Lord Willing & Creeks Don't Rise I have my Left Eye Cataract Surgery next Tuesday 7/13/21

 I am praying, along with even my ow PCP praying (he is an awesome physician) that I get through the cataract surgeries, quickly since it is Laser, 2 weeks after the 1st one I should be able to have the 2nd one done. Then if things are as they should be, I may ONLY NEED reading glasses!!! Astigmatism GONE! along with Cataracts!

Then the other issue... that is about to pull me into the nut house is my Right Shoulder. It's been 10 years since it was replaced as a "reverse total shoulder replacement" which at the time I knew the possibility of me having to have another surgery on it. At that time a reverse shoulder surgery was fairly new, and not all Orthopedic Surgeons could do them.

In fact it took me several  months to even find one near me that could do the procedure. So, at the time, I had to take the chance. It was in such bad shape, with already 3 arthroscopic surgeries, & then not a 100% chance of it being somewhat better. Yet, I was fortunate. I had the surgery & for 9 years...  THINGS WERE OKAY... REALLY ABOUT 8 YEARS. THEN I NEEDED A 2ND CERVICAL NECK SURGERY. When I had it done, I know although I probably could not prove it, when they had me asleep and in the operating room putting me in position, somehow they wrenched, twisted, let that shoulder twist or SOMETHING.   When I awoke from the neck surgery my shoulder was killing me!    I even asked my doctor, and he said they had to lay me kind of with my head in a "downward"   position. He said they may have "bruised it" or allowed it to hang a bit down further than they should have and made that muscle pull down. So, I took it as a probably OR something, that it would  get better in a few days. Yet, honestly, that shoulder has never been the same since. I have had major pain issues, weakness, not able to hold much of anything & it is my "dominant" arm. So, I went on with my life, all of the stuff I had done for years, yard work, house work, putting up ceiling fans... and felt I would just go on using it and live my life. Well, a couple of things after, I almost "dropped" a new air conditioner and also putting up a ceiling fan, not having quite tall enough ladder & that really messed me up. After that trying to hold the Weed eater, or get a bowl down with one hand all out of the question. I need to do so much, from bathing my pups, to trimming trees and cutting up the larger pieces into smaller ones. So, I really need to use the chainsaw, which I usually do, but now I fear I can't hold it like I need to. Even ding laundry or getting groceries bought, get them home & putting them up is a nightmare.

It seems to be never ending as to things wrong or need fixing or testing... I am a mess.                      

Pacemaker Placement, Hip Bursitis both hips severe, shoulder surgery & fear of brachial plexus issues (after reverse shoulder surgery about 5 years ago)

I had my consultation yesterday with my Cardiologist about the Holter Monitor and the low heart rate about 17 hours a day... we DID decide to go ahead with the pacemaker... everyone and everything I've read, talked to etc... even a couple of my other doctors feel it's a good idea, and "may help" some of the fatigue, the weakness in my legs, even the spider veins in my ankles, plus give me back more energy that I seem to be "losing" in the past year or so... I just can't seem to be able to keep up with the house, going to the market, and just days in general. Even though I am up and around, I seem to just be so "slow" and feel like I run out of energy much sooner that things to do... 

NOW I KNOW that some of that is the RA, the Lupus, "age" of course, the chronic pain and so forth, and there are no "guarantees" how much the pacemaker will help, but I feel it will give me back some of what I seem to have lost as far as stamina, especially outside doing my yard, flowers, and I so love being outside when the weather is nice (by the way I drove through the Cemetery yesterday and those HUGE OAK trees that looked like they just completely died that are in a row of about 10 where my Mom and Dad's graves are, THEY ARE COMING BACK OUT!!! 

I was so thrilled to see them leafing out..I think when they were building all of the new apartments right next to there, they must have "sprayed" something or did something to really knock them down hard, so when I saw each one slowly but surely with the new growth on them, I knew my Dad was happy... that is why they picked that site... Dad always loved trees, lawn work, gardening and so forth... anyway, I think wrote that I got the left hip injected Monday, and even though I have to wait (this Orthopedic doctor) won't inject them at the same time and then he makes me wait three weeks before I have the right one done... which sucks... it would be better for me to have it closer together to SO HIPS are better at the same time. But I know due to injecting the joints with corticosteroids they like to be cautious.... 

I go to the eye doctor tomorrow, I am really "past due" since I take Plaquenil, and it can cause Macular Degeneration... & I usually go yearly and I've missed I think almost 2 years..jus due to everything else, it seems I never can find the time plus I can "check them at home and do frequently with a special chart I look at. But the double vision and my vision in general has also changed again... so I "may" need new lens and HOPE NOT! All of these doctor co-pays, and then the Outpatient charge for anything I have done like the Endoscopy and now the Pacemaker, have a larger co-pay now... and of course the hospital always wants is ALL up front.... and hell my glasses if I need new lenses, the "prism" in the for the double vision makes them cost even more...plus I got ready to make the eye appt and found out my "usual" eye doctor retired! 

Luckily, I had been to another one last time, and I really liked him... and he is close, just over in Waxahachie, so at least it's not Dallas. But, I went to make the Endocrinologist appt that my PCP wanted me to see, and SHE CAN'T SEE MY TILL LIKE THE END OF JULY!!! So, I found a couple that take my insurance and they are closer to me, although still in Dallas not as far as this other woman... but I've got to get everything else "caught up"... I have to see my other Orthopedic Surgeon since we think my lumbar spine is causing a lot of my severe pain also in my hips and down my legs, plus the shoulder he replaced... it's not been "the same" and feels almost like that "brachial plexus" ball of nerves, are on fire...I can't stand to "touch my right shoulder" in many places..it was never "the greatest" but was so much better after the replacement BUT after that 2nd cervical neck surgery, (I know they had to have me lying in a very odd position) they must have had that shoulder in a position, that ever since, something is just wrong.... so he is the one that does the spinal surgeries, the shoulder replacement and so forth...