We have not done many travels this year, given my recovery, my tiredness, my quirkiness about my sleeping arrangements and my paranoia that I have to be close to my doctors before I know for sure if this 'new heart' actually works on its own.
But given that we both love to travel and photograph, we have gotten around close to home and either gone camping a couple of times, or visited some destination towns that are within driving distance.
My doctors have not advised me against it, but I do not feel comfortable (or wise) to travel by plane right now. I am still adjusting in my new skin, really.
For this past Labor Day, though, we drove to Moab, UT, which is only about a 3 hour drive away from us. Our previous extended trip was on July 4th, to Idaho, and I have to say I did much better this time in Moab than back in July! The heat was not as intense, either, which helped a lot. We rediscovered this desert town which we know fairly well, by visiting a new (to us) National Park (Canyonlands), a winery (I know, in Utah of all states!), and by eating at a couple of new eateries, one of them (Sunset Grill) with an amazing view of the valley.
We did not hike very much, outside of getting out of the cars to capture some of the landscape in Canyonlands, and outside of walking the downtown from one end to another a couple of times, but I did spend lots of time in the car, which did not seem to bother me as much as before.
Little by little, I am building more endurance, I think, to do things outside of my routine and to do them for longer stretches of 'discomfort'.
This is me, above above one of the overlooks in Canyonlands. I felt very victorious climbing up on this high rock, with gusts of wind trying to pitch me in the abyss below. What beautiful country we have and how lucky I am to be able to be well enough to travel and take it all in!
Much health to all!
Well, the numbers I managed to score while being on Crestor+Praluent+Zetia did not stick around! (See this entry for a reminder of those numbers: http://livingwithfh.blogspot.com/2016/07/amazing-numbers-and-more.html).
Although Crestor seems to work better for me, for cholesterol values, I have a lot more side effects while on it (pronounced fatigue and skin rash, mostly) and my liver values were up in July, also: the
Alanine Aminotrasferase (or ALT) was 98 (normal between 7-52), and the Asparate Aminotrasferase (or
AST) was 48 (normal between 13-39).
I knew the culprit had to have been the Crestor, because it was the only thing that changed, so I asked my cardiologist to switch it to Lipitor, which I have been on for 16+ years with no liver side effects or otherwise. Now, the the
Alanine Aminotrasferase (or ALT) is 39 and the Asparate Aminotrasferase (or
AST) is 31. Both of them within normal ranges.
The cholesterol numbers are up, again, though, with the exception of the HDL which is down (also bad for me to be this low):
Of course that every little bit helps, but I am seriously bummed that the numbers are not, still, under normal range, after 4 months now on Praluent (+Zetia+Statin).
I am glad, though, that I am not hurting my liver more that it's necessary while trying to fix my numbers. I have found that the liver checks are helpful to tell about the condition of your liver, although some doctors (nowadays, most) don't recommend them as a requirement. I feel like all the drugs I take are going through the liver, and they are all very potent, so close watch is needed. As I understand it, liver damage is irreversible, so early detection of any liver problems is key.
The next step is to continue with the current regimen (as captured here: http://livingwithfh.blogspot.com/2016/07/my-current-drug-regimen-and-diet.html), and I guess just move the blood tests to every 3 months again, as before Praluent was in the picture.
At this point, I am on all that the medicine market has to offer, short of changing out the PCSK9 drug to Repatha instead of Praluent, maybe?! But that option has not been given to me yet.
Much health to everyone trying to stabilize their numbers, and I hope you're finding what works the best for you all, with minimum invasive side effects.
