Life gets harder and harder as we age...

First, my brother.  He has been sober for roughly 70 days and is doing wonderfully -- as far as the alcohol goes. He even got a job and was scheduled to start this week.

But remember that accident he had when he slightly fractured his spine?  Well, he needs to have surgery (scheduled for Feb 2) and the recuperation will be about 30 days.  So the job is gone for now. They did tell him to reapply when his doctor releases him for work.  His spirits are still high.

Now, on to me.  For the past week I have been feeling really bad.  Monster hot flashes, bloating and a little vertigo.  I went to Urgent Care and they couldn't find anything wrong and suggested I might be dehydrated.  Told me to drink more water.

I went home and drank more water but it did not improve, so I went back to the clinic and this time they took X-rays and bloodwork. They called me Wednesday night and called during the 10-minute time frame that I was outside walking Mia so they left a voicemail.  She said, "Your A1C is normal and you are not diabetic or pre diabetic; however, you have an elevated lipase consistent with pancreatitis.  Go on a liquid diet immediately and come back in a week to have blood drawn again."  I hope that means this thing can do a turnaround if I'm a good girl.

Good grief.

Today I went to see my cardiologist to have my pacemaker checked out just to be sure this wasn't all a pacemaker issue, but no, the pacemaker is still doing a topnotch job.

However, there is a possibility that one of the heart medications I take could have affected the pancreas and caused pancreatitis. My cardiologist is going to go over all the paperwork (medications, pacemaker report and lab work) and get back to me Monday with his opinion on whether it's one of the medications and, if so, what we should do about it.  If it is not caused by the medication, then we just wait until Jan 24 (happy birthday to me) when I get the lab work redone.

I did a bit of online research (good old Dr. Google) and learned that 70% or more of the cases of pancreatitis are caused from alcohol.  I quit drinking about 13 or 14 years ago, so I don't think we can blame it on alcohol.

Did you ever watch the Redd Foxx show?  Whenever things were overwhelming, he would look up and say, "Elizabeth, here I come..."  Well, I feel like saying, "Marshall, here I come..."  Ha!

In the meantime, I AM STARVING!!  A clear liquid diet really sucks.