Today was a follow up with the cardiologist. After all Terry had been through, it seemed like a good idea to have the cardiologist brought into the loop of events, as well as check him out to make sure his cardiac regimen is where they want it to be. He got some good news when he was told he could get rid a blood pressure med. Terry never had high blood pressure, but the damage after his heart attack was so substantial that BP meds have been used to reduce the workload in the past. Now that he doesn't have the heavy influx of hormones and adrenaline, taking those medications have really served to drag him down.
He had his implant (pacemaker/defibrillator) checked to make sure the settings were where they need to be, and that all looked fine. While he was there, a rep from the company that manufactured his device was there to do a check on it. He offered Terry access to a monitor that will be sent to the house, and will use wireless transmission to capture information and send it to the cardiologist regarding how the device is functioning and whether Terry is having any problems that it can be identified. The info is collected and transmitted every 24 hours, and he only has to be within 15 feet of the monitor. It's a form of medical telenet care that we will see more of in the future, I'm sure, but for now it will be a daily check on his heart and how often the device is having to work for him. Very cool technology....very cool.
The doctor he saw was not his regular cardiologist, but was a doctor we've evidently come full circle with in Terry's care. Six years ago when he had the staph infection in his heart, the doctor he saw today had come down to our local hospital from the hospital in Olathe. No one had realized how sick Terry really was until he'd been transferred from here to Olathe. The doctor that helped get the ball rolling on that major medical event was the doctor he saw today. He recognized Terry's name, and when we reminded him when Terry had last seen him, he was amazed at how well he thought Terry had been doing. When he heard the latest Terry had been through, he was in amazement. He said that in his experience as a physician he had never seen a patient with a pheochromocytoma before. He had heard of it, but had never been part of a care team.
It's always an enlightening experience talking to medical professionals about Terry's medical history. When they've heard the latest in particular, about the thyroid cancer and the pheo, you can tell they realize all he's been through. He takes that licking and keeps on ticking....
The oncologist called and said the initial pathology report showed the lymph tissue had not been invaded, but due to the size of the major mass on the thyroid Terry will definitely have the radiation treatment. He meets with that doctor next week and we will schedule treatment then. That gets us one step closer to ending this particular saga. Correcting hormone levels will be an ongoing issue for a while, but that is manageable in comparison to everything else he's been through. We are hopeful the days of the puke-a-thons are over. Time will tell.
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