“Oh No, Georgia! 🇬🇪 You’ve Been Postponed” ~Daryls Health Scare

• April 15, 2021
• By Pen
• 8 Comments

Not wanting to alarm anybody, I will skip to the chase and begin with; “We had a health scare, but Daryl is now doing better.” (NO- his illness is not related to getting the experimental jab) 

The Rest of Story, From Before

For awhile now, Daryl has been having labored breathing, when doing activities, especially hiking. Since having Covid19 over a year ago, we wondered if this was a lingering symptom of something with the lungs, so we gave it plenty of time to correct itself. 

Recently, after a few winter months of slumber, we got back on the road to check out the southern sector of Armenia, since the weather was nice again, and we were suppose to leave for Georgia in a few weeks. It was on this getaway, Daryls’ breathing became even more labored. Even sitting idle, breathing began to be a struggle. He started getting lightheaded, too. It was scary.

As soon as Monday rolled around, Daryl headed for the hospital to get a full work-up. It’s now been three days of two hospitals, doctors, testing, and treatments. He will continue with this daily routine for awhile. He is getting the VIP treatment and is being fast-tracked. It’s been amazing. The staff are all wonderful and we are getting answers.

The first day was very long, and they finally admitted him. He has been thoroughly checked out; head to toe. His heart is good, and his lung, are good, too. But, the second blood test came back with concerns. It would appear his hemoglobins are way too low, which means his blood isn’t making enough oxygen, which explains why he can’t get his breath. 

At noon, yesterday, Daryl saw a blood specialist; hematologist to get results of his blood test. Daryl has a serious iron deficiency with very low Ferritin. Normal hemoglobin levels for men is between 14.0 and 17.5 grams per deciliter (gm/dL) Daryl’s is 1.96 gm/dL

The reasons for the low hemoglobins is a process of elimination, the worst case scenario being cancer. Building the iron back up is doable, but we must figure out why his hemoglobins got so low in the first place. He could be losing blood, internally, and too fast to make more, but there is no blood exiting (in places it shouldn’t be). At this time, they want to avoid a blood transfusion if they can. If they decide to do so, we are the same blood type and I will donate to him. 

Right now we are focusing on the good news, and that his heart is very good and no heart disease. He had minor surgery the first day/night which was uncomfortable for him, with a tube being put up his arm and connecting into to his heart. They had thought one part of his heart was not working, after a sonogram, but the sonogram might have shown a shadow, thankfully.  His cholesterol is fine and his arteries and veins are clear. His heart is functioning as it should.

We are into the hospital and doctors $600 so far, and everywhere he goes, he is moved to the front of the line, and has a “handler” who is suppose to interpret for him.

Daryl also has some small kidney stones. It is determined he doesn’t drink enough water, because he does eat 3 citrus a day. He will pass them if he adds more water to his diet. 

Finally, he does have a circulation problem in his legs. He has had this issue for years with varicose veins. So one vein in one leg is causing some blood flow issues, so they may put him on blood thinners, but not yet, as they need to figure out his blood issue, first.

I have not done the daily travel with Daryl, and we talk by phone. My body cannot handle sitting on hard chairs (if there are any) and I’m unable to stand for long periods of time, throughout the long days. The staff moved Daryl around a lot. He has the car, but if I need to get in there to be with him, for whatever comes up, our host will drive me in.

Daryl will start today and continue intravenous  treatment for five days of a medicine called Encipher (5ml ampules/ 1 per day x 5 days). Unlike at home, Daryl will be stopping at the Pharmacy, himself, to purchase the ampules to take to the hospital with him and hand over to the doctor. 😊 Each day his blood treatment takes about an hour. 

In the meantime, he is now needing to get a gastroscopy to check for cancer. We had him get this procedure done just before we left to travel full-time, and all was clear, so we are hoping for the same results this time. This is related to his GERD. He and his mom deal with this same condition. They do not have stomach acids enough to digest foods properly, so they take medicine to help with digestion, but it’s not a perfect solution. The stomach acid can travel up, instead of down, and it can cause aspiration. This is the worst and the acid can cause esophagus cancer. 

So, I am a little concerned at this point and hope we can rule out cancer. If so, the iron induced blood treatments should reset him for the future and he will need to supplement. This would be the best outcome.

The doctor is giving us a “medical excuse” so I can change our flight ✈️  (free of charge) to Georgia, for at least another month. If for some reason we are delayed beyond our country visa, we will get a medical waiver for that, too. So, no worries there. 

Medicare will only reimburse us; out of country, if we get proof the medical intervention could not be avoided. Since he can’t breath and sees spots in his eyes, when he goes up stairs, I would say it’s all very necessary! We will see what a doctor can do for us in this department. 

Daryl is good about taking care of things, when needed, so there is no “pulling teeth” with him to get him into the doctors. I’m very grateful. He even brought ME home flowers this morning, before leaving for hospital. 

Daryl is back at the hospital for his gastro procedure.  Fortunately, I just heard from Daryl, after he was done. While he has to have robotic surgery to remove a large polyp, and repair a hiatal hernia, he has no cancer! 

We are still waiting for more test results to come back, one of which includes the biopsy taken from the procedure, determining if Daryl has a certain gut bacteria that is contributing in a negative way with his GERD. He did not have this bacteria three years ago, but things can change. If he has grown the bacteria, it is easily treated and it will help him out a lot with digestion issues, and aspirating. UPDATE: Daryl did not test for that gut bacteria. Also, no robotic surgery, as it was not serious enough and can often return. 

Why his hemoglobin had gotten so low, is still a  mystery. It may be related to his GERD. They are working on him and he continues to get VIP and we are getting answers to things which would have taken months back home, versus days, here. 

Today is day two of his Blood Therapy. We both noticed a difference by last night, following his first treatment (this is the five-day iron fusion by IV). He is still struggling to breathe, but a slight improvement, already. 

Daryl has the nicest Doctor who is overseeing all his other doctor work ups. Her name is Dr Lucy. I asked and have already received a written doctors order for Daryl about his blood treatment over the next 30-days. After the blood treatments (5 total days) he begins daily medicine for another 25 days, then he goes back for a follow-up with more blood tests. 

Soooo, guess who’s NOT going to Georgia? 🇬🇪Tomorrow, I need to contact the airlines and switch our flight date to May 26th. Hopefully the doctor excuse will prevent any change fees.

We will remain at the home-stay we love so much. We also will deal with our rental car once and for all! The battery went dead, while on our road trip last week! New brakes and now a replaced battery so far. We are so over it. We will turn it back next week as planned, and we have arranged to rent a vehicle from our host family. We would much rather give them the money for a car, anyway.

It’s a drag, not to be able to move on to a new country, as we have waited all winter for such pretty weather to sightsee in, but without our health, we have nothing, so we will stay at it and get Daryl back up to snuff.

This guy is more important than anything else!