Ongoing Maintenance

So as I mentioned a while ago, I’ve been dealing with various medical issues on the part of my wife, Helen, and my mother. Tomorrow we’ll be helping my mom move into assisted living, something she’s resisted for a while but has finally admitted is necessary. She doesn’t like being with “a bunch of old people” — her words, ignoring the fact that she’s 86 herself — but I actually think it’ll be good for her to be around more people. Helen is doing better, with new drugs helping enough that the fear of a heart transplant has faced.

So now I’m doing some deferred maintenance of my own. Oh, I’ve kept up the exercise, yoga, and supplements, but I’m finally addressing some nagging issues of mine. I’ve had recurrent sinus infections, and just a general feeling of being not quite right.

The sinus stuff can be dismissed as the result of living in one of America’s allergy capitals, as Knoxville is consistently rated. But it still shouldn’t be that bad. I went to an allergist, and an ENT, and while I may be a candidate for balloon sinus surgery, we’re managing things medically at the moment. They switched me from Allegra to Singulair, and gave me a new steroid spray formula, and the results have been striking: I was using decongestants more or less daily, but since starting the new meds haven’t done so once. That’s been a big boost.

As for the dragginess, people told me it was just the product of being over sixty, but routine bloodwork led my doctor to suggest a visit to a hematologist. My hemoglobin and hematocrit were in range, but had fallen significantly. It’s usually hard to get in to see a hematologist, but the gym mafia hooked me up with a guy I know from the gym, and he texted me almost right away, and saw me in less than a week. It turns out I’m severely iron deficient, a product of taking Nexium (which blocks iron absorption) and frequent blood donation. So today I went for the first of two iron infusions.