I'm a bit late with an update from my cardiologist appointment on Friday but in my defense there isn't much to share.
My cardiologist, Dr. Ramanathan, has been great. We initially got off on the wrong foot (he was the doctor who broke the news to me day 2 in the hospital that my condition was life threatening and left me bawling for the day...but he's also been the doctor who's been the most upfront and honest, giving me the opportunity to process the information and thus allowing me to deal with it).
Alas, the meeting was to check on my ICD (all is fine) and to see if I had any questions. I did...when do I start the prednisone?
I'm sure there will be the odd hiccup in my care, human nature being as it is and the fact that I'll have 2 different teams following my progress, but yes...my TB results came back and sat on a computer. Not sure for how long they did that but the results were there and there was some meek surprise that I hadn't been notified. Alas, TB free I started my prednisone on Friday. 60 mg and this course is expected to go for 3 months.
So today is Tuesday, I've had 4 doses and aside from a headache and overall leg ache on Saturday and crazy insomnia on Sunday night I've been good though I have had some water retention but it fluctuates so no real complaints there.
I'm not sure when the nasty side effects will kick in (if they do at all) but I've been very strict with my eating and I'm hopeful that it will help weather some of the more unwelcome side effects.
Since sarcoid is an inflammatory disease, I've done what I can to cut out any potential inflammatory foods. This started with my reducing refined sugars coupled with my previous reduction of salt due to the heart damage. Fortunately, in getting my body ready for a long course of high dose prednisone, already having reduced salt was a great thing since the medication causes water retention.
Last Monday we reviewed the other areas in my life that are likely adding to potential inflammation and we're looking at options for our dogs (being that I'm allergic and have been living with dogs for 12 years now) and we debated over lowering simple carbs and or gluten. Carbs simply because I feel better when I cut them down but then debated over whether this was going to be a life long sustainable diet vs keeping very healthy foods such as potatoes.
In the end we did some research and thought we'd give gluten the axe for now and see how that made me feel and how we felt about sustaining that type of dietary life style.
For the record, cutting out gluten is much easier than cutting out simple carbs (I can still have my non-fat latte in the morning which starts my day off right). And, meals are much easier to plan for when potatoes or rice are an option (though we still don't eat a lot of these food). Also, the fact that there are so many gluten free options (pasta, bread) it still allows us to create and enjoy many of the meals we love.
So for now I'm feeling good and I'm hopeful that I'll be able to maintain a diet that will keep my risk of diabetes low (by reducing refined sugars) and the reduced salt (needed for my heart) will help keep the water weight down as well and thus will aid in feeling better and thus I'll still be up for walks and eventually spinning in the garage and maybe in the new year some running (when my arm mobility is back).
In regards to running, that was one thing that my Friday appointment touched on, my heart needs a rest. Its been damaged and has been stressed. So it was recommended that I don't do anything to push it for now and let it heal. I'm good with that since I want to avoid triggering this defibrillator as much as possible.
So that pretty much sums up my assessment to date. I have my official eye exam tomorrow though the exam I had last week here locally came back 'clear' for any sarcoid damage, so I'm thinking tomorrow will be more setting up a base for them to monitor any issues moving forward.
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