More Medical Updates

Twas the night before Christmas and etc. etc. etc.

I have a brief update on my various medical issues. I have 3 issues currently: 1-Sleep apnea 2-Veinous issues/lower limb circulation 3-Alzheimer’s/memory issues. Monday I had two appointments with updates to issues 2 and 3. My sister, Jan, accompanied me so if you doubt my interpretation you can check with her.

On the sleep apnea front use of the CPAP machine tends to be a surprising lack of drama. I use it and it seems to be working.

A report from the myAir app on my phone. I haven’t really noticed any improvement in my health, but the website says it takes a couple of weeks to see it.

On to circulation issues in my lower extremities. The consultation with the Casper Medical Imaging was not particularly satisfying. The bottom line was from the lower limb ultrasonic exam and the abdominal CAT scan was nothing remarkable found. We discussed my history, familial issues (dad’s heart attack and Sis’s heart issues) and other topics. The bottom line is that since there are no obvious issues they need to look elsewhere. We discussed it with my PA at the afternoon appointment and we discussed getting an ElectroCardioGram EKG and a blood test. The accomplished both of those in the office at that time. The next step is a stress test, ultrasonic imaging of heart while on a treadmill. I had done one of those years ago and it wasn’t a big deal. That will probably be done after the holidays.

Now the biggie, my memory issues. I had an afternoon appointment with my PA. We discussed the issue at some length. I mentioned that Sis was in a longitudinal study of Alzheimer’s with the nuns at the Mayo clinic and mentioned the blood test for protein fragments. Jen Wagy mentioned that there had been some talk last summer, but she didn’t think that the FDA had released the test yet, but that she would check.

She gave me a manual test of my orientation, the date, the fact that I was in a doctor’s office, etc. and administered a manual test that was surprisingly comprehensive. Having me recall 5 random words, and then about 5 minutes later, after doing other things, having me repeat them (I only got 3 out of 5) coming up with all the words I could that started with the letter F (excluding names) and counting down from 100 by 7’s. (basically doing mental subtraction). I did surprising poorly at that. I wound up getting a referral to a Neurology consult with Dr. Angelo Santiago. I got a call this morning to schedule it for January 6th. So, we will continue exploring that as we go.