My back surgery...

[The Chairman]

I don't understand either dealing with Eliquis. Ask your heart doc.

It wasn't prescribed by my heart doc, but by my hematologist due to the provoked incident of pulmonary embolism. I've been researching pulmonary embolisms and seem to have more questions than answers! I'll be seeing my hematologist a week from today. I look forward to a candid discussion.

 

[tursiops]

I have had a cardiologist for a few years when they heard a slight murmur. I see him this month, I think. He did copious amounts of testing and found nothing awry.

4th spring session in a row. It was only me, a baby gator, two turtles, and a bunch of fish for about 45 minutes, then Joe the Sculptor showed up. I sat on the edge of the pool and did two 5-minute sessions of intense kicking. I got my pulse way up to 111bpm and was breathing hard. I floated around a bit and it came down to 66bpm. That's the lowest I've seen since surgery. I just checked my BP as I'm sitting here, and it was at 132/81. Not great, but not all that bad either. During my exercise, I did not experience any dizziness or other phenomenon.

Two days ago, I saw that I had an uptick in weight by four pounds. No. I'm not going to gain what took me so long to lose. This morning that was down a few pounds. Phew!

I got a call from my hematologist, and she disagrees with my pulmonologist. She pointed out that staying on Eliquis is my choice, but with a provoked episode, 3 months is plenty. I've got a week or so to make that decision. We discussed symptoms of a pulmonary embolism, and we both agree that I am exhibiting none of them. She has completely cleared me to swim as long and as hard as I like until such symptoms exhibit themselves. She went as far as to encourage me to continue to exert myself as much as possible while swimming. Yay!!! To be clear, I'm holding off on diving until I get cleared in December. After today's spring session, I'm certain that I will pass that test with flying colors.

OK, now I'm confused. You prefer the lung advice you are getting from your hematologist over the advice from your pulmonologist....

 

[tbone1004]

It wasn't prescribed by my heart doc, but by my hematologist due to the provoked incident of pulmonary embolism. I've been researching pulmonary embolisms and seem to have more questions than answers! I'll be seeing my hematologist a week from today. I look forward to a candid discussion.

I'm prescribing a little bit of Captain for you!

 

[The Chairman]

I'm prescribing a little bit of Captain for you!

View attachment 860740

I'm waiting on you, bro!

 

[The Chairman]

OK, now I'm confused. You prefer the lung advice you are getting from your hematologist over the advice from your pulmonologist....

These are -blood- clots that happen to be in the lungs. Currently, I am showing zero symptoms of having them. No shortness of breath. No dizziness. No coughing up blood. No passing out. Excellent O₂ saturation. Normal BP and pulse rate. Blood gasses are also good. My pulmonologist is the outlier here. To be clear, I will not be diving until I get the "all-clear" from my pulmonologist after the Perfusion and Breathing Efficiency test on December 9th.

 

[Scuba_Jenny]

Do you mean Rock Springs in Kelly Park just outside of Apopka? That's Florida's first "Lazy River". If you haven't been, please GO!!! Weekends can get quite crowded, and you can bring or rent a tube. You can still find shark teeth in the boils the last time I was there. That's one of the main springs I frequented as a kid. Close to that is Wekiva Springs, and the Wekiwa River. Wonderful canoeing and kayaking experiences there. FWIW, Rock Springs Run flows into the Wekiwa. Kings Landing might still be there if you want to rent a canoe.

Yes, that... Kelly Park, and Rock Springs, Wekevia.. all that. Itching to get some kayaking done round there.. I have kayaks, friends have kayaks.. just can't get a schedule that matches so we can make the trip.

 

[The Chairman]

Yes, that... Kelly Park, and Rock Springs, Wekevia.. all that. Itching to get some kayaking done round there.. I have kayaks, friends have kayaks.. just can't get a schedule that matches so we can make the trip.

Keep me in mind when you do. I raced canoes in High School, and the Wekiwa River was our river. I've been from the Wekiwa marina to the railroad trestle (shy of FL46) at least a hundred times, and probably more. I often hit it once or twice a week for over two years. Shell island, the landing craft, various tributaries are all burned into my brain with target times there and back. I still love it. I bet all the old river shacks are gone. They had been outlawed in the 70s and were quite dilapidated by the mid-70s. I have two kayaks, but no way to get them there with my Mach eX. That could change as there's a bumper hitch sitting in my workshop, and a small trailer on property.

FWIW, I'm really hankering to get my kayaks mobile again for some local paddling.

 

[Scuba_Jenny]

I'm learning that kayaks are kinda like scuba tanks. One is just not enough...

 

[Jeff_O]

Hey, on this prostate stuff, I was in Scotland a couple of years ago and having some plumbing problems so I went to see a urologist when I got back.
Before that, I had been getting care from the VA, and that had turned to shi#e during Covid, but nothing had bothered me so life was good.
So right at the end of 2021/start of 2022, my guy told me not to make plans for the end of the year. Things were pretty bad downstairs, and my prostate cancer was just itching to kill me.
South Florida has no end of esteemed treatment centers - U of Miami, the Cleveland Clinic, Boca Raton MC, so I contacted the Mayo Clinic for an appointment. I didn’t know they had a branch in Jacksonville….I was preparing to fly to Rochester, MN, but Jax was only 300 miles away right up I95.
They took me right in and determined that the prostate cancer had not metastasized.
I never had chemo or surgery - just 20 hours of radiation and a bunch of meds.
The only side effects were hot flashes which REALLY SUCK and a massive weight gain from steroids which I am now trimming off.
If it had metastasized, the doctors had a treatment plan for that as well.
At some point, we just moved up here to Jax and sold the Boca house.
The Mayo also installed a new titanium right knee since that had been bothering me for years.
So something’s going to kill me, but it’s pretty likely that it’s not going to be prostate cancer. I actually went to a funeral this morning for my 61yo neighbor who took six months to die from complications of a spider bite last February.
I just was not tough enough to not fight this damn thing with everything at my disposal.
Wookie, good luck with your journey.

Sorry to hear about your friend and the complications from a spider bite. I have to mention that I found that I am allergic to penicillin and cephalosporins antibiotics for treating what was probably a spider bite.

I had been using a drysuit many years ago that had both power and manual inflator with corrugated tube to inlet by chest on the drysuit.

When I came up from free diving/snorkeling and needed to get some air in the suit very quickly at the surface, I got some water blown in through the tube besides my breath.

In with the water and my breath, there was something that dislodged in the tube I expect. It stung me on my chest.

If it was a spider from when the suit was stored or something in the salt water, I am not sure. It left scar tissue under the skin and now years later if it needs to be removed, I would do it, but rather no surgery if not needed.

I already have cubital tunnel surgery for nerve pain in one hand and do want to have two surgeries healing concurrently.

Moral of the account, use something to verify the tube as described is clear. There are not many suits fitted with this arrangement. Even so I may take intermediate pressure from a regulator and blow inside a suit before getting into it, just in case.

 

[ofg-1]

Yes, I did get answers, and while not the ones I was hoping for, I can, er "live" with them. However, I would love to find a diving pulmonologist or even cardiologist in the G-ville area. My current doctors are frank about their lack of knowledge when it comes to how this affects my diving. I certainly appreciate their ability to acknowledge that they lack certain knowledge.

I would suggest Doug Ebersole in Lakeland, yeah I know its a few hours south of you. If you can get Andy Pitkin on the phone, he may know someone closer, I think he is still at Shands.