2011

Friday, my gentleman, faithful furry companion. Sometimes I wonder if he’s really a cat… he still lives with me and loves me.

Recently I received a lengthy email from a longtime friend who is undergoing treatment for cancer. He was open and honest about wondering whether to continue the therapy, he was very tired and wondered if it was worth it to keep fighting. He had now made the decision to continue with it, because his wife whose health has not been good in recent years needs him. I sent him the following response:

Thanks so much (for sharing the details of what he has been going through). I will pray more specifically, and particularly target the pain and horrible discomfort you are going through. THROUGH, the key word, through to the other side.

The following is long, sorry, but read it gradually if you need to. Put it off till later if you need to.

One thing you said – “You would not believe what this chemo does to a person’s temperament” – yes, I do believe it.

2011 was a very different year for me. I’d had a normal mammogram in December 2010, but then they called me to come in for more films. The eagle-eye technician had spotted an enlarged lymph node deep under my left arm. After those films they recommended a needle biopsy, from which I bled, and bled, and bled. I went home wrapped up like a mummy to stop the bleeding. Thankfully my daughter Shelby was driving me!

The lab report showed breast cancer type cells in the lymph node. Because there was no tumor in the breast itself, it took weeks’ worth of other testing to find the small tumor attached to that lymph node. I met and talked to lots of technicians while undergoing MRI, full body bone scan, PET scan, and lots of blood work. I got to pray with and for many of them.

Well, since this little tumor involved the lymph system, the cancer was already Stage 3, the oncologist Dr. Bajaj explained. He was so patient and kind, explaining everything, answering my every question.

And so beginning the end of January 2011 I underwent 5 months of chemotherapy for breast cancer, with every bad side effect you can get. All the skin peeled off my face, hands and feet. Shingles developed across my chest, side and back, twice. Pain – in my case, not from the cancer but from the treatment. I needed several “vacations from therapy” during those months to allow the side effects to subside, before beginning again.

Soon weakness, fatigue, and exhaustion hit me, even when I had done absolutely the minimum of moving around. I set up a line of dining room chairs from my bed to the bathroom and kitchen, because I could only take a couple of steps before needing to sit down and rest. I was living alone and only had one cat then, Friday, my faithful gentlemanly furry companion who stayed quietly by my side all that time. (See photo.) I ate little, mainly TV dinners or canned soup. No appetite.

The chemo was followed by mastectomy surgery, where accidentally they tore a bursa in my left shoulder. More pain, and the shoulder problem could not be repaired so it’s still there.

After the surgery, I developed a seroma – where the breast tissue had been removed, lymph fluid gathered in a large pool, creating the effect of a tumor pressing on my heart and lungs. I had to go back to the hospital to have that drained the first time, to the doctor’s office the second and final time. The seroma wasn’t painful in itself, it just caused a lot of trouble breathing. They let me watch the LONG needle sticking into my chest on the fluoroscope, at my request. I could not bear to look at the needle, but the screen was interesting to watch. Immediately I felt better and could breathe deeply again.

All that was followed by over 20 rounds of radiation, where I developed severe excruciating radiation burns across my chest and neck, and it basically destroyed my thyroid. I finally told the radiation doctor to just stop the radiation, and he reluctantly agreed although I still had 6 or 7 more to go. I asked would those make any substantial difference in my survival chances? And he just shrugged and said, probably not. He was nice, but I was glad to say goodbye to that department.

During all those month I had almost no contact with any non-medical people. The one church “friend” who drove me to the hospital one day told me that God had done this, to provide a testimony to other people. I disagreed, not angry at him but at the enemy, the chief of liars, who had deceived him into not fighting that battle of faith at all. His wife was also being treated for breast cancer at the same time and he told everybody that God had given her cancer so she could witness to people in the hospital. I decidedly disagreed and told him so. I politely declined any of his further offers to drive me.

One Cancer Society volunteer driver was outspoken and rude about why I called them for help, when I had a perfectly good car in my driveway. I never called them again, either. I just gritted my teeth, moved slowly, and drove myself to the hospital for therapy every time after that. It wasn’t fun, but I worked out a way to make it doable for me. A couple of steps, stop and rest. Another couple of steps, stop and rest. I always prayed for a parking space close to the door, and they always were. 😊 There was no valet parking at the Cancer Center, unfortunately.

My temperament during that time became very different, for me. I became stubborn, determined, and changed my way of speaking. I told every cancer cell in my body to “Shrink, shrivel, die and disappear,” and said so to all my doctors. I insisted that each one write that in my chart. I also asked each one to allow me to pray for them, to lay hands on them (or hold hands with them if they preferred) and pray. Every single one agreed, even Dr. Bajaj who has no religion, according to him. He was raised in a Hindu home but didn’t adopt that religion. When I asked him, he said, “But I’m not a Christian.” I said, that’s okay, I am. And so he allowed me to hold his hand and pray for him. At one checkup he asked with a smile, “Are you still speaking to your body?” I smiled back and said, “Oh yes, always!”

My prayers with and for each physician, nurse and therapist were simply that the Lord would bless them, would use them in their work to help me and all their other patients to heal, and that Father God would be close to them personally so that they would know, KNOW, who he was and how much he loved them. I still pray for and with my doctors to this day. One cardiologist asked me to pray for his nurse who was out at the desk, as she was having a bad day. He said please not to let her know he’d asked me. As I left, I just stopped by her desk, noticing how glum she seemed. I asked if I could pray for her. She agreed, and I did. She was smiling a little when I left.

On days when I was able to get out of bed and sit at my computer, I searched for and began watching videos of revival and miracle healing services around the world. Dozens, maybe even hundreds of them, from Wales in the UK to Australia, even Europe where the messages had to be translated into the local language and so those services were very, very long! I watched some of the live broadcasts late at night or very early in the morning, because of the time zone differences.

I saw people being healed instantly of a great many different diseases and physical ailments, and with every service I watched, my faith grew and strengthened. My stubbornness and determination grew too. I was also angry, but at the right personality – the lying, destroying enemy of our faith and our lives. I learned how to take authority better over him, and over my responses to his attacks. I learned how to talk life, not death! John 10:10 became my life verse that year and it still is.

So I do get it, about the temperament. I understand the stress, the mental and emotional stress in addition to all the physical stress. The people you meet are not ALL pleasant, not even the nurses and therapists. But Father God is. For that I was and am very grateful! He led me a life and work of intercessory prayer during that year, as I saw so many other patients and their families struggling, and many medical personnel also struggling to do their hard jobs. Some were wonderful to me, some were abrupt and impatient. They all needed prayer!

Most of my family and friends could not truly understand, even though they wanted to help in some way. For a long time I was not allowed to be around people outside the hospital because of my depressed immune system, so people would bring food to the door, ring the doorbell and leave a box outside the door. I would rather they had just prayed and not done that, it required me to get out of bed, get slowly down the hallway, open the door, pick up whatever it was and bring it in. Shelby was the exception, she could just bring whatever I needed, come inside and do whatever I needed, without my having to get out of bed.

2011 was a very different year. I learned a lot, about myself, about how great our God is, His word, and what His will is for me, and for you – Life, and that more abundant.

Love always,

Bette

26 april 2021

Update. I need to update this blog! But where to begin…

In late fall 2019 I was treated for sinusitis with an antibiotic and for a little while it seemed to be better. I wasn’t too concerned, I’d had sinusitis a few times over the years and it always went away.

But over that winter a scratchy throat and cough developed which gradually worsened to bronchitis. More antibiotics were prescribed. Those pesky symptoms improved but never completely went away. Since I had no fever I thought, “This can’t be all that bad, can it?”

I took a lot of Mucinex, sinus decongestant and cough syrup, but when those wore off, the annoying, irritating symptoms returned. And by early spring, eventually I had a little trouble breathing at night, to the point of sleeping in my easy chair sometimes.

On Sunday afternoon April 5, 2020 I was coughing up so much gunk that Shelby insisted on taking me to the ER at McLeod Hospital. She got me a wheelchair and rolled me in, and immediately the atmosphere hit me. Fear. Fear. Fear, everywhere. By then the Covid-19 pandemic had struck. Everyone was dressed in what looked like Haz-Mat suits. I prayed in the spirit, trying to take authority over the fear that I was sensing so very strongly.

Not allowed to come to the exam room with me, Shelby sat in the waiting room. The first thing they did was test me for the virus. It would take several hours for the results to come back, they said. A mobile chest x-ray machine was wheeled in and within a few minutes the matter-of-fact ER doctor said, “You have pneumonia in both lungs, you’re going to be admitted.”

What? I had thought going in that they would just give me a shot, maybe more antibiotics and a stronger cough medicine and send me home. I was shocked. “Basically you’re drowning,” he said. “You need to be admitted.” They sent Shelby home, then called for a transporter to take me to the Isolation Floor, the 10th floor in the building farthest away from the ER in the McLeod complex.

That was a long, creepy hallway. We saw NO other people along the way, not staff, nurses, other patients, nobody. The kind Haz-Mat garbed woman pushing my gurney even commented on it. “The hospital’s about empty,” she said, “They sent everybody home they could.”

The 10th floor was more creepy. Every single person looked just like the ER staff. Haz-Mat suits. Until they got the results of a second coronavirus test, I assumed, no-one would come near me for a long time. (Even when both tests came back negative the next day, they wouldn’t.) Fear seemed to consume every person, nurses, doctors, aides, everyone. Except for taking vital signs or changing IV bags, everybody spoke to me from across the room. Isolation was indeed the word.

After changing into a hospital gown, I made myself as comfortable as possible in the hospital bed. Soon several IV bags of antibiotics were hooked up and vital signs taken – no fever still, but my O2 level was pretty low so an oxygen cannula was added. By this time it was really late and I was pretty hungry; jello and ice cream for supper weren’t too bad, considering the state of my throat.

The room was large and the bed was a long walk from the bathroom. With all those IV’s running, of course I needed the bathroom fairly soon. I pushed the call button as instructed. After waiting 5 minutes without a response, I realized there was no way to call a second time — the light stayed on outside my room door with no results.

And so I maneuvered myself out of bed, carefully pushed the IV pole with one hand while holding onto the wall and assorted stuff with the other, and slowly made my way to the commode, then back to bed. That was the case the entire time I was there, actually.

After 15 minutes or so an aide finally came, and apologized. There was a severe staff shortage, she explained. Nurses, aides, doctors, too many were out sick; several had coronavirus themselves, others were simply overworked and exhausted. The ICU’s were completely full of coronavirus patients.

And so I prayed. I watched TV a little, but mostly I prayed. Able to use the phone, I called and asked Shelby to notify Sam Turbeville (head of Chaplain Services) that I would like a visit. She also notified several friends, my church, and my brother. Coughing made phone calls really short! But I was happy to get their calls, and their prayers. No visitors at all were allowed into the hospital that week, so the phone calls were worth their weight in gold to me.

(Sam and two other chaplains came separately to visit me during the days I was there, and we spent time praying for the hospital, the staff, and especially for the other patients. They prayed for me and I prayed for them, and I was so very thankful for those visits.)

On Tuesday after the second negative Covid-19 result, I was moved to a regular room two floors down where most of the staff wore normal hospital clothing. Masks and gloves, of course, but not Haz-Mat suits.

That’s when I discovered I was on a salt-free cardiac diet. The kitchen staff said “Doctor’s orders, sorry.” No salt on grits or scrambled eggs. No salt on vegetables or meat. I was never on a salt-free diet at home, I told them, why now? “Don’t know,” was all they would say, “You’ll have to ask your doctor.”

And so I did the first chance I got, but the hospitalist just said that my past medical history and current medications for heart failure called for a cardiac diet. (I finally persuaded an aide to bring me a couple of packets of salt, which I hoarded. And hid.)

But the doctor also informed me that I had bacterial pneumonia; probably a slowly simmering infection that dated back to the sinusitis in the fall. For that reason I was now on even more, different antibiotics than before. They were determined to get rid of it completely, if possible.

Back to the food — I was NOT given the soft diet I’d requested because of the irritated throat from so much coughing. Scrambled eggs? Not soft, they seemed just as hard as fried eggs to me. Nothing was truly soft to my sore throat except mashed potatoes. I ate a lot of mashed potatoes during those days! And Jello and custard.

One morning I didn’t get my breakfast at all. It had been left on a chair out in the hall and nobody thought to bring it in to me. About 10 AM I pushed the call button and an aide finally came to check; she noticed the tray and brought it in. Cold grits. Cold scrambled eggs. Cold coffee. Room temperature milk. It was too close to lunch to order another breakfast, she said, did I want her to heat it all up in the break room microwave? No, I just asked for some hot coffee. One swig of hot coffee, one bite of cold grits, another swig of coffee, a bite of cold eggs.

Although still feeling pretty bad, I was discharged to home on Friday morning, April 10 because of the even shorter-staffed weekend coming up, accompanied by prescriptions for more antibiotics, cough medicine, breathing treatments and home oxygen. An outpatient chest x-ray was scheduled for the following week. Shelby had gotten a recliner / lift chair delivered for me, and the oxygen, breathing machine and prescriptions arrived soon after we got home.

The FU chest x-ray showed the pneumonia was worse than when I was admitted. But, following doctors’ orders, slow and steady improvement did begin. Shelby cooked truly soft food for me (NOT salt-free), which helped a lot!

An appointment had been scheduled for me with Dr. Taype, one of the McLeod Pulmonologists, who ordered a pre-visit CT scan of the lungs. It showed the old left lung scarring from 2011 (caused by breast cancer chemo and radiation) as well as scattered residual abnormalities from pneumonia. She informed me that I had COPD and would need to stay on some medications indefinitely. And I would need to use oxygen at night, every night, too. However, when I asked she said she did NOT treat pulmonary hypertension, which was a surprise to me.

And thus I asked Dr. Maroney, my internist, to schedule me an appointment with Dr. Zebian, the MUSC pulmonologist who specializes in pulmonary hypertension, just to be sure I didn’t need additional treatment for that in light of the pneumonia and the CT results.

He was very thorough, took all the time I needed and answered all my questions. Bottom line was, No, as long as I was careful to use the medications and therapies I was already on, that would be enough. The left lung scarring was permanent (which I already knew) but the other abnormalities should greatly improve over time. (They have.) He did add that pulmonary rehab would be a good idea, and so I did that at MUSC over several months.

Just before Thanksgiving Jackie decided to go live with one of her other sisters, this one in Florida. She is the younger two children’s aunt, their mom’s sister, and had moved here from Georgia to help out when little Annsley was born (July 2018). We all miss her but stay in touch with her by phone and Facebook.

All that brings me up to early 2021, when several new problems cropped up, somewhat easier to deal with than the pneumonia: cellulitis in my left arm (dealt with by more antibiotics), and shingles on my back (stopped in its tracks with antivirals).

Right now things are pretty much stable with my health and I’m back to what is a fairly normal routine for me. I’ve recently changed churches and joined their intercessory prayer team. Meeting weekly again with several prayer partners and going to lunch monthly or so with another friend have been so good.

Well, 2019, 2020 and 2021 have indeed been challenging, to say the least. 🙂

Transit / transition

(Reblogged from Esther’s Petition July 24, 2019)

I knew 2019 would be a year of change; something would trigger something else, which would result in still something more.

Thinking in terms of geopolitics in the natural and spiritual realms, I didn’t realize how close-to-home that change would be, back in January.

My January 1st post titled “2019” described several prophetic words the Lord had given me: Flashpoint; critical mass; paradigm shift. My initial understanding of those words was of global events and certainly some of those have occurred. National and international news this very week point to that.

But in my personal life, all have come to pass as well, and continue. Here’s a bit of background…

Off and on for some months my daughter Shelby and I had discussed moving in together. She was living with her three grandchildren and the children’s aunt in a leased house, with an option to purchase the property. She was putting funds aside every month to be used as a down payment some day.

Unfortunately; a number of local companies had declined her request for a mortgage loan. But then one day a local bank agreed to work with her on acquiring a mortgage, provided she could increase her down payment funding somewhat.

We started praying more specifically for wisdom and guidance, and it seemed as though we both heard the same reply: it’s time.

And so I spoke to a realtor friend, listed my condominium for sale, and we began what I thought might be a lengthy process.

But it wasn’t! Within a couple of weeks the condo was sold! Two days before closing, my four cats and I moved in with Shelby and family.

It was obvious that the bank’s mortgage agreement was a sort of flashpoint for us, one that triggered a major change, leading to critical mass and a paradigm shift in both our lives. Nothing will ever be the same.

Within a few more weeks we bought the house together and are now in the process of remodeling. An older house, it needed a fair amount of updating to make it more convenient for all of us.

A more modern kitchen, extra bathroom, new closets, updated flooring, various maintenance projects and minor repairs started two days after I moved in. Can you visualize mess with a capital M? It’s been an adventure living in the house while all this is going on!

Well, my prayer assignment hasn’t changed but it has broadened significantly. Many other people have been added to my usual, normal prayer list. Other situations; more specific needs.

“2019 is going to be an interesting year, I think” is how I ended that January 1st post. It has certainly been that.

Thinking about writing this post, two other words kept coming to mind: transit, and transition. Short explanations: transit is a journey; transition is the result of that journey.

My recent transit changed my physical address; the spiritual transition is ongoing. I’m really looking forward to seeing what else the Holy Spirit has in mind for 2019!

Good reports

It’s been quite a while since I updated things, so here goes…

My most recent blood work was all really good, except for a slightly higher than normal cholesterol level. It is now 20 points lower than last year, however, so I’m happy with it. (I don’t take medication for that; it gave me horrible nightmares.)

Over the last year I switched doctors and now see Dr. Jane Senseney, an internist. After reading through my past history and because my weight and blood pressure had started creeping up a little, she decided that it had been long enough for Medicare to pay for it and ordered a new echocardiogram.

The nice technologist let me watch the screen some of the time while she was performing the test, explaining what I was looking at. I’d like to say I understood all that, but I didn’t. Though it was fascinating to watch I had no idea what normal was supposed to look like, and she wouldn’t actually tell me if it was normal or not.

I got a phone call in a few days with the results, however — while still not normal, the echo showed much improvement over the one two years ago.  I’m happy with that, too!

A few days after the echo was done I also had a follow-up stress test, recommended but not gotten at my last checkup with Dr. Wall. (At the time it was first scheduled I came down with a cold, followed by bronchitis. Coughing didn’t seem conducive to getting a good test, so I had skipped having it done then.)

I can’t walk on a treadmill, thus had the test with nuclear medicine injected into a vein. Images are taken immediately after the injection and again later.

Although each set of images takes less than 15 minutes, you have to wait several hours between batches. What to do with all that extra time? Why, praying for everyone in sight and out of sight, of course. It did indeed make the time go by faster.

Of course the technologists wouldn’t say if this test was normal or not, either. But a nice lady called the very next day to tell me – the stress test was normal. Yay! Really happy with that.

One annoying thing happened last May a year ago: knee pain. One of my curious kitties had pushed a bedroom slipper way under the bed, so I got down on my hands and knees to retrieve it and suddenly felt my left knee begin to ache. I waited a month or so before finally getting an x-ray, which didn’t show anything remarkable, just an old healed tibial fracture (see below). When the pain persisted, eventually Dr. Senseney ordered an MRI of the knee.

That showed a torn meniscus above the spot where in December of 1984 I had fractured the tibia — falling down a flight of ship’s stairs on the Yorktown aircraft carrier in Charleston Harbor. It was the third day of our honeymoon. Long story! See https://scfamilymemories.wordpress.com/2012/12/01/the-weird-week-of-our-wedding/

Of course I had known about the fracture, but not about the meniscus tear. From its appearance on the MRI this was obviously an old injury; kneeling with my weight mostly on that knee had caused it to flare up.

An appointment with orthopedist Dr. Nigel Watt turned out to be delightful, actually. Other than a steroid injection to quiet down the current inflammation, he didn’t recommend any other therapy. And certainly no surgery!

Dr. Watt let me pray for him before I left his office, which was really neat. I actually prayed for two other people before I got out of the building, which was neat too.

So things are going along pretty well, health-wise. I had let the diet slip a little and put five pounds back on, which probably contributed to the small rise in my blood pressure. I do not want to increase any BP medications so I’m returning to a bit stricter adherence to the whole foods, plant-based system. It obviously works for me!

My next checkup with Dr. Wall is the end of July, where I’m sure we’ll discuss the blood work, echocardiogram, stress test, blood pressure and weight… and I’m looking forward to good reports from that visit, too. 🙂

 

Excellent cardiology checkup

My 6 months FU with cardiologist Dr. Wall was this morning and he was very pleased with my overall improvement. He congratulated me on my progress, saying he didn’t think he himself could keep to the whole foods, plant-based program I’m on – he loves chicken too much! Can’t give up the chicken. He added that he didn’t eat it fried any more, so that was something.

My EKG was normal, BP and pulse were perfect and my weight was down to 169 on their scales (168 on mine, close enough). A year ago I weighed 191 according to their records, so that’s 22 pounds I’ve lost so far. He listened to my heart, neck arteries and lungs, and pronounced them absolutely fine. He told me to keep an eye on my BP, cut down the medicine again if I need to, and come back in 6 months.

He did say he couldn’t order serial echocardiograms as Dr. Esselstyn had suggested because Medicare wouldn’t pay for it unless it’s a medical necessity. Since I was doing so well, he couldn’t really say they were needed.

I asked again if I could pray for him before I left. He took my hand and bowed his head, I prayed and then he hugged me to say thanks for the prayer. I also prayed for his EKG technician today, to have a successful day and successful life. (It was the first time I had met her). They both seemed to really appreciate my concern for them and offering to pray. Then he added with a smile, “You can drop in the door here any time you like.”

In the hallway as I was leaving, I asked him to write down Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn’s name and he did. I asked him to look up that website and read some of the articles, plus do some added research for his own benefit. “We’ve got to keep you healthy!” I told him. He promised he would, so I left him smiling with “I’m going to check and see if you did, next visit.” Hope he will.

My next checkup is in a few months with family medicine Dr. Shelton, just for a TSH level. Looking for another good report then.

Improving steadily

My blood pressure has steadily improved, so much so that several weeks ago I was able to completely discontinue Lorsartan, switching Metoprolol to mornings at a dose of 25 mg. I probably won’t even need that much longer. My weight is down to 168, my clothes are all feeling pretty baggy and even my shoes are loose.

My taste for salt has nearly disappeared, as well as my desire for caffeinated coffee. Amazing.

Here’s a typical lunch menu: brown rice topped with black beans (or red beans, or lima beans, or black eyed peas), 1/3 of a baked sweet potato, steamed zucchini or yellow squash, fresh sliced tomatoes, cucumbers and green peppers, pickled beets, and always kale. Dessert may be half of a fresh apple or banana, perhaps canned pineapple or peaches (in their own juices). Using dehydrated (cooked first, then dried) beans or peas makes meal-time fast and easy.

In addition to eating it at all meals, cooked kale has become my snack of choice since Dr. Esselstyn’s suggestion. I really like it so that is not a problem at all. Sometimes I substitute turnips with roots or collards, but kale cooks in 10 minutes in a little boiling water, which makes it preferable for me.

I look forward to seeing Dr. Wall on 4/21 and hearing his comments!

Even better

In the last 9 days I have lost 3 more pounds and my blood pressure has improved enough that I could cut another dose of medicine in half – I was taking 50 mg. of Metoprolol at bedtime, now taking 25 mg. I had already been able to cut the morning Losartan dose in half, from 50 mg. to 25 mg.

At this rate of improvement, soon I may be able to discontinue more medication.  Metoprolol helps control tachycardia, which has been improving but is not completely gone. My resting pulse rate climbs from about 70 in the mornings to 80 or so by evening – it used to go over 90, so it is better.

I am convinced that this current improvement is due to certain changes I made last week, on the recommendation of Dr. Esselstyn, who has called me twice in the last several weeks. Here’s that story, as emailed to my praying friends on Tuesday, March 8th.

“Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn of Cleveland Clinic called me again and we talked for about 30 minutes. (See http://www.dresselstyn.com/site/books/prevent-reverse/about-the-book/)

The first call I got from him was a week before that, in response to a question I had posted on his website looking for research articles. I was asking if they had done any research into his diet helping patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension.

It seems they were just beginning to do that research – almost all their patients through the years have had coronary artery disease and/or peripheral artery disease.

He said I am only the second patient with pulmonary arterial hypertension who is trying his diet plan (and also improving on it), who has contacted him about it. The other one is a woman from Canada and he is documenting her progress. So far she has improved from a stage 3 PH diagnosis to a stage 1, a tremendous improvement.

As I type this, I am munching on a small bowlful of steamed kale – he suggested I eat kale or some other dark leafy green 6x a day (along with whatever else I’m eating) and gave me all the medical criteria / research for doing that. It helps clear out the damaged inflammatory crud from the endothelial cells that line blood vessels. I need to get some balsamic vinegar to sprinkle on it, which will enhance the taste/effects of the kale, he said.

He spent some time going over foods to eat and foods to avoid. He did say I definitely need to continue losing weight, thus I need to re-arrange how much of the various things I eat until my weight is optimal for my height.

He also said I should not drink anything with caffeine in it, because that damages the lining of blood vessels too. I had already cut way back on regular coffee and will try to cut back some more. Decaf coffee is fine, he said, so I’ll still get the taste of coffee which is what I like.

In the previous phone call he had asked if my doctors were doing serial echocardiograms to measure the blood pressure in my lungs. I said No, and told him my next FU with the cardiologist isn’t for several months yet and I’ll definitely discuss doing that with him. He was interested in receiving any documentation of improved pressures with this diet, if I was willing for my doctors here to send it to him in Cleveland. Which I am.

He invited me to participate in the intensive one-day patient training workshop they have once a month in Ohio. It’s limited to only 10 or 12 people from around the world and he would like me to be one of them sometime in the near future. I told him the problem for me is cost – it’s expensive, $950 or more just for the daylong event. He did ask me to talk to his secretary about it, that they do have payment plans.

But whether I come or not, he asked if I would stay in touch with him monthly and report on my progress. He gave me his home phone number and email address so I can give him regular reports, ask him any questions I have, etc. He is a fascinating doctor, very interested in his patients and their individual cases. So different from what we’re used to.

He was sniffling a little as we talked, so I asked if I could do something for him, before we hung up? Certainly, he said, here I am – what it is?

I said I’d like to pray for him, if he was willing. He said he was willing and so I did. I prayed for him to feel better today, but also for his practice, his work with patients, and his heart – because he cares so much for his patients. He thanked me profusely and we hung up. It was an interesting morning, to say the least.”

Really it has been an interesting month!

Doing well, feeling good, and going about doing good

Since taking authority over my eating lifestyle, observing and following the advice of physicians at the Cleveland Clinic and elsewhere, I have discovered increased energy and stamina, lower blood pressure, no shortness of breath, improved lab work in every area, and I have lost 17 pounds so far.

Some medications have been eliminated altogether – like the one I took for muscle and joint pain for 50 years! Or reduced substantially, like the blood pressure medicines I’ve taken for 20 years.

There’s a post from one of my other blogs (see link below) that explains a bit more, but in a nutshell my diet now is whole foods / plant-based. It includes lots of veggies and fruit of all kinds, including the ones I have always loved like potatoes! Just more of them.

These days I never eat meat or fish, seldom to never eat dairy products, eggs or nuts, and only occasionally use a little olive oil. I am never hungry, don’t have to count calories and can eat all I want of the things I do eat.

My doctors say that within a year or so, I may not need any blood pressure medicines. I’m really looking forward to that! Here’s the post from “Talk With Bette” last fall:

New way of living
16 Oct 2015

Several months ago my family doctor suggested I read some of Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn’s online material about a whole foods / plant-based diet and consider changing the way I eat. I had just been diagnosed with an incurable blood vessel disease affecting heart and lungs (pulmonary hypertension resulting in congestive heart failure). It was an unpleasant diagnosis to say the least.
(Click to continue) https://talkwithbette.wordpress.com/2015/10/16/new-way-of-living/

5 years cancer-free

It’s nearly 5 years … yesterday I had my 6-month FU with Dr. Bajaj who said I was doing very well, that from his standpoint everything looked normal and healthy. He said I could just come back once a year and scheduled me for an appointment in December 2016.

Before I left, I asked if I could pray for him and he said yes. So I took his hand, prayed a simple prayer for the Lord to bless his family, his practice, and he himself, to meet every need that he had in Jesus’ name. He had told me several years ago that he is not religious, although he was raised in a Hindu culture.

He seemed sincerely grateful for the prayer – smiling, hugging me, patting my shoulder before I left his office, and saying Merry Christmas.

I have grown bolder these days, now I don’t think twice about asking someone, May I pray for you? So far, 99.9% of people say Yes and seem really grateful. Thank you, Father, for many opportunities!

Bette's Journal

I had a good 6-month oncology checkup a few weeks ago, now celebrating 4 years cancer-free! Dr. Bajaj congratulated me, although I hadn’t really given it much thought. The only abnormality remaining on my blood work was a touch of anemia, red blood cell count just below the normal level. That has gradually improved over the years, as expected.

The McLeod Cancer Center is now in their beautiful new facility, in front of and adjacent to the original McLeod Tower, connected to the parking garage by an elevated glass-walled walkway. (Look at the far left edge of the image.)

Doctors, labs, radiation therapy, chemotherapy and research center, all are now located in the same building. Very attractive and very convenient, considering the ailment they are designed to treat is quite inconvenient, to say the least.

I’m still spending a great deal of my time reading online news from around…

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Pulmonary hypertension

It was just an ordinary echocardiogram. There are many different measurements, and diagnosis is based on certain readings – size of heart chambers, pressure within the chambers, etc.

Dr. Sonfield, the surgeon, had ordered it in 2/11 before inserting the Portacath (central line) into my right shoulder for chemotherapy.

Someone, I don’t know who, wrote in pen across the bottom of the printed report, “tell patient it’s okay”… and so I had the Portacath installed, went through chemo, surgery, radiation, etc.

But it wasn’t okay. That echocardiogram wasn’t okay.

Nobody ever told me that the individual parts of the echo (many different readings) were nowhere near normal. And neither was the official diagnosis at the bottom, Moderate Pulmonary Hypertension. Dr. Boulware had read the echo, but he wasn’t one of my own doctors. None of my doctors ever mentioned that diagnosis to me. I was never followed up for it or treated for it.

Earlier this year (2015), wondering why I hadn’t fully recovered my energy after all the chemo / radiation / surgery – plus being treated for hypothyroidism, probably caused by thyroid damage from all of the above – I asked for a referral to a cardiologist.

Soon thereafter I saw Dr. Bryan Wall at Pee Dee Cardiology, who ordered a stress test, EKG, and 2 week Holter monitor. (He did NOT order an echocardiogram, however.)

Those tests didn’t show anything that we didn’t already know about: hypertension, mild congestive heart failure, diastolic dysfunction, all of which I’d had for some years.

He said the next step would be a heart cath, and left it up to me whether to go ahead with that. I said I’d think about it. He didn’t change my BP medications or even suggest a regular FU with him, just said to call for an appt. if I needed to.

Well, I was still tired all the time and still puzzled as to why. I made up my mind to find out.  That day the Holy Spirit prompted me to pull out all my medical records and read them, one by one. (Back in 2011 I had requested a copy of the echo for my files, which I had simply filed away and didn’t read – bad mistake.)

And that’s when I found that echo report and got the really bad surprise. Diagnosis: Moderate Pulmonary Hypertension.

I started reading up on Pulmonary Hypertension, checking websites from Cleveland Clinic, Mayo Clinic, American Heart Association, and others. https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases_conditions/hic_Pulmonary_Hypertension_Causes_Symptoms_Diagnosis_Treatment

It was enlightening, to say the least. Pulmonary hypertension is an incurable and sometimes fatal blood vessel disease of the heart and lungs.

The vessels leading from the heart to the lungs are narrowed, not allowing the lungs to get enough blood to be re-oxygenated. The heart has to work harder, thus the heart chambers enlarge and the pressure inside the lungs increases.

Now I understood my symptoms. What I didn’t understand was why not a single physician treating me had ever so much as mentioned this condition. I went through stages of anger and fear – life expectancy from diagnosis to death is pretty short, usually. It had already been 4 years.

And then forgiveness, for the person who wrote that scribbled echo note “Okay” when it wasn’t, to the surgeon who ordered the echo and probably didn’t really read it, to the family physician who got a copy and probably didn’t read it either, etc., etc.

My next regular doctor’s appointment was soon, a FU with Dr. Bajaj (cancer doctor). I took the echo report and showed it to him. He was taken aback – he’d never seen it. He read it over carefully, then said it could have been a false positive but just to be sure he ordered a new echocardiogram.

Although there was no specific diagnosis line at the bottom of the new report, the individual abnormal readings were worse than the first one. Dr. Bajaj sent me back to see Dr. Wall.

This time Dr. Wall’s attitude was quite different – he took this diagnosis very seriously indeed. He and I have discussed the various causes and treatment options, the best place to begin, how to take care of myself at home, and next steps after that.

First thing he suggested was to switch the HCTZ I’d been taking to Lasix twice a day to eliminate what he said was probably 10 lbs. of excess fluid. So far I have lost at least that much and already feel better.

He also agreed with my new family physician’s (Heather Shelton) recommendations to change my diet to whole foods, no meat, no dairy. They recommended I read up on Dr. Esselstyn’s work at the Cleveland Clinic. http://www.dresselstyn.com/site/ The diet he recommends has been proven successful in reversing and preventing blood vessel disease. Reversing! That’s a good goal indeed – and so I took their advice.

So far so good. I don’t really miss the meat. I’ve been eating lots of beans, peas and leafy green vegetables, canned, fresh and frozen. I even bought canned collards which I’d never tried before. I re-cooked them about a half-hour with slices of green bell peppers and they were excellent. No strong taste or odor – the pepper slices eliminates those.

Paul and Laura gave me several jars of dehydrated beans and peas to try recently, which cook fast (less than 30 minutes) and taste delicious. I’m going to order a good supply to keep on hand. These are much quicker to prepare than the old-fashioned dried beans I was used to and I can order other kinds of veggies too.  http://www.harmonyhousefoods.com/Dehydrated-Beans_c_2.html

Beets, sliced cucumbers and tomatoes, peppers, potatoes (red-skinned and sweet potatoes), plus fresh or canned fruit added to most meals brings the protein and calorie count up to good levels. I do still eat bread but not very much. I quit eating cookies, now just eat graham crackers for occasional desserts.

Dr. Wall also ordered a sleep study which showed mild sleep apnea. My O2 level dropped to 84% for a couple of minutes, otherwise was okay. I sleep fine, don’t snore, only had a couple of short apneic episodes during the study, not too bad overall. I’m awaiting a Rx for CPAP equipment, which may help some with morning tiredness. I’m certainly willing to try it –  that will add one more weapon to my arsenal.

Dr. Wall said that once we had all that under way, the next person I could see would be a pulmonologist, who would probably order a right heart cath to confirm the diagnosis. That will depend on how I respond to Lasix, new diet, CPAP, so it will be a few weeks.

So far only a few people outside my immediate family know about this latest health adventure, those who believe the way I do – John 10:10 – that the enemy is still out there, roaming around looking for somebody to steal from, kill and destroy. And friends who believe the way I do, that Father God wants us healed, whole, normal, and that we have the command, the authority and the ability to kick the enemy in the teeth and make him leave us alone.

“Speaking – are you still speaking to your body?” Dr. Bajaj asked me one day. Yes! Yes, I am! And I am still winning the battles. This one included.