Category: Pattaya

Sawadee Khrap

Over the last 2 weeks I have been preparing to go to Sirirja Hospital to restart the procedure to get a new stent operation scheduled.  First, I wanted to get some funds transferred from my US to my Thailand account to make sure I could fully cover the deposit needed and also have a blood test done to see where the kidney status was before I went to set the appointment – don’t want to ask again and then for any reason have to cancel – I am sure they won’t start it for me again a third time if I don’t follow through now.

At the same time I was told to reduce my Olmesartan dosage by half as I was having terrible ringing in my ears and not good control of the BP – so I cut it in half – 40mg to 20mg and amazing all bad side effects dropped in half – after 2 days my BP started dropping again – so I decided to cut it to 10mg and see what would happen – worse would be like missing a dose – next morning my BP was at 130/60 and I felt much better so I have continued this for the last several days – to my amazement my BP has been a steady 124 – 135, day and night – ringing is still there but less, and still some swelling in the feet – Blood test back and everything seems to be normal – need to monitor further to see if this is going to be a steady thing, – so for now don’t run to try and set the appointment until I am sure .    From this I can only guess that the high level dosages of meds they were giving me were based on my high anxiety levels and now with that under control the high amounts were causing more problems than fixing them. -  So now  10 mg Olmesartan, 7mg Cialis, 3000 Fish Oil and 5mg Folic acid —  everything working as I would want. – will see what the next month will show.

Perhaps it’s God’s intervention again – just received notice that my Mother is seriously ill in hospital and so I may need to return to the States to see her – at 94 her condition is really bad and they expect she may not make it past another month.   My stable BP now would allow me to return have still time to reset the stent appointment if still needed it later.  Checking into that now and we will be hopefully setting up a Skype call so I can talk to her face to face.

Ciao

Sawadee Khrap

Now in communication with the cardiologist in Chiang Mai – went there 2 weeks ago because my BP was starting to raise again – slowly but still rising – He changed my meds to a newer version of the same stuff – Olmesartan  40mg – seemed to do the trick for the first week but now the BP is raising again – apparently the blockage to my left kidney is just at the critical point and almost anything can cause it to react irregularly – up- down – up- down.  

It’s starting to looking like the only way to get it to a better control is to have the angioplasty and possibly, if needed,  a stent.  He’s checking on that possibility now – put it off for a year, but maybe now it will be necessary – I believe it can be done in Chiang Mai, making it easier to get a hospital surgery time – at least I hope so – we will see – really don’t want to go through the red-tape again at Siriraj to get in line again – that took 3 months the last time – should be faster in Chiang Mai and same cost. 

I am told it’s a common procedure – 1 day, overnight just for checking,  -  the CAT scan showed 5 arteries with some blockage, and the first time they were worried about the blockage for my upper left arm side and deemed that it was to complicated to do there in CM , had to go to BKK  – Cardiologist in BKK said it was not necessary to do this one – just the left kidney artery to control the BP would be needed -  In Chiang Mai, they weren’t looking at the kidney artery – that one should be a simpler procedure and they can do it – at least I hope so  – so just waiting for his results to come back.

NOT over yet –

Ciao

Sawadee Khrap

Just starting out the new year – all seems to be in good shape – meds at minimum, strength excellent, blood pressure 128 average,  feeling great.  It’s been a very harrowing “2014” – first the thought of needing a 800,000 Baht  ($25,000 US )  operation, and massive meds for the rest of my life – feeling like shit,  back aches making it unbearable to walk and most of all unable to preform in bed – Wow – not a good year –

But then came God’s help – Doctor at Siriraj – Mahidol University Hospital – no operation – blood pressure controlled with Valsartan, Cialis, Chocolate and Fish Oil.  Cholesterol controlled with Oatmeal, high DHA fish oil and Daily Exercise.    Posture corrected , no back pain, using Sergey’s “Flying Step” arch supports -  and you guessed it, bedroom performance back again.    Monthly medicine cost, 1000 Baht – approx.  $32/mo. US      You can read all about the experience in the blog  under the “Hospital/Medicines” category and I’m just hoping others will benefit from my ordeal.   If you have any questions – please drop me a note.   Glad to help you if I can  – Medical Vacation in Thailand – excellent – if you know where to go.

HAPPY NEW YEAR             SAWADEE PEE MAI

Ciao