Hello everyone, I am an Aortic Dissection survivor. It all started one day, thought I was having a heart attack when I really had a Pulmonary Embolis and a DVT. That was a close one. I was put on blood thinners and was told that would be for rest of life. They found this by CT scan. Supposedly no Aortic Dissection yet. So 2 months later, I felt ripple go down chest. Rushed to Naval Hospital (I'm a retiree) and they tried to figure what was going on. Did CT scan and found the Aortic Dissection from the heart to where it branches off to the legs. My aorta was 6.2 cm. I was at Naval for 4 extra hours while they were waiting on a doctors decesion from a local hospital before they finally airlifted me to the hospital that said 4 hrs earlier they would do it. Time is critical. I call mine John Ritter syndrome. They did emergent open heart surgery, replaced my ascending aorta and aortic valve. I still have an active dissection and get CT scans yearly. I am on 4 different blood pressure meds, blood thinners and other meds. I also had to have my left leg amputated above the knee because the original dissection cut off blood flow to the leg. This all wouldn't have happened if they had said something 2 months earlier. The first CT scan showed my aorta at 5.1 cm. I really thank Naval Hospital for the great care (not). No one spoke up and said something at the time. If someone had, I might still have my left leg!

Yes, I went through feeling ten or more years ago for a period of a couple of months. I do have abdominal issues and have to be a little careful about what I eat, but I believe this was caused by too much fruit eaten at one time, especially raspberries, which I love, and cranberries. I came up with this theory since none other seemed to fit, and haven't had that feeling since. It was a little scary and made me feel more claustrophobic. I do get an "overly full" feeling easily if I eat too much at one time but by now am much better at regulating my eating.

I didn't say either thought it was a waste of time. I said both were always busy in the house and away from the house with what I presume they thought to be more worthwhile ways to spend their time and (from outward appearances) preferred to abbreviate rather than prolong the laundry chore. I know that more affirmatively with my wife but I believe the same was true with my mother who had a lot of activities.

Hi everybody! When I got to the doctor, I was told I didn't "qualify" for a test because I have no fever. We can't get antibody tests here. We can't get anything if we don't have a fever or have been out of the country, or we've been previously diagnosed with COVID-19. Isn't that ridiculous? In the wealthier communities, like Naples and The Villages, they had drive-thru testing, but not here in Gainesville. I did get a chest x-ray, and my doctor said I have some congestion, but he doesn't see the typical COVID damage, so that's good. He says he'll put me on the list for antibody testing, and I can have one as soon as he gets enough. Anyway, I'm fine now. I've been taking loads of vitamins and supplements and my energy is back. I've been gardening a lot, really literally tearing things up. I'm getting rid of a lot of ornamentals in favor of trying to grow more food. I really want to see just how much food I can produce in my tiny space. Joe, here's how those free tests go: They take your temperature. If you have no temperature, they pretty much write it off as allergies and send you home. If you do have a temperature, they test you for flu. If it's not flu, they test you for something else, then if it's not that, they test you for COVID. It's insane. I went out grocery shopping for the first time in weeks today. I tend to go shopping about every 2 weeks, then self-quarantining after just in case. This was the first time I wore a mask, and it was a homemade paper towel mask I saw a doctor making on YouTube. 5 layers, so pretty safe -- for everyone else. I can't find any other kind of mask anywhere, and I'm not paying the prices they have on eBay and Amazon for a 50-cent mask. I did find latrile gloves in the cleaning department at Dollar General. I remember when they were 10 prs/$1, now it's 4 prs/$1.50. Price gouging at its finest. When my husband was doing house renovations, the n-95 masks for $20.00/100. That was a long time ago, sure, but now they're $30.00+ for 20 from Grainger, but they're perpetually out and aren't taking orders. This is a strange time we're living in. They tell us to wear masks, then the government buys them all up and we can't find them. I'm going to be forced to start cutting up old clothes soon to make my own. Worst part is, I can't get filters for my vacuum, which uses -- you guessed it -- HEPA filters. So construction people can't get masks and we can't vacuum our homes. Wonderful. I've gotta get out of this place.