Wednesday 10/14/2020
Taking Nurse Diane’s advice I set out first thing for a walk. I decided to use the timer in the phone, go 15 minutes out and when the timer expired, return. That worked ok, and later, before lunch, I did another like it. I was going to do a third after supper but felt too tired. Lord knows when I will feel well enough to try jogging again.
So I had a bit of a realization about this medical adventure. This is my own thinking, to be checked with the next professional I talk to (Diane on Friday, Dr. DiBiase next week). Why do I feel crappy, and have felt crappy all the three weeks since the event of Wednesday 9/24? The weekend after that I was already commenting on running a fever and reduced appetite and feeling unwell. Those have continued throughout. At first I commented maybe it was some random coincidental virus. Then I got stented 9 days ago; was that supposed to be a “fix”? I don’t feel “fixed”.
Here’s what I’m thinking now. The dissection was, in effect, an internal trauma. A derangement of certain tissues, just like a broken bone or a stabbing (or an invasive operation). Healing the damage of a trauma is a process, it takes time. The stenting procedure, by closing off the top of the dissection, makes it easier for the rest of it to heal (to whatever extent it will) but isn’t a fix as such. The on-going symptoms, I am speculating, are the results of the body trying to patch up and repair the internal trauma.
This could be complete fantasy. Certainly none of the medical people at the hospital advised me, “this will take time because your body has to blah blah and so you’ll probably have a fever and feel run-down for a while until that happens.”
Codgerville 