Health issues and going forward

[DonO.]

I’ve been following the discussion about The Elephant and his health issues with great interest. I’ve been having some of my own lately. I’m writing this post from my hospital bed. I’d been having issues of late with chest pain, shortness of breath, and extreme fatigue. I finally came to the ER Friday morning and after a battery of tests, it turns out I have blood clots in my lungs. A pretty severe case, and I am being it looks like a chronic condition that’s been happening for years. I am hoping to come home pretty soon, but will have to take blood thinners the rest of my life. I will also need to curb my physical activity for at least a month while I heal.

I started my tuba comeback journey back in 2019, as something to do during the pandemic. I progressed to the point where I am playing in 2 community bands. Strangely, I never noticed any problem with my wind until just recently. Now, obviously, I am going to have to lay off playing for a while. I wonder whether I will be able to come back to it. In any case, this is a very discouraging setback. Playing in bands again after so many years away has given me such joy. It would make me sad to have to give up now.

[bisontuba]

As scary as that sounds l, I'm so glad you were diagnosed and treated before it was too late. So many people ignore their health and try to battle through, in glad you listened to your body and found some help.

Keep us posted on the road back, a month will fly by

[the elephant]

Hang tough. Don. It is an adjustment, but that is all. You can still (mostly) do what you want if you practice moderation and know when to call it quits on bad days.

I want to take the time off but have bills to pay, so I missed a few gigs and am now under a lot of pressure to *not* miss any more of them. Two days ago I played a graduation ceremony and all went well. Last night I had to play a lot of music from the various Star Trek and Star Wars films on the BAT. It was not a good experience. I am about to hit the road for a church service — but I am feeling much better this morning. This will be on the little F and indoors with NO JOHN WILLIAMS on the program, so alles ist gut.

Then I have about three weeks off and I intend to slowly work back up in my walking and to not touch any tubas for any reason!

I am certainly glad you decided to get looked at! Please take care, sir…



Wade

[Sousaswag]

So glad they caught it. Just take it easy! The tuba will patiently wait.

Recently, I’ve been thinking a lot about how to better take care for myself (I’m not that old) to stay hopefully healthy for my future. The most important recommendation I’ve gotten was eating well. Watching the alcohol intake. Choosing white meat or fish over beef, limiting sugars, etc. I notice I feel better throughout my day.

Take care of yourself! Once you’re back on your feet and those blood thinners begin to work, I hope you’ll feel much better.

[bloke]

I feel REALLY lucky that - so far - my old guy problems are very minor.
I discovered (what seemed to me to be) multiple a few years ago (after dropping a bunch of extra weight), and the doctor reported to me that I had four epic hernias (two on the left and two on the right - mid level and low). I was literally tucking my guts back in ~until~ after I was eligible for Medicare (for about a year), and paying particular attention to getting them tucked back in where they belong, because I knew how dangerous the situation could be. (I was hiding in stairwells before gigs addressing my issues, etc.) I'm lucky that I don't have any pains related to the muscle wall repairs (gigantic patches, I was told), as some people do. I gained back some weight due to the condition (avoiding being very active) prior to the surgery and (same reason, due to tenderness) post - and I suspect that the gaining back of some of the weight now contributes to some sciatica, but I'm (finally) in the process of getting that weight back off, and doing exercises several times a day to relieve the sciatic pain, and getting by. (I suspect that holding tubas and sousaphones up in the air in front of buffing machines probably doesn't help.)

The main point of this response
- again - is to emphasize that (so far, and feeling really fortunate) that my own health issues are REALLY minor, and our prayers should be with those whose issues are either incurable, very serious, and/or require risky surgery. I don't know much about lung issues at all. A (low brass section) friend of mine has the same lung spot propensity, and theirs resulted in a stroke (over fifteen years ago) even before I knew him, and they were extremely lucky to be so very close to a hospital and that there was a complete recovery which was quick. They take medicine for those lung spots (clots), and really I hope that something similar can address your issues.

=============

I currently have a sister-in-law about 800 miles away who is being looked after by my niece at home, because she's so sick that - right now - she's too sick for surgery. I believe she has a couple of spots in her lungs that may be worse than clots, and a hiatal hernia and something wrong with her esophagus. It really doesn't sound good, and it's too far away from me to go visit. She's a lifelong heavy smoker, so that may be something for the few of you who continue to smoke to consider.

I tend to keep an eye on my 11 and 13 years older sister and brother. She seems to have inherited a lot of traits from our father - who was heavy set - and she's currently dealing with type 2 diabetes and probably some other relatively minor issues that are related to weight. My brother seems to have inherited more traits from our mother, and he has had a lot of spinal issues as did our mother) and annoying internal minor infections, but seems to continue to be able to patch himself up and keep going. He's really lucky that they can patch up spines these days in amazing ways that were not possible earlier in our lifetimes. Otherwise, he would be in really bad shape.

[Mary Ann]

Stuff just happens. I'm recovering from two solid months of "I won't describe it" severe stomach and intestinal problems. I got down to 78 pounds, and only turned the corner when I got a 25gram vit C IV from my doctor. I have managed to get back up to 84 pounds over the last week and a half, have managed to start driving again, no longer crawling on my hands and knees to feed the cats, but still am unsteady on my feet and am having to re-train myself to walk correctly. Friends took me to a park concert last night, of a band I used to play horn in. Fortunately -- no lung problems. I can still blow but physical strength and stamina are almost absent.
So good luck to all of us in doing what we love.

[Paulver]

DonO:
I had gotten very ill about four or five years ago....... severe cold and sinus infection. I was traveling at the time, so I was going to Urgent Care places until I got home. Cutting to the chase......... the virus attacked my Thyroid. From there things spiraled downhill quickly. End result was Afib. Finally got home and felt like.... if my eyes closed, they'd never open again. Ended up in our local ER, and the doc found a clot in the lower portion of my left lung. On Eliquis ever since. Complete recovery from that episode, but because I have Factor 5 Leiden, I'll be on it for the rest of my life. Afib comes back every once in a while. I take meds for that when it happens.

Factor 5 Leiden is an abnormality in the blood that causes it to clot without warning or reason. If you've been going through the clot thing consistently, you might want to talk to your doc about getting tested for it. There are two types of this malady, and both are inherited. One type..... if one parent had it. Second type.... if both parents had it. It's more common than you might think, and most people don't even know they have it.
If you'd like a little more info about it, PM me.

Best wishes for a speedy recovery.

[bort2.0]

@DonO. -- best wishes for a full recovery. As a chronic condition, I'm wonder if playing the tuba playing helped to mitigate the symptoms for a while, and allowed for more years before noticing major problems. You'll have to spend some time off, for sure. But I hope to hear you're back in action in due time. I'm not sure how old you are, but I'm guessing there are still an awful lot of good years ahead.

[MiBrassFS]

Here’s to hoping you’re as comfortable as possible while healing quickly so that your return to the back row will be sooner than you expect!

[DonO.]

Thank you my friends for all of the stories and encouragement! I know I am not alone, and I’m sure there are many with struggles worse than mine. I will talk to the doctor about it, but probably should be able to play tuba again after the clots are gone and I feel better. I’ll sure give it a shot anyway. And for those wondering about my age, I’m 67. The first chair player in my community band tuba section is 84. Helava player too.

[Mary Ann]

As encouragement --- a good friend of mine (trumpet player) during the earlier years of covid, started having trouble breathing; he was basically lying on the floor coughing up a storm and trying to breathe, and finally called his doctor and asked her should he just try to plough through it? She told him to call 911 immediately. He barely crawled to the door to unlock it, they arrived very quickly, put him on oxygen, and saved his life. If he had passed out, curtains. He did not have covid but had pulmonary embolisms and was on his way out. This was just a few years ago so he was probably 74 of 75. Back full force and took up both trombone and euphonium last summer. So very glad you got help and based on my friend, all will be well.

[jonesbrass]

So sorry to hear this, DonO.

Hang in there . . . You can do it!