Allowing Us to Have a Good Quality of Life Despite Our Illnesses

It's been a while since I have posted, and I apologize for that. Life has been pretty busy with the Holidays and traveling. I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving, Christmas and a great start to the New Year! 

We spent the beginning of our New Year up at our beach house on the Oregon coast. This was the first time I had gotten to see snow fall and actually stay on the ground. It was absolutely breathtakingly beautiful. I have seen photos all my life of snow blanketing the woods and freezing up ponds, but never got to see it for myself until now. What's amazing about the Oregon coast is that I am at sea level but still get to enjoy the beauty of the woods without the complications of high elevation. My 5 year old nephew got to see his first snowfall while we were up there and I enjoyed watching him try to catch the snowflakes on his tongue when we got out of the car. 

I did however come back to Arizona with some fluid overload due to my eating habits... (Oops). I got home on Thursday and on Friday I went to see my cardiologist who sent me down to the ER for some IV diuretics. My typical weight is about 107 and I weighed 113 pounds going into the ER. I felt uncomfortably full in my belly and had been experiencing severe short of breathlessness while up in Oregon. (I mean I couldn't even walk across the hall between two bedrooms without getting tired). However, I had a date that Friday night and really didn't want to have to get admitted into the hospital. Dr. Moe agreed that as long as we get some weight off and I head in the right direction, she didn't want to have to put in the hospital overnight either. It all came down to the question of quality of life. Sure I could be put in the hospital room and drained until I was at my "dry" weight.  It'd be easy to do but I'd miss out on yet another normal life experience. What is the point of keeping me healthy if I don't get to experience life?

I got about a pound off while in the ER and Dr. Moe sent me home just in time to get ready for my date that night. During the date I made sure I ordered something that had the least possible amount of salt and even then I didn't use the dressing nearly as much as I wanted to. Next day, I was down to 109.8 pounds. I believe that the extra IV diuretics helped get me going on the right path, but I was so thankful and grateful to Dr. Moe for trusting me to make the rest of the progress on my own - allowing me to get out of the hospital in time for life to resume. 

 I was the one who at first didn't want to leave the ER until I got at least 3 pounds off, but Dr. Moe's talk about quality of life and reassurance that she wasn't worried helped me to be less scared. I had told her that if she didn't feel like it was safe for me to go out that I'd suck it up, be admitted into the hospital and cancel my date. But she didn't. She let me go out like any other 24 year old and enjoy life. 

So to the doctors and parents who allow us to still live our lives as best as we can, thank you. It's a tough call and can be scary sending someone who is medically fragile out into the world instead of having them close by and on a monitor - but we appreciate you taking that chance and allowing us to have a life that we enjoy.