I didn't grow up staying at Cleveland Clinic, so I can't say for certain how things worked back then, but I find it a bit strange that older kids aren't allowed to have their phones in their hospital rooms. I mean, if it's forbidden for children, wouldn't they just ban phones for adults in the hospital too?
You could even compare them to see which foot feels warmer—one might be significantly colder than the other, or even look a bit bluish if the arterial circulation is struggling. That's usually when you start feeling that pain while walking, what they call claudication. I’ve read up on this quite a bit, though, thankfully, I haven't had to deal with any of it myself. You can find plenty of info online about it.
Paul Alvarez97 hit the nail on the head. You really need to get checked out by a doctor; these things can be pretty serious.
You really shouldn't have turned down hospital treatment, especially since this is such a serious condition. I mean, you’re looking at the risk of an embolism if a clot from your leg happens to travel up to your lungs. I guess I don't quite understand why you didn't consult with your doctors first, but when it comes to thrombosis, surgery isn't even the standard move. Usually, it's treated with heparin injections in the abdomen or via an IV while you're still admitted, and then once things stabilize, you transition to taking Martefarin tablets. Please, just reach out to your doctor—or better yet, go see them right away—especially if your leg is hurting. It's possible that a new thrombosis has formed in your leg already.
Do Mastercard cards without chips actually work in the USA or Canada, or is a chip mandatory now? I mean, if a credit card doesn't have one, will they just automatically reject it at the register?
People today seem so quick to blame vaccines for absolutely everything. I’m not talking about Mark from the forums, though—I’m sure he just found himself in a pretty rough spot while traveling far away from home on another continent. Personally, I’ve never had any issues after getting vaccinated. That goes for the last shot I received as an adult, too; I was 23 and had fallen off a motorcycle, leaving me with two nasty wounds on my legs. Honestly, I felt much safer getting a tetanus shot since I’d wiped out right where the dirt road meets the pavement. At the end of the day, vaccination is useful, and so many diseases have been wiped out because of it. Our vaccines here in America are just as good, and if some parents choose to buy expensive imported ones for their kids, well, that’s their own call. Though, I suppose big global pharmaceutical giants play a huge role in all this with their aggressive marketing and those commissions they pay out to use their products.
From what I understand, balance issues usually stem from somewhere in the inner ear. If this is seriously messing with your day-to-day life, you really ought to see an ENT and maybe a neurologist too. You could always look into getting checked out once you're back home in the States. So, I guess your issues aren't actually linked to the vaccination? It just seems like the timing coincided right after you got the shot.
Alright, thanks. I’m heading to my private dentist now and I've been pretty happy with them—it's not even overpriced. My only issue lately is that the office has been incredibly crowded. It actually happens where someone just walks in without an appointment and takes my slot, even though I had booked ahead and showed up right on time. So, instead of the 30-minute appointment I was supposed to have, I only get about five minutes. That's barely enough time to test out a crown, let alone fix a filling on another tooth. It doesn't feel quite right to me. And it wasn't even an emergency or anything. I was really hoping to get another filling done this week before getting the crown next week, but there just wasn't enough time. Now everything is pushed to Monday, and I'm honestly not sure if they'll have enough time then either. Especially if some walk-in tries to steal my spot again.
You should really take a look at that post from October. This guy mentioned they charged him interest, even though the signage at the terminal clearly stated you could pay in installments on the GO! card with zero interest. Honestly, I’m still confused about why I couldn't just get a standard Visa Signature card tied to my savings account at Bank of America. They told me a GO! card was my only option, period. So, I eventually decided to go with a gold savings account over at Wells Fargo instead, where they handed me an American Express Gold right away. But, much to my disappointment, it doesn't have a chip, which might actually cause some headaches when I'm trying to pay for things abroad. I guess I'll never truly understand why Bank of America wouldn't let me have a regular Visa Signature; they never gave me a single answer that actually made sense.
I honestly think it's better to just stick with a standard Mastercard. At least then you know exactly where you stand and don't have to deal with interest charges. I've heard that with those other cards, they just seem to make up the interest rates whenever they feel like it, and you're stuck paying whatever they decide—even though they can't really explain how they even calculated it in the first place.
I honestly feel like I was one of those people who dealt with issues from Xerox when I started walking, probably because of how long I was kept in such wide swaddling. I don't remember it clearly, but you can actually see the effects in those early photos of me finding my footing. I wasn't wearing any specialized braces or anything, just that heavy, wide wrapping. I suppose the medical approach to this stuff is probably totally different now, though... since what I'm talking about was thirty years ago, and medicine has come such a long way since then. In my case, everything eventually corrected itself on its own while I was still a little kid; it just didn't look quite right for a bit once I was up and walking around.
I used to have scoliosis myself, but that was back when I was just a little kid walking around. It eventually straightened itself out, and honestly, there's nothing visible at all now. I think the root cause was some severe curvature and a few hip issues I dealt with right after I was born.
I’d suggest seeing an oral surgeon at the local basketball club hospital in Washington, D.C. You'll definitely need a referral from your regular dentist first.
As for dentists in Savannah, I honestly wouldn't know—I'm based in Washington, D.C., so I just stick to my usual spots here.
My grandmother actually made it to 91, and by the spring of 2003, she was using a walker just to get around. As time went on, she just kept getting weaker... eventually, she couldn't even walk with the walker anymore, or even pull herself up out of bed. That total immobility, it just seemed to hit her all at once, even though we’d noticed her fading day by day. I guess... maybe you should definitely have your grandmother's blood work done? In my grandma's case, the tests showed severe anemia, and she was admitted to a local hospital pretty quickly for a transfusion. A few weeks later, they found a lung tumor—lung cancer. They didn't do any intense therapy because of her age, though I don't know the exact medications they gave her during those two weeks in the hospital. She passed away at home within three months of losing her mobility.
Older folks have such a hard time being in the hospital—at least, that's how it was for my grandmother—so I think the most important thing is just providing the right care. Maybe ask her primary care doctor about requesting a home health nurse and a physical therapist to help with hygiene and daily needs. Usually, before that gets approved, they need to run some assessments with a neurologist or a physiatrist and things like that. Some of it is covered by Medicare, but if you want a nurse there every single workday, you'll probably have to pay for that out of pocket. I would personally really suggest having a physical therapist come to the house. If it's possible, it's honestly better for an elderly person to stay at home in a familiar environment where they're comfortable. Moving to a nursing home can sometimes make their health decline even faster, you know? Most seniors struggle with the idea of assisted living, and my grandmother used to say all the time that people only go to those homes when the family wants to be rid of them. I mean, I know a facility is a solution for people who work all day and just don't have the time to care for a seriously ill family member.
Good luck... I really believe you'll fight through this illness just like you always have. It's just so hard to hear such tough news about your health this time around. I'm truly sorry.
My grandmother used to have this walker that really helped her get around. It had these flexible joints, though it didn't actually have any wheels on it. I don't think I ever heard of anyone sitting in one of those things, either. It’s really just meant to be used for support while walking.
There was actually a similar thread on Reddit, so maybe try digging through the old pages of this sub. These guys are basically loan sharks—I even saw a whole investigative report on CNN about them. Honestly, I’d steer clear if I were you. In that segment, they showed how people ended up losing their entire homes just because of some tiny initial loan that ballooned with insane interest rates. It became practically impossible to pay back.