest ratings to, here are the ones that are Green Mountain Gringo Mild Salsa - 90 mg sodium per 2 Tbsp; available Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01544677246103285261noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5546509.post-1151893398274328552006-07-02T19:08:00.000-07:002006-07-02T19:24:04.576-07:00New recipe:Meatless Loaf1 can NSA (no salt added) chickpeas/garbanzos1/2 cup to 3/4 cup NSA bread crumbs1/4 cup grated or shredded cheese - whatever you have on hand. Mozzarella, parmesan, romano, lo-so-cheddar... whatever. about 1/3 to 1/2 cup finely chopped carrots - I started with shredded carrots and then chopped them further in the food processorone 4-ounce can NSA mushrooms2 eggs or Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01544677246103285261noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5546509.post-1150260963632679542006-06-13T21:55:00.000-07:002006-06-13T21:56:03.643-07:00This week's article:Being overweight or obese can enlarge a teen's heart Jun 08 (HealthCentersOnline) - The heart health of adolescents may suffer from excess body weight, causing abnormal heart enlargement and impaired pumping function by age 20. Being overweight and obese has long been associated with an increased risk of heart disease. Obesity is the second leading cause of preventable death, Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01544677246103285261noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5546509.post-1149029835468975362006-05-30T15:47:00.001-07:002006-05-31T23:24:47.150-07:00Ladies Home Journal had a short blurb, which I can't find amongst my clippings right now, about how and why blood thinners help reduce the chances of SCD from atrial fibrillation. I don't remember the details of how it does that, but I do remember the statistics they cited in the column: if you are at risk of atrial fibrillation, and you don't take any blood thinners, you have a 1 in 20 chance ofKellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01544677246103285261noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5546509.post-1149029308344285762006-05-30T15:47:00.000-07:002006-05-30T15:48:28.353-07:00This week's article:Common painkillers may raise risk of heart failure May 23 (Reuters Health) - Patients who use non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), which include over-the-counter analgesics such as ibuprofen or naproxen, have a small increased risk of experiencing a first hospitalization for heart failure, researchers from Spain report. They also found that for patients with Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01544677246103285261noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5546509.post-1148963659686441412006-05-29T21:29:00.000-07:002006-05-29T21:34:19.696-07:00Science News has a short blurb mentioning that they've found out exactly what it is that makes it a bad idea to eat grapefruit or drink grapefruit juice when taking certain medications. Lipitor, for example, and the other statins, which most of us with almost any heart problem seem to be taking. So anyway, it turns out to be certain compounds called furanocoumarins, which are in grapefruit juice Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01544677246103285261noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5546509.post-1148699151261428042006-05-26T20:04:00.000-07:002006-05-26T20:05:51.273-07:00More ICD newsBoston Sci finds battery problem in some devices May 16 (Reuters) - Boston Scientific Corp. on Monday said it had notified doctors that some of its implantable cardiac devices, which it acquired as part of its purchase of Guidant Corp. last month, could be at risk for early battery depletion. Boston Scientific, whose shares fell 1 percent, said the problem occurred in a single lot Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01544677246103285261noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5546509.post-1147210932880365592006-05-09T14:11:00.002-07:002006-05-09T14:42:12.883-07:00Here's a relatively low-sodium macaroni and cheese recipe. Please note that this recipe is NOT low-fat; I don't know of any way to make mac-n-cheese that is low-fat, low-sodium, and tasty all at once; at most, you can get two of those together. This one is low-sodium and tasty. There are footnotes telling you where some of the ingredients are available.Macaroni Quattro FormaggioCook 12 ounces of Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01544677246103285261noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5546509.post-1147209195791454842006-05-09T14:11:00.000-07:002006-05-09T14:13:15.806-07:00This week's article:How exercise helps heart failure patients May 04 (HealthCentersOnline) - A small study may help explain why aerobic training helps to reverse the abnormal heart patterns that appear in patients after experiencing heart failure. Heart failure is chronic condition in which at least one chamber of the heart is not pumping well enough to meet the body's needs. This leads to Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01544677246103285261noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5546509.post-1146118177260108732006-04-26T23:06:00.000-07:002006-04-26T23:09:37.270-07:00another articleResearchers develop a new way to assess heartbeatsApr 21 A new light-emitting dye may reveal the inner workings of the heart's electrical system. Scientists hope this approach may shed light on the precise causes of irregular heartbeats and sudden cardiac death. A heartbeat begins when electrical impulses are fired from the upper chambers of the heart (the atria), which contract Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01544677246103285261noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5546509.post-1145389366238888472006-04-18T12:39:00.000-07:002006-04-18T12:42:46.566-07:00This week's interesting article:Girl's heart restarted after donor organ removed Apr 14 (Reuters) - A British girl is thought to have become the first heart transplant patient in the UK and possibly the world to have had her donor organ removed and her own heart re-started, a London hospital said on Thursday. Hannah Clark from south Wales had a heterotopic transplant operation -- known as a "Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01544677246103285261noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5546509.post-1144903196990190922006-04-12T21:37:00.000-07:002006-04-12T21:45:04.356-07:00So anyway, I've been going overboard in describing my hospital stay; let me digress here to some actual content. I may have mentioned that, since I want to remain ICD-less for a while, my regular cardiologist told me to avoid drugs that are known to cause arrhythmia.Brief summary: avoid decongestants, non-sedating antihistamines, macrolide antibiotics ("mycins"), anything ending in "zole," and Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01544677246103285261noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5546509.post-1144475828139788682006-04-07T22:53:00.000-07:002006-04-07T22:57:08.156-07:00Essay: What I did this March, Part 2.So, at 6:00 a.m., once he had noted my room number and phone number and all that, spouse went home to get a few hours sleep. Right after that, more pus decided to gush out of the incision, and my nurse called over a bunch of the other nurses to see it, as none of them had ever seen anything quite like it before. They wound up using an abdominal pad rather thanKellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01544677246103285261noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5546509.post-1144196482108869012006-04-04T17:10:00.000-07:002006-04-04T17:27:14.423-07:00Essay: What I did this March, Part 1.Today, I got the PICC line removed from my arm, which makes typing MUCH easier. So this seems like as good a time as any to fill in the details. As you'll recall from earlier entries, on March 2, I had surgery to try and implant the third lead from my device. When I originally got the device in 2003 (right when I started this blog!) the doctors in Austin had Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01544677246103285261noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5546509.post-1143861634665454892006-03-31T19:16:00.000-08:002006-03-31T19:20:34.676-08:00In case you were wondering, I did indeed have the ICD removed. Now I am deviceless. My arm and shoulder are still a bit sore - the surgical "wound" from removing the whole device and letting the resulting "pocket" heal from the inside out is a bit more major than putting the device in was. And my other arm is occupied by a PICC line running IV antibiotics from a portable infusion pump. So it's a Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01544677246103285261noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5546509.post-1143566622619634442006-03-28T09:15:00.001-08:002006-03-28T09:23:42.620-08:00Of special interest to women:Heart devices may help women less than men: study Mar 15 (Reuters) - Implanted devices designed to shock the heart into a normal rhythm may not be as effective in women as they are in men, researchers said on Monday. Researchers at Hartford Hospital in Connecticut and the University of Connecticut evaluated five previous trials of implantable cardioverter Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01544677246103285261noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5546509.post-1143566384381841982006-03-28T09:15:00.000-08:002006-03-28T19:22:51.323-08:00I have been hearing from SEVERAL people just in the past week, who got diagnosed with LBBB, told not to worry, and a couple of years later got diagnosed with heart failure. This seems to be a distinct pattern emerging. You all know I'm not a doctor, so I can't make a diagnosis, but I can sure give you this advice: if your doctor tells you to ignore it, do at least 2 things: (1) get a second Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01544677246103285261noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5546509.post-1142642704324416692006-03-17T16:43:00.000-08:002006-03-17T16:45:04.333-08:00Well, crap. As you recall, I had surgery two weeks ago, and it wasn't successful - they did not manage to implant the third lead. Now there seems to be an infection in the pacemaker site. Going to have to go back in for surgery Monday morning. 5% chance it's harmless serum, they drain it, I go home. 95% chance it's infected, they will remove the whole pacemaker, which happens to be somewhat more Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01544677246103285261noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5546509.post-1141946720485747802006-03-09T15:23:00.000-08:002006-03-09T15:25:20.516-08:00Of course the incision itself is itching like crazy as it heals, but also some of the surgical tape seems to have induced some contact dermatitis, so there are patches of outlying itching as well.Aloe vera gel. Benedryl gel. Cortisone lotion. Still itches.Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01544677246103285261noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5546509.post-1141784228440184082006-03-07T18:15:00.000-08:002006-03-07T18:17:08.453-08:00Another article:Breathing training can help heart failure patientsMar 03 (Reuters Health) - People with heart failure and difficulty breathing may benefit considerably from using a device to train the muscles involved in breathing, Brazilian researchers report. The Threshold Inspiratory Muscle Trainer (Healthscan Products, Inc.) applies a load while subjects breathe in, thus training the muscles Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01544677246103285261noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5546509.post-1141772964347136612006-03-07T15:02:00.000-08:002006-03-07T15:09:24.393-08:00A couple of recent articles about heart failure from Business Week. Business Week???? Not where I would have expected them, but hey, let's be glad people are finally noticing we're out there.Spotting Heart Disease EarlyMARCH 6, 2006Heart HealthBy Kerry CapellSpotting Heart Disease EarlyRoche and other companies are devising diagnostic tests that help morepatients prevent heart attacks. The next Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01544677246103285261noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5546509.post-1141361970094559342006-03-02T20:57:00.000-08:002006-03-02T20:59:30.106-08:00The good news is, I'm home from the hospital, and only a little the worse for wear.The bad news is, nothing good happened either, which is why I am back at the keyboard on Thursday evening. After digging around and poking under my heart for a couple more hours than planned, the doctors still could not get through a bit of membrane that's not supposed to be there, to get the new lead into the Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01544677246103285261noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5546509.post-1140565974548410922006-02-21T15:50:00.000-08:002006-02-21T15:54:57.340-08:00The "Speed Bump"* comic in yesterday's paper was funny. There's a guy lying in a hospital bed, and a doctor talking to him: "We successfully replaced your pacemaker with an iPod, Mr. Wyatt... Now you can march to the beat of any damn drummer you want."*it's a single-panel cartoon that runs in daily newspaper, by Dave Coverly.Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01544677246103285261noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5546509.post-1140476341918122272006-02-20T14:57:00.000-08:002006-02-20T14:59:01.926-08:00As predicted, Johns Hopkins has indeed phoned me twice since my last visit, to get my address and insurance info and mother's maiden name and first 10 digits of pi, in preparation for my surgery next month. Why can't they get their computers to talk to one another, instead of phoning me at 8:15 in the morning?Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01544677246103285261noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5546509.post-1140249568823848672006-02-17T23:52:00.000-08:002006-02-18T00:01:51.503-08:00From an article a couple months ago in the Baltimore Sun, some medical websites. You've probably already found most of these, but if not, try them:http://www.medlineplus.gov (NIH and National Library of Medicine)http://www.healthfinder.gov (Dept. of Health & Human Services)http://www.ahrq.gov (Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality - reportedly not very user-friendly)http://www.pubmed.gov (Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01544677246103285261noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5546509.post-1140038931584810332006-02-15T13:22:00.000-08:002006-02-15T13:28:51.663-08:00This week's news articles:First, as the overweight, couch-potato, baby-boom generation starts edging into the "normal" age range where heart failure becomes more common, what a surprise! Heart failure rates increase! What is of note, regardless of age, here, is that survival rates are improving - finally! We were getting tired of those mortality statistics not budging, despite newer meds and Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01544677246103285261noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5546509.post-1139971971955455532006-02-14T18:47:00.000-08:002006-02-14T18:52:51.966-08:00Reading KateMonster's post reminds me to also be thankful to the doctor who diagnosed me. I had been taking drugs to treat asthma, which are directly harmful to hearts with cardiomyopathy, and the same thing could have happened to me. However, when my GP, frustrated with my nonresponsive "asthma," referred me to a pulmonologist, it took him about 5 minutes to correct the diagnosis - even though Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01544677246103285261noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5546509.post-1139034776161181672006-02-03T22:23:00.000-08:002006-02-03T22:32:56.190-08:00On the first of Feb., I got to see an electrophysiologist at Johns Hopkins - one of the reasons we moved up here to Baltimore!!My regular cardiologist over in Howard County had referred me, and this EP had an opening relatively soon in his schedule. I swear, the longest part of the whole deal was waiting in lines once I got to Johns Hopkins Outpatient Clinic. First you walk in the lobby and wait Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01544677246103285261noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5546509.post-1138153442911082812006-01-24T17:42:00.000-08:002006-01-24T17:44:02.923-08:00This week's article:'Statin' drug may be helpful in heart failureJan 20 (Reuters Health) - Treatment with Lipitor (atorvastatin), one of the popular cholesterol-lowering "statin" drugs, can help the heart pump better in patients with heart failure, according to a new report. By contrast, findings from a much smaller study showed that aside from lowering cholesterol levels, Lipitor did not benefitKellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01544677246103285261noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5546509.post-1137648122911913592006-01-18T21:14:00.000-08:002006-01-18T21:22:02.946-08:00I just realized I hadn't ever mentioned the results of the MUGA scan. I saw my cardiologist last week to discuss them. The MUGA gives an exact number, instead of the range that an echo gives. My EF is, therefore, 21%. And while I'm relatively asymptomatic compared to most people with EFs that low, he finds it frustrating that despite all the meds and my reasonable weight and all that, we haven't Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01544677246103285261noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5546509.post-1137625311652800862006-01-18T14:50:00.000-08:002006-01-18T15:01:51.690-08:00A short article from New Scientist, 14 January 2006:Implantable defibrillators have saved countless lives by applying electric shicks to jump-start failing hearts. But these devices have one serious flaw: they often go off when they are not needed, giving unsuspecting and perfectly healthy recipients the fright of their lives. [BunRab's 2 cents worth: if they were perfectly healthy, they wouldn'tKellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01544677246103285261noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5546509.post-1136578228819245812006-01-06T12:09:00.000-08:002006-01-06T12:10:41.706-08:00This week's news article:Resistance training OK for heart failure patients Dec 27 (Reuters Health) - Contrary to qualms about deleterious effects on the heart, people with chronic heart failure can safely undertake a resistance training program, Australian researchers report. In fact, such training appears to have a beneficial effect on how strongly the heart is able to pump blood. Resistance Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01544677246103285261noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5546509.post-1135828721434719652005-12-28T19:42:00.000-08:002005-12-28T20:01:02.506-08:00Recently I had a MUGA scan done. This was because my most recent echo,a month ago, showed my EF as having fallen back down into the 15-20% range. Doc says that at low numbers like that, the echo isn't very accurate or precise; the MUGA is. I haven't heard the results yet - he's on vacation; I meet with him the day he gets back, Jan 9. Anyway, some of you have heard about MUGAs, and if you haven'tKellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01544677246103285261noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5546509.post-1135827697655566402005-12-28T19:37:00.000-08:002005-12-28T19:41:37.670-08:00A couple of articles about Guidant ICDs Three new deaths associated with Guidant devices Dec 15 (Reuters) - Guidant Corp has filed reports with the US Food and Drug Administration about three new deaths associated with short circuits in its heart devices, the New York Times reported on Wednesday. Citing FDA records, the newspaper said the deaths occurred after Guidant recalled the heart devices Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01544677246103285261noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5546509.post-1135122690927243812005-12-20T15:50:00.000-08:002005-12-20T15:51:30.940-08:00News:Micronutrients helpful for heart failure patientsec 07 (Reuters Health) - Micronutrient supplementation improves heart function and quality-of-life in elderly patients with chronic heart failure, according to a report from investigators in Germany and the UK. "The vitamin story has been confused with studies examining the response to single vitamin supplements in relatively low-risk patientsKellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01544677246103285261noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5546509.post-1134949391641542622005-12-18T15:31:00.000-08:002005-12-18T15:43:11.703-08:00Top Ten List: Ten Reasons Why CHF is Not the Worst Thing That Could Happen10. No chemotherapy, radiation, dialysis, or daily injections.9. You get to use handicapped parking spaces at the mall.8. Perfect excuse for getting out of parties you'd rather not go to in the first place.7. Lots of chances to lecture people endlessly when they say "you don't LOOK disabled"6. ICD support groups serve free Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01544677246103285261noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5546509.post-1133468890999622832005-12-01T11:39:00.000-08:002005-12-01T12:28:11.043-08:00It's the beginning of the holiday season!That means, for many people, FOOD.And all those parties. Snacks and alcohol - what do we do about them?First off, if you want to be sure there's something at a party that you can eat, bring something yourself; a bowl of my fruit salad with ginger dressing will work nicely. I can't seem to find the old post from a couple of years ago where I put this, so Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01544677246103285261noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5546509.post-1130547033629467712005-10-28T17:48:00.000-07:002005-10-28T17:50:33.650-07:00Two articles related to heart failure:Heart drug therapy complex, costly for elderly Oct 20 (Reuters Health) - Because elderly patients with heart failure are faced with ever more complex and expensive medication regimens, more effort should go into optimizing their treatment, according to a new report. "Physicians should be aware of the drug regimens they are expecting their patients to take,"Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01544677246103285261noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5546509.post-1128182618812059472005-10-01T09:00:00.000-07:002005-10-01T09:03:40.536-07:00Four newspaper articles:September 27, 2005Implant Program for Heart Device Was a Sales SpurBy BARRY MEIERBy January, about 80 cardiologists nationwide completed an evaluation run bythe Guidant Corporation of one of its products, an improved electricalcomponent, known as a lead, that connects an implanted cardiac device to theheart.In exchange for implanting the lead in three patients and Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01544677246103285261noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5546509.post-1124231571103356042005-08-16T18:30:00.000-07:002005-08-16T15:32:51.110-07:00Cocoa fights heart disease Aug 12 (HeartCenterOnline) - A cup of cocoa may actually be good for your heart, according to researchers in Great Britain. Chocolate and cocoa have long been used as medicines. In fact, cocoa was originally marketed as a health tonic in the United States - and it appears there is an element of truth to the folk wisdom. Cocoa is rich in flavonoids, which have been Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01544677246103285261noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5546509.post-1123622517706103692005-08-09T14:21:00.000-07:002005-08-09T14:21:57.713-07:00The September issue of CR has a notice about the recall of various Guidant defibrillators. Luckily, my model isn't among them, but I had to do some searching to find that out - the recall lists everything by the model name, but my wallet card lists everything by model number, and I had to plow through several pages of Guidant's web site to find out the name of mine to match the number. (Model Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01544677246103285261noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5546509.post-1123539798924300872005-08-08T15:21:00.000-07:002005-08-08T15:23:18.936-07:00When a Heart Device Short-Circuits (NY Times) August 7, 2005When a Heart Device Short-CircuitsDefibrillators that shock a chaotically beating heart back to normal andpacemakers that regulate a heart's rhythm have saved or improved the livesof hundreds of thousands of people. But every so often one of theseimplanted devices fails to work when it is desperately needed. The story ofhow the Guidant Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01544677246103285261noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5546509.post-1123198545112950302005-08-04T16:23:00.000-07:002005-08-04T16:35:45.120-07:00Cholesterol Drugs & Heart FailureA common cholesterol-reducing drug may lower the risk of death from heart failure. Read the complete article: Statin therapy lowers mortality in heart failure. For more information, visit HeartCenterOnline's Cholesterol Center or Heart Failure Center. Or, view all Cholesterol News or Heart Failure News.You can also check out the Heart Failure Quiz.And other Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01544677246103285261noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5546509.post-1122405281336373282005-07-26T15:14:00.000-07:002005-07-26T12:15:38.316-07:00Fresh articles via the Heart Center Online:Insulin resistance associated with heart failureEstrogen therapy may help prevent enlarged heartInsulin resistance associated with heart failure Jul 22 (HeartCenterOnline) - Insulin resistance appears to increase the risk of developing heart failure, according to a new study published in a leading medical journal. Congestive heart failure (CHF) is a Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01544677246103285261noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5546509.post-1122093291865054282005-07-22T21:24:00.000-07:002005-07-22T21:34:51.873-07:00It has been a while. We moved from Texas to Maryland. Where up until this week, it has been 10-15 degrees cooler than Texas. This week, the temperatures are about identical. But that's OK - it's the middle of July, it's supposed to be summer. At least here in the Baltimore area, summer will last for another few weeks, and it'll be getting cooler again by the end of August. In Austin, it will stayKellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01544677246103285261noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5546509.post-1118364398498705962005-06-09T17:45:00.000-07:002005-06-09T17:46:38.506-07:00From Science News, Vol. 167, No. 22, May 28, 2005, p. 341.Positive Jolt: Electroshock therapy may have side benefitNathan SeppaPeople with depression have high concentrations of norepinephrine, a nervous system hormone that signals blood vessels to constrict and ratchets up blood pressure, researchers report. Treating these individuals with electroshock therapy lowers their norepinephrine Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01544677246103285261noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5546509.post-1117866090521556372005-06-03T23:19:00.000-07:002005-06-03T23:21:30.530-07:00Someone sent me this article, which is interesting because I've been taking medication for an underactive thyroid for more than 20 years before my heart failure was diagnosed:Researchers discover thyroid, heart failure connectionPlain Talk ^ | May 27,2005Researchers at The University of South Dakota School of Medicine believe they are on the verge of changing the way physicians view the treatmentKellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01544677246103285261noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5546509.post-1114722497770101222005-04-28T13:36:00.000-07:002005-04-28T14:10:22.560-07:00Can you make a cake without sodium? Yes. First off, you DON'T need to add salt to make the cake rise. Many people think that yeast breads and quick breads/cakes won't rise if there's no salt. This is not true. The yeast in bread feeds off of sugar, not salt; salt just speeds it up a little. You can leave salt out of homemade bread willy-nilly. To me, it still tastes fine, but if you are going to Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01544677246103285261noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5546509.post-1112310731493675592005-03-31T14:57:00.000-08:002005-03-31T15:15:53.336-08:00Below are a whole bunch of excerpts, with references to the original articles. I'll summarize what they say, though: CHF patients who have left bundle branch blockage (LBBB) have a worse prognosis than other CHF patients. Biventricular (3-lead) pacing may improve the odds slightly for some such patients.Why do I care about this? Guess who has LBBB - and in fact, said LBBB was noticed almost 10 Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01544677246103285261noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5546509.post-1111644574998280772005-03-23T22:03:00.000-08:002005-03-23T22:09:35.000-08:00An article I tore out of Science (www.sciencemag.org) from 9 April 2004, that got lost in a stack and just now came to light, talks about "Renovating the Heart." The abstract says:Inspired by reports that cell infusions can heal animal hearts, cardiologists are rapidly moving to test the idea in humans."The therapy being tested involves taking cells from a patient's own body, and injecting them Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01544677246103285261noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5546509.post-1108103400935147952005-02-10T22:17:00.000-08:002005-02-10T22:30:00.940-08:00Do you watch CIS and Without a Trace on Thursday evenings? Vivian on "Without a Trace" just got diagnosed with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. They had her handle it about the same as I did - cry, and then go back to work because what the hell else can you do? Hers is apparently genetic - they reference an uncle who died in it. And it is true that high blood pressure, and high-blood-pressure-inducedKellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01544677246103285261noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5546509.post-1105864254250031252005-01-16T01:19:00.000-08:002005-01-16T00:30:54.250-08:00From the January 8, 2005 issue of Science News:
Beat Generation: Genetically modified stem cells repair heart
Tissue engineers have for the first time used genetically modified human stem cells to repair damaged hearts in guinea pigs.
In experiments on guinea pigs, scientists have used genetically modified human embryonic stem cells to make a biological pacemaker. The implanted tissue has kept Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01544677246103285261noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5546509.post-1105835746817823152005-01-15T16:24:00.000-08:002005-01-15T16:35:46.816-08:00A few articles online that I've run across:
http://www.cms.hhs.gov/quality/hospital/SummaryOfMeeting.pdf This article is about a study which shows that ARBs, a/k/a AIIBs, angiotensin-II blockers, a/k/a "sartans" do as much good for patients with heart failure or left ventricular systolic disfunction as the older ACE inhibitors do. The protocols for standard treatment of heart failure will be Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01544677246103285261noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5546509.post-1105729644953446822005-01-14T10:48:00.000-08:002005-01-14T11:08:43.346-08:00I'm trying to get through a load of magazine articles I've torn out and saved up. Herewith a summary:
From Reader's Digest, December 2004:
CT scans are a safe way to diagnose illness or injury. But the growing trend of full-body CT scans by healthy people for early detection of tumors or heart problems may actually increase cancer risk. Don't get a full-body CT scan unless you are already at Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01544677246103285261noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5546509.post-1105728015561305562005-01-14T10:35:00.000-08:002005-01-14T10:40:15.560-08:00I contributed several of my recipes to a cookbook put out by Animal Trustees of Austin, as a fundraiser. Those of you who might want those recipes can find the cookbook here. It includes the salt-free summer pickles, the high-potassium fruit salad, three bean salad, black bean salad, and my most famous recipes, the cashew chili and the chickpea curry. Because we tried to give stuff animal relatedKellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01544677246103285261noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5546509.post-1104381829413018182004-12-29T20:42:00.000-08:002004-12-30T10:30:01.976-08:00Article from local newspaper; see bottom of article to get information on your own local hospital!
Austin area hospitals rated on heart, pneumonia care
Ratings aimed at giving more information to consumers, raising quality of patient care
By Mary Ann Roser
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Wednesday, December 29, 2004
Austin area hospitals made grades ranging from fair to good for heart attack Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01544677246103285261noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5546509.post-1100632244335378022004-11-16T10:59:00.000-08:002004-11-16T11:10:44.336-08:00From the 8 October issue of "Science":
A particular strain of mutant mice have defective heart development, including problems with the myocardium and its electric signaling. Injection of nonmutant embryonic stem cells into blastocytes of these defective mice rescued the heart defects in the mutant mice, and injection of normal embryonic stem cells into the peritoneal cavity of pregnant mice Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01544677246103285261noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5546509.post-1099961035417219502004-11-08T16:38:00.000-08:002004-11-08T16:43:55.416-08:00Vitamin D - read an article in the October 9 "Science News" - turns out Vitamin D is more important than people think. Among other things, very important to leg strength. Many of us with heart failure worry that every leg cramp we get may mean we're potassium-depleted, but it can be other things. People living up north, not getting much sunlight, and not taking daily vitamins, may not be getting Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01544677246103285261noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5546509.post-1097910366332807682004-10-15T23:55:00.000-07:002004-10-16T00:06:06.333-07:00I've been experimenting with pumpkin ice cream recipes. Finally got one I really like. I will like it even better when I get around to buying a real pumpkin; they're so easy to cook in the microwave! I used to have to use a pressure cooker to cook pumpkin, and frankly, I've never been real comfortable with the pressure cooker even though I used it for 20 years. Cooking pumpkin in the microwave Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01544677246103285261noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5546509.post-1096863160843492602004-10-03T21:08:00.000-07:002004-10-03T21:12:40.843-07:00It may be autumn on the calendar, but it's still around 90 degrees in the afternoon here. So I'm still making ice cream. This weekend, I made the banana ice cream mentioned earlier, except that used both a banana and a nectarine. I found my larger ice cream maker, the half-gallon one. So I nuked a banana and the nectarine until they were soft, pureed them in the food processor, added a whole can Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01544677246103285261noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5546509.post-1096177550146740562004-09-25T22:27:00.000-07:002004-09-25T22:45:50.146-07:00These last couple days I have eaten WAAAY too much sodium. It has been a busy week: one of my pet guinea pigs is performing in a play at the university where I teach (long story, but she's filling in for the part of Groucho the kitten, in Act 1 Scene 1 of "You Can't Take It With You.") So Friday was: teach class, run to the Quilt Show for my volunteer shift, realize I hadn't eaten lunch and Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01544677246103285261noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5546509.post-1094770002946389042004-09-09T15:45:00.000-07:002004-09-09T15:46:42.946-07:00Whoo hoo! My ejection fraction is up to 25%!! Still not healthy, but a significant improvement over 15-20%!!!Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01544677246103285261noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5546509.post-1093643488086707162004-08-27T14:38:00.000-07:002004-08-27T14:51:28.086-07:00The bracelets are beginning to take off! This morning, I met with the woman who is planning the Juvenile Diabetes Austin chapter's fundraiser silent auction, to donate a few of my Medical ID Alert Bracelets for the auction. Should be great publicity for them. The fundraiser is October 2 at Oslo on 6th St., if anyone's interested!! I donated three bracelets, two that say "Diabetes" and one that Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01544677246103285261noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5546509.post-1092263945336523552004-08-11T15:34:00.000-07:002004-08-11T15:39:05.336-07:00When the temperature outside is higher than body temperature, I get lightheaded real easily. As long as my bike is moving, the evaporative cooling makes it OK, but at stoplights, I really feel it. I find I need to drink way more water in the summer; I know we're supposed to limit our fluid intake, but if I stick to the guidelines, I get dizzy. I have about 12 cups of fluid a day rather than 8 Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01544677246103285261noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5546509.post-1091657433573281072004-08-04T17:08:00.000-07:002004-08-04T15:11:43.660-07:00Hey! My Medical Alert bracelets are up for sale on eBay
You can also read more about them on my new web page.Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01544677246103285261noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5546509.post-1090902253371240382004-07-26T21:06:00.000-07:002004-07-26T21:31:04.613-07:00OK, the second version of the blueberry ice cream worked:
Blueberry Ice Cream
Makes 1.5 pints (3 cups)
You need to have a chilled cylinder for a small hand-cranked ice-cream maker such as Donvier or Nordic Ware, ready ahead of time.
In a bowl, place about 1-1/4 cups blueberries and 1/4 cup water. Nuke for 2 minutes, stirring once. Drain off water.
Combine stewed blueberries and 1/4 cup Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01544677246103285261noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5546509.post-1090534106942220072004-07-22T17:10:00.000-07:002004-07-22T15:10:05.206-07:00I am making blueberry ice cream even as we speak. With my old Donvier manual ice cream maker - you remember, the ones that you chill the cylinder ahead of time and then turn the little handle a couple of times a minute for 20 minutes? I'll let you know how it comes out - I'm not sure I got the proportions right. That is, I cut a much larger recipe down to one pint, but I'm not sure some of those Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01544677246103285261noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5546509.post-1089363851247729532004-07-09T02:03:00.000-07:002004-07-09T02:04:11.246-07:00I will be AFK until Monday evening the 12th. Travelling.Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01544677246103285261noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5546509.post-1089178164570389112004-07-06T22:23:00.000-07:002004-07-06T22:29:24.570-07:00Some suggestions wanted. I want to make up a bunch of bracelets so that I have some "stock." But it's difficult to put the alert tags on before I have the info that goes on them. So I've been putting "See Wallet Card." I am considering having the following "in stock" :
Coumadin
Pacemaker
Heart Patient
ICD/Pacemaker
and a few miscellaneous ones:
Diabetes
Penecillin Allergy
Does that sound like Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01544677246103285261noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5546509.post-1088812849790518392004-07-02T16:59:00.000-07:002004-07-02T17:00:49.790-07:00All right! My medical alert bracelets for sale are up and running! I will have pictures posted shortly. Meantime, if you're interested in a lightweight yet strong bracelet with lots of glass beads, a plastic bead alert tag, and a free wallet card, e-mail me!Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01544677246103285261noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5546509.post-1087679222410199322004-06-19T14:04:00.000-07:002004-06-19T14:07:02.410-07:00Oh yeah, an addendum to the grapefruit juice. While one possible side effect is that your drug doesn't get digested properly at all, the other possible effect, depending on the drug, is that too much of it remains in your bloodstream, instead of getting eliminated (the liver bone's connected to the kidney bone) and so you can have the effect of an increased dosage - more chance of side effects, Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01544677246103285261noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5546509.post-1087453864471363192004-06-16T23:19:00.000-07:002004-06-16T23:31:21.043-07:00I have a couple of different bits of medical alert jewelry. Most medical alert bracelets are mildly ugly; some are heavy chain and quite ugly. While one wants a medical alert bracelet to catch attention when needed, I personally don't want to have it always catching attention for its sheer ugliness. I ordered several different kinds of bracelets, charms, and a necklace, right after I got my ICD/Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01544677246103285261noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5546509.post-108681681460207172004-06-09T14:17:00.000-07:002004-06-09T14:34:47.190-07:00Recent medical articles point out that it is best to take your diuretics WITHOUT food, if you are taking a loop diuretic ("water pill"). The loop diuretics include furosemide (Lasix), bumetanide, torsemide, and ethacrynic acid. Food is known to alter the absorption of a number of drugs and significantly affect the rate at which people respond to the drugs. In the case of loop diuretics, even the Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01544677246103285261noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5546509.post-1085176942267714032004-05-21T14:58:00.000-07:002004-05-21T15:02:22.266-07:00And an article from my local paper, the Austin American-Statesman, Metro & State section, Friday, May 21, 2004:
Small heart pump making big difference to patients
Small devices becoming a way to return patients to normal lives while they wait for transplants
By Juan A. Lozano
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Friday, May 21, 2004
HOUSTON -- A small blood pump bolstered not only 19-year-old Everardo Flores' Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01544677246103285261noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5546509.post-1085174348123657452004-05-21T14:18:00.000-07:002004-05-21T14:19:08.123-07:00Thanks, Rick, for passing along this article!
Dual-chamber pacemakers can cut death risk up to 50% Study is the largest
yet of heart failure device
By Steve Sternberg
USA TODAY
Devices that synchronize the two halves of the failing heart and shock
hearts that falter cut the risk of death by more than one-third, a study
reports today.
The study, called Companion, involved 1,520 patients with Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01544677246103285261noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5546509.post-1085033419120435582004-05-19T22:53:00.000-07:002004-05-19T23:10:19.120-07:00Animal Trustees of Austin is putting together a vegetarian cookbook as a fundraiser. Since so many of these recipes are vegetarian - several of them vegan, even - I went ahead and contributed them to the cookbook, odd comments and all.
I try and stay involved in the animal rescue community, even though I don't run Guinea Pig Rescue of Austin any more. Next month, the House Rabbit Resource Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01544677246103285261noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5546509.post-1083313250234695142004-04-30T01:20:00.000-07:002004-04-30T01:23:57.090-07:00I met a woman today who has been paralyzed from the waste down from a gunshot wound to the spine for the past 27 years. Last year she came down with breast cancer and had to have a double mastectomy and a long train of chemo. Then last month she broke her arm in a wheelchair accident. I feel awfully lucky by comparison.
We had an interesting and amiable discussion about the differences or lack Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01544677246103285261noreply@blogger.com0