Health Problems

Anyone ever dealt with pulmonary fibrosis before? Or, alternatively, has anyone dealt with the lung transplant process? Know anyone that lasted long enough to receive their new lung and actually survived more than a year or two?

Need any XBones or Nintendo DSs to help you keep occupied during treatment? I'm sure we could fund raise something through the board

Seriously though, all the best a_skeleton_03. Really sucks to hear someone you know get cancer. Hope the treatment goes well and that you will recover.

Nevermind to pulmonary fibrosis question. Point's moot, lung transplant refused. It's my uncle. He was in immaculate health up until January, then got a case of pneumonia that just wouldn't go away. Finally got a lung scan that revealed extensive scarring of the lungs indicative of fibrosis. Supposedly was something hanging around in his lungs for years that never got caught, I guess because he never had a reason to get scans before. Never smoked a cig in his life.

Transplant would've been an option, but the new health insurance plan he signed up for didn't cover pre-existing conditions. He'd had no health problems in the past whatsoever other than this recent bout with pneumonia, but because of the pulmonologist's assessment that the fibrosis had been camping in his lungs for years, it's considered pre-existing and thus not covered. No hope of transplant and none of us have the funds to pursue it otherwise.

As a side note, my dad died in oddly similar circumstances. He'd never had lung scans before, though he did smoke for 10-15 years when he was younger. My uncle is his identical twin. My dad wasn't in such a great state physically as my uncle was at the start of this- he was badly overweight due to diet and lack of exercise. A few weeks before he died, he had pneumonia and was addressing it as per usual, heeding his primary physician's instructions. A week later, he's suddenly dead. We lost phone contact for a few days and my uncle (now the one who's dying) went to check on him and found him dead. From what information was available, or at least what we were told, he died because he just... stopped breathing. No proper autopsy was done, or at least none they informed me about, and we just chocked it up to poor management of his own health.

As far as I've been told, and based on the limited amount of research I've done, "idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis" with which my uncle has been diagnosed, hasn't been determined to be a genetic disorder, but I'm starting to wonder. Maybe it's all just coincidence. Either way, I'm going in for extensive scans on my lungs fairly soon. I hope all this at least helps them understand it a bit more.

It's been a rough couple of weeks here. Found out I had been in atrial fibrillation for 16 days when they checked my pacemaker. Had to have cardioversion which is where they shock the heart back into rhythm.

Had a nuclear stress test and echocardiogram, and found out my heart function is down to 20-25%.

Found out I now have full blown type 2 diabetes. Have to see an endocrinologist.

And to top it off, today I found out I have a staph infection in my right eye.

Consequences can be a mother fucker sometimes.

I'm terrified of diabetes.

Of all the horrible shit you just listed, it is the diabetes that scares me. The other stuff I could deal with.

Diabeetus is my nightmare fuel.

If you have any questions about type 2 diabetes feel free to ask me. I've had it around 5 years now. It sucks, but is not as limiting as you'd think.

Sorry about the other stuff

Deathwing_sl said:

Stupid question: I thought obamacare got rid of pre-existing conditions?

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I was just going to say.... isn't that illegal?

Iannis_sl said:

I'm terrified of diabetes.

Of all the horrible shit you just listed, it is the diabetes that scares me. The other stuff I could deal with.

Diabeetus is my nightmare fuel.

Click to expand...

It's honestly not as bad as people truly thing. People think it is a death sentence.

If you catch it early, stay on top of medications, exercise frequently, and change your diet to accommodate your new condition it's fairly easy to maintain. I've also heard that if they catch it very early on, you can quickly reverse the effects of it and essentially become pre-diabetic.

The worst part for me originally was reading all of the horrible things that can happen to you. When I became educated I realized as long as I took care of myself I would be alright.

Honestly now the worst part is going for blood work so often (to check your A1C). They take a shitload of blood. The pinprick you do yourself is nothing.

Are you on insulin, Nood?

I was so focused on not eating very much sodium because of my congestive heart failure, that I wasn't watching my sugar and carb intake. Now I'm kinda fucked for both.

Iannis_sl said:

I'm terrified of diabetes.

Of all the horrible shit you just listed, it is the diabetes that scares me. The other stuff I could deal with.

Diabeetus is my nightmare fuel.

Click to expand...

43 and been a diabetic since age 5. It's never really kept me from doing anything I wanted. They eventually changed it where you could get a pilots license and that was about it. I've done all sorts of physical stuff including backpacking solo multiple times out west for up to 10 days at a time.

I am type 1 however and I believe it's actually easier to deal with earlier in life than trying to adjust later.

I would be more concerned with the staph infection. I know 2 people who have lost appendages due to it picked up in a hospital they couldn't get rid of it. A guy I work with and have known all my life his wife stumped her toe and needed a few stitches and she got it at the hospital and stayed on an IV infustion for antibiotics for a couple of weeks and eventually it got into the bone and she lost the toe.

Uncle Gravy_sl said:

Are you on insulin, Nood?

I was so focused on not eating very much sodium because of my congestive heart failure, that I wasn't watching my sugar and carb intake. Now I'm kinda fucked for both.

Click to expand...

No. Type 2 doesn't require insulin unless you get pretty bad. I was diagnosed around 5 years ago and try to keep everything in check.

The big thing for me that spikes my blood sugar is carbs. Sugar and carbs go hand-in-hand, but more often than not if something is higher in carbs it affects me very negatively.

My father has been type 2 for around 20 years and is only his regular meds and doesn't need insulin. His blood sugar stays around 90-120 on average too (better than me).

Good luck man. Here's some reading. Lymphoma is probably the downstream effects of other things wrong with the body. Blood working too hard to clean up other pathways and being in an inflammatory state an extended period.

bacterial overgrowth and rheumatoid arthritis
RA and lymphoma
RA and lymphoma

Chow down on fibrinolytic enzymes and vitamin k2

It's actually the lymph.

Lymphoma means one specific thing, but that one thing has to be refined to be meaningful. None of them are good news. To really get into the meat of what is wrong with Suin and what steps he can be taking... that's not our place. It would make everyone uncomfortable (a_skeleton_03 included. probably a_skeleton_03 the most) and really serve no purpose. That's what his doctor and nurses are for.

Also important to understand: It is not by default a death sentence. Some cancers really are.

You ever get diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, and you don't already have one -- make a will. Just sayin. Odds ain't great.

For sure. Didn't mean to scare anyone, just wanted to put some interesting literature out there. I work with cancer patients and a lot of them do well when they really take an interest in their disease and fight it from all angles.

This is a goodbookabout an alternate treatment for pancreatic cancer that got the axe after some bad luck during the trial.

Need to get a pelvic ultrasound on Wednesday because of persistent pain in my right ovary.

Really hoping its nothing, but a little freaked out.