Medical care for the ages (and aged)

I want to share two medical procedures I have recently had with the hope it may help those with similar problems to take positive action, i.e. consult with doctors (especially cardiologists) and spinal specialists. 

In June, I had a Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement (TAVR) because the aortic valve in my heart (the most important) was not functioning properly. In layman's terms,  my doctor (an aortic surgeon) replaced the aortic valve with a minute wire cage inside which was a pig-skin valve. He did this through my groin. Prior to the procedure I was short of breath, tired easily, and sweat profusely during the slightest extended activity. e.g. carrying groceries, walking around the large building (South Bay @ Mt. Pleasant) where I live. Since this successful procedure I have more pep and energy and, for example, am able to ride a stationary bicycle for 30 minutes.

In August, the second procedure was the injection of steroids into my lower back on the right side. Three doctors assured me that x-rays did not show any problems with my hips.  For several months I suffered with continuous pain due to arthritis, had to use a cane and then a walker to get around. I limped daily and normal activities took double the time to complete. It has been three days since this injection and already I have relief from the aching in my right leg from my waist to my foot. The expectation is that in about 14 days time I may be able to dispense with the walker and only use the cane to help maintain my balance. 

Consult with your doctor.  You may be glad you did.

Send comments to: arch@archibald99.com

Living long is the best revenge

Last Wednesday a young lady kept her hand in my groin for about 30 minutes. Normally under such circumstances, you would expect some pleasure, but there was none to be had.

It was a nurse who pressed on the inside of my right leg to close a puncture made by my cardiologist who did a heart catheterization to evaluate my heart function. During the procedure, a second stent was put in my heart. 

Dr. Matthew O’Steen also went into my heart through my right wrist but the puncture there was closed with minimal effort.

My heart and Dr. O’Steen are not exactly strangers. He put an earlier stent in some years year ago and I have great confidence in his skills and abilities. 

As we age, it is often one thing or another. As a child, we can’t wait to grow up and when we get older we wish we were younger.  Whoever said a man is “never satisfied” was “spot on.” 

I am pleased to admit to being 86. When I was a child I could not imagine being 65. That was a long way off and “old” in a child’s mind. 

It will take a few weeks to adjust to my procedure and follow-ups with the doctor have been scheduled. Nevertheless, I am optimistic. I am a believer in a comment attributed many years ago to Bette Davis, one of Hollywood's greatest and most ferociously independent actresses, who was born in Lowell, MA., where I was raised: “Living long is the best revenge.”

After the first 100 days

The first 100 days of the President Trump administration has gone by. Nothing spectacular has been accomplished, although much was promised. The Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare as its detractors like to call it, is still with us. 

Tax reform is promised for this week, although many in Congress are skeptical until President Trump releases his earlier tax returns and legislators can see how and if he will benefit from proposed tax code changes. And, everyone should be concerned about who will benefit from proposed changes - the top 1 or 2 percent, the middle class or even those lower on the economic ladder.

I had a discussion last week with a lady who is a Trump supporter and who believes the news media has been too critical of the new president. There is no doubt the media has been robust and reporting on the flaws and goofs coming out of the administration. But better a free and reliable media with its criticisms than a cheering section for ignorance and stupidity. 

One action, in particular, disturbs me: the Attorney General’s decision to stop looking at police departments across the country when citizens and groups file protests. AG Sessions tried to delay implementation of a continuing review of the Baltimore police but a court ordered it to go forward. The majority of American police departments are stacked with good men and women and conduct themselves in the ritual of Preserve and Protect. But when citizen complaints are made they need to be looked into, and this has been the responsibility of the Justice Department. This must continue.

It appears that Steve Bannon’s role as chief strategist to President Trump is a thing of the past. His “America first” ideas are ill-advised and out of touch with reality. Since World War II, America and the American President have been at the forefront of world leadership and we cannot neglect, ignore or discard that duty. The world is too big and volatile for the number one super power to step aside and let things sort themselves out. I told a friend a couple of weeks ago that Bannon will be gone by Labor Day. I stand by that statement. 

Global warming, terrorism around the world, security of nuclear weapons, world trade and finance, poverty, refugees, roads and bridges in America, are all calling for leadership and action. 

New jobs must be created and an aging workforce assisted with training to fill those jobs. Opening up the mines and other industries will not automatically result in more jobs. Robots and automation are always going to cut into what were once good jobs for men (and women). 

There is not much to show for the first 100 days of this Presidency, but we can hope that the administration ship will be righted to an even keel and sail on to better days for the U.S. and the world. 

Click here for complete blog.

Click to comment.

Gratitude in Life

Why I am grateful

When I woke this morning, October 2, 2016, it was the first day of my life I was 85. I am a guy who has had a good life; one who studied, worked, laughed and cried, and loved and lost.  During the past week I looked back on the many people and life events I have to be truly thankful for. My attention is with specific individuals and cohorts of people whose place in my life is deeply personal to me. By listing them here I hope to pay homage to them and let it be known publicly how truly grateful I am to:

• a loving God for the blessings of life and overlooking my failures and foibles.
• my country - the USA - for the privilege to live in freedom and opportunity to dream, to fail, to succeed. 
• my parents, Francis C. and Anne C. (Wynn) Archibald for giving me life.
• my siblings, children and extended family members who make life interesting and fun.  
• the public school teachers and Xaverian Brothers who instructed me through high school.
• my higher education professors and teachers who opened wide the doors to knowledge.
• Ed Cavanaugh who helped me get my first job as a teen-ager.
• Ed Quigley, part-time employer and kind friend who urged me to join the U.S. Air Force.
• Lt. Col. John A. Brock, USAF, mentor and career facilitator.
• the men and women who made my working life challenging, successful and pleasurable.
• Carl Meynardie, publisher of The Hanahan News, who gave me a column and expanded a voice.
• the friends and allies who supported my political and elected service. 
• the medical practitioners who take care of me.
• my late wife, Mary Frances Cooper, who married me, loved me, and gave me five children.
• my children who each developed in a different way and make me proud to be their father.
• my late second wife, Joyce L. Wahlrab, who loved me unconditionally.
• the innumerable men and women who touched my life, and I theirs, during these 85 years.

The timeline of a life is uncertain, but I look forward to the years ahead. I pray for long life, that I might love and serve My Lord, My God, and assist those in need in some small way.

Comments to: arch@archibald99.com

Click here for complete blog. 

Two women and a frightening tale

This is a story about two women, both born before the outbreak of World War II, who are connected only through me but who shared a medical event that is downright scary, and can be life threatening,

The first woman I will call BM grew up on the East coast, became a professional woman and moved to California. Decades later she has returned to New England to live among family. 

The second woman is a very private person who lives in New York City, and whom I will call JM. She had a fine career in the medical field, and is active in public life. She recently confided to me she had scheduled elective surgery to have a hip replaced later this year.

BM had an absolutely necessary hip replacement in California several weeks ago. The procedure, including a week in physical rehab went well. She was extremely pleased. 

Shortly after BM got out of the hospital she developed an MRSA infection and was re-admitted to hospital. The Mayo Clinic website says, “Most MRSA infections occur in people who've been in hospitals or other health care settings, such as nursing homes and dialysis centers…MRSA infections typically are associated with invasive procedures or devices, such as surgeries, intravenous tubing or artificial joints.” 

In the hospital ICU, BM was given three injections of powerful  drugs every day for seven days to fight the disease. 

After discussing this with BM, I emailed JM and urged her to include MRSA infections in discussions with her doctor and his staff to be on the safe side. This is a summary of her reply:

“Your MRSA (Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus) caution brought me back to reality - and earth. I had so wanted to believe that this one procedure would make me perfect again that I chose to forget the horrible (surgical) past and my vow 'never, ever, to go for elective surgery for anything....unless blood is issuing from every bodily cavity!’ "

Well, dear Arch, JM continued, here is what I repressed to myself. I contracted “a very serious, life-threatening case of MRSA from a first hip surgery 3 years ago and I was in intensive care for 17 days while they shot me full of mega drugs, and after months of daily continued drug injections at home, I (obviously) survived - but was told that I would be 'forever immune' to the life-saving properties of those same mega drugs”

JM concluded in sadness: “God works in mysterious ways and so, minutes ago, I received a call notifying me of the funeral of (name deleted), an old friend, and former co-worker,” who died Wednesday from MRSA after having hip replacement surgery.

JM was going to the funeral. 

Click for earlier postings.

Comment to: arch@archibald99.com

The 4th Stent

"The 4th Stent" sounds like a great title for a novel by a contemporary spy author. It is, however, what was put in me on August 28th by an excellent and aggressive cardiologist, Dr. Matthew B. O'Steen, Charleston, SC. This stent went in the artery in my right kidney and followed on two in the left kidney and one in the LAD in my heart. All of this by Dr. O'Steen since April. Needless to say I am feeling much better, my wife, Joyce, says my color is much improved and most importantly indications are that my blood pressure has gone down. This has been a major concern for quite awhile.
The work was done in Roper-St. Francis Hospital in Charleston and the recovery room nurse, Jessie, was great. A patient could not ask to have a better one. 
All was not medical on this trip from Hilton Head to Charleston. On the day before the procedure we went to dinner at California Dreaming and then drove to Folly Beach to show Joyce the famous pier. It was a good night to go. Around 7 pm there were some people enjoying swimming, fishing and playing volleyball on the beach. We took the usual array of photos. 
It made me feel good to see these people having a great time and to see Joyce enjoy some new sights and sounds of South Carolina. It was a good couple of days.

(For the full blog go here.)

(To opt out send e-mail: arch@archibald99.com)

Did it again

 Do you recall doing some things and enjoying them so much you could not wait to do them again? Like the time you went to a carnival as a teen with your own money and had a waffle covered with strawberries and cream. Or the first time you had sex with someone other than yourself.  A more recent experience did not reach those levels of pleasure, but I did it a second time anyway. 
 In April my cardiologist, Dr. Matthew O'Steen put a stent in the LAD (left anterior descending artery which supplies blood to the front and bottom of the left ventricle) of my heart.
 I felt so much better afterwards. I was walking a couple of miles at a good pace and without stress. My wife said my color was better. I felt better all around. But my blood pressure remained high.
 A month later I went back to hospital and Dr. O'Steen put two stents in the renal artery of my left kidney. If one is good, two must be better, right?  
 Suffice that my blood pressure has dropped 30 points over the past week since the kidney work. A major triumph. My doctors and I have been working on lowering my BP for a long time.
 I share this personal experience with the hope it may help someone to do some things in their life if they are having problems of fatigue, shortness of breath and worst of all high blood pressure. See your doctor as the place to start.
 Life is the most valuable possession we have. We ought to take care of it and enjoy it. "Living well is the best revenge."
(Complete blog here.) 
(To opt out, send "Delete" to arch@archibald99.com)