Meeting my NEW new Cardiologist…finallyby Angie
11 Jan 2008
2:01 pm1
So, rather than going to Dr. Anne Dubin (as Dr. Etheridge receommended), I have been referred to Dr. Daniel Murphy of the Stanford Adult Congenital Cardiology Clinic. Initially, being referred to a new doctor all over again was discouraging. We were worried (as faithful readers of past blog posts will recall) that our insurance was going to put up a fuss since, of course, Stanford is out of network for our medical group. I was not looking forward to more weeks of phone calls, forms, and letters in order to get another new doctor approved. I decided, before starting back at the beginning, to try sending an email to the Nurse Practitioner/Office Manager for the Clinic explaining my situation. Well, I went out on a limb and tried something new and different and – wonder of wonders, miracle of miracles – we found a friend with the best news we could get: Andrea wrote me back within two days and said,
“The American College of Cardiology has specific recommendations regarding the care of Adults with Congenital Heart Disease. They were established at the Bethesda Conference in 2000. Here is a link you might find useful http://www.achaheart.org/bethesda.php …This means that your insurance needs to follow these guidelines or they are not adhering to current standards of care.”
Basically, the Conference established that anyone with congenital heart defects must be given the opportunity to be treated at an Adult Congenital Clinic. Any insurance that denies coverage for that opportunity is denying a basic necessity and right to that patient. Furthermore, she told me not to worry about the insurance on their end – she would take care of the approval process! She has been amazing, really.
So, already quite pleased with Stanford, I finally got to meet Dr. Murphy. Though very friendly and considerate, he is – in practice – very different from Dr. Etheridge. He did not seem as interested in individual symptoms, but more concerned with the overall picture of my general health: exercise, diet, hygiene, moods, habits, & hobbies. Maybe that’s just because this was his initial consultation with me. He feels that I am stronger since the surgery and that he wants me stronger still. Rather than, “Do as much as you feel up to,” his injunction was, “Do as much as you possibly can.” He is also different from Dr. Etheridge in his opinion on Coumadin: he puts just about every fontan patient on it, even when they don’t have extra risk factors (which I do). He hasn’t prescribed it yet, but he basically warned me that I should expect it eventually. I am not excited about it. Very not.
Overall, though, he seems really great and I’m glad to be working with such a supportive clinic. Our visit prompted a family council about goals and now I am back to doing light Pilates exercises every day. The first and foremost thing I’ve learned from Dr. Murphy so far is that my health is up to me. …I haven’t felt like that about it for a long time, but it’s a good feeling.
An Anniversary Giftby Angie
31 Dec 2007
1:12 pm0
I’m very sorry we haven’t posted much since coming to visit Utah. I hope to do some catching-up later this week. In the mean-time… Yesterday was our Wedding Anniversary, and I’d like to share a sweet gift we received from Jim’s sister, Rachel, in honor of it:
She sent this illustration to us, with this title: “Love is a Full Cookie Jar.” Thank you so much, Rachel, for your thoughtful gift!
To see more of Rachel’s art, feel free to visit her homepage: Lady Rachel’s Garden.
Here Comes Santa Claus!by Angie
19 Dec 2007
10:12 pm0
Jim and I made jam this week so we could take jars of it to our friends for Christmas. Today, I got them all decorated and super cute so that tonight we could deliver them. When we pulled up at the Coolbears’ house, we saw Brother & Sister Coolbear and their daughter Kayla, along with another girl her age, walking down the sidewalk! We pulled up and told them we had come to bring them a Christmas treat, and they invited us to join them in caroling to another family in the ward who lives across the street. We parked the car, climbed out, gave them their jam, and followed them to the Allens’ house. They told us to sing “Jingle Bells” and then just the first line of “Here comes Santa Claus.” Well, we rang the doorbell, and when Sister Allen answered, we all sang a slightly out of tune but enthusiastic rendition of “Jingle Bells.” Then, as instructed, we sang the first line of “Here Comes Santa Claus”…and Santa himself came running up the walk from behind us!
We were all invited inside, where Santa made himself at home in a big chair, and asked, “Is there a ‘Carter’ in this house?” and then asked for each family member by name, at which point they would go sit on his knee and tell him what they wanted for Christmas. Santa would check his list and give them a little gift. After both Sister and Brother Allen had taken a turn, Santa then said, “Is there an ‘Angela’ in this house?” I looked around, thinking there was a daughter I had missed…but after a beat, I realized that everyone was looking at me!
So, yes, I got to sit on Santa’s lap and tell him what I wanted for Christmas, and so did Jim. We said we wanted to fly to Utah and visit our families and see my cousin get married, and he said he could arrange that. That Santa is pretty amazing – now we’re at home, packing for the trip to Utah we asked for! 🙂
Try-Me-Night Review: Crock-pot Chicken Enchiladasby Angie
18 Dec 2007
9:12 pm2
Becka’s mild chicken enchilada recipe is one I’ve made many times before, but altering it for the crock-pot made it a try-me night. I wanted to try making the enchilada filling in the crock-pot (for those who have Rachel’s crock-pot chicken alfredo recipe, the method is very similar), then rolling the tortillas and cooking them in the oven to finish them off. It actually worked really well, and I felt like it took much less effort on my part. I thought that using all dark meat might make it too greasy (since all the fat would be stuck in the crock-pot as it cooked), so I used a combination of chicken thighs and breasts. The meat was cooked beautifully after four hours on high in the crock-pot! I also warmed up the tortillas before rolling, which made them easier to handle.
Overall, it was a great experiment, and I think I’ll keep doing it this way in the future. Thanks for the original recipe, Becka!
Springtown Ward Christmas Programby Angie
16 Dec 2007
8:12 pm0
Today at church, we participated in the ward Christmas Program for Sacrament Meeting. There was a violin solo, a guitar solo, and a trio of sisters who sang, “Born to Wear a Crown.” Jim and I were both in the choir, which sang three hymns, and we also sang a duet: “No Room for the King.” We were both pretty nervous – I got the hiccups shortly before Sacrament Meeting started, and I was terrified that they would come back while we were up on the stand! Luckily, no such disaster occurred. Everything went great. After the meeting several people complimented us, and they were all amazed and impressed that my mom had written the song. Our Relief Society president enjoyed telling everyone that, because she had been sitting in the choir behind us, she could see that we were holding hands while we sang, and she thought that was the cutest thing ever. 🙂
This afternoon, Jim had to go to a presidency meeting for the Teachers Quorum, which overlapped a little with ward choir practice. I walked there on my own (our choir director, Brother Senecal, lives right around the corner from us), and we were about fifteen minutes into our practice when Jim arrived and joined the basses. They were very relieved that he “finally” showed up, since none of them are confident reading music, and Brother Senecal announced to Jim that, “It’s people like you that make ward choirs a success!” I love seeing Jim flattered and embarrassed and pleased all at the same time.
Happy Birthday to Meby Angie
15 Dec 2007
5:12 pm1
Today is my birthday! I got to enjoy breakfast in bed and a relaxing morning with Jim, and then we went to the Oakland Temple together this afternoon. This evening, we went to Strizzi’s – a fabulous Italian restaurant in downtown Livermore. Parking downtown is pretty tricky on a Saturday evening, so we had to walk a little ways. As we approached the intersection near Strizzi’s, we heard the unmistakable sounds of a motorcycle behind us. The rider pulled up to the stop light and we realized that it was Santa! From head to toe, he was decked out as the jolly old elf, complete with christmas lights on his motorcycle. He was waving and “Ho, Ho, Ho”-ing, even after he turned the corner and drove out of sight. I’m so sorry I didn’t get a picture of it – I tried, but I wasn’t quick enough. It was a very entertaining part of a very lovely birthday.
Last night was our Stake Choir Concert on Temple Hill! It was a great success and we’ve both really enjoyed the wonderful people we’ve met and worked with in the choirs over the last couple of months. We performed our whole program twice, and the second time it was video recorded. We kind of wished that it had been the first performance that they recorded, but they were both great, really. We’ve made a lot of new friends through the choir, and it’s been very fun to rehearse and perform.
Vroom…squeak!by Angie
12 Dec 2007
11:12 pm2
Cars can be so exasperating. We think our brakes need replacing pretty soon here and are trying to decide when and how to make it happen. Jim and his friend Justin were looking them over this evening and it looks like they’ve got another couple of months on them. With Justin’s help, Jim is thinking of replacing the brakes as a DIY project (it would save us hundreds of dollars – literally) …but just contemplating such a task made us both even more aware of how little we know about cars.
Justin has done home repairs before and worked on cars a lot with his dad when he was younger, but he doesn’t feel like an expert, either. He said it seems like those who know tons about cars remind him of a club – if you’re not “in the know” early on, it’s really hard to be initiated later in life. Where does a car-dumb grown-up with no mechanical savvy or spare car to take apart find herself some effective tools for figuring out how cars work, anyway?
The end.