Not just for only children! Info, stories and life experiences for anyone who feels like they didn't get the How-To brochure on life! Host Tracy Wallace, who has been a business owner, a successful fundraiser, a stand-up comedian, a caregiver and an animal lover, shares stories from the front lines of adulting to help others in this journey called life. She does this while finding the humor in the all situations.
The first cardiology follow-up after a long hospitalization sounds like a simple box to check, until you’re the one figuring out the wheelchair, the car transfer, the heat, the fatigue, and the portable oxygen all at once. I’m Tracy Wallace, and I’m sharing a candid update on taking my husband, Bill, to his first cardiologist visit after 58 days in the hospital and what that “one appointment” really costs in planning, energy, and nerves.
We talk through the curveballs that come with post-discharge care: why the earliest follow-up was a phone call with a nurse practitioner, what changed when we had to go in person to an office near the hospital, and how quickly a rough night with an insulin pump can derail the best intentions. I also share the moment my anxiety spiked when I realized I forgot the oxygen charging cord, and how easy it is for caregivers to spiral into worst-case thinking when you’re responsible for someone else’s safety.
Then comes the part we needed most: a quick heart ultrasound that shows real improvement. Hearing that Bill’s heart function moved from 20% to 30% gave us both a shot of hope, along with a clearer plan for medication, timing, and what may come next with stents. I also update you on in-home physical therapy, using a walker, nebulizer treatments, tracking fluid intake and output, and the slow shift from crisis mode to rebuilding daily life, including the unglamorous basics like plumbing problems and laundry.
If you’re navigating heart failure recovery, chronic illness, or caregiver burnout, I hope this helps you feel less alone. Subscribe to Only Child Diaries, share the episode with a friend, and leave a rating and review so more people can find the support they need.
Welcome to the Only Child Diaries Podcast. I'm your host, Tracy Wallace. Have you ever felt like you didn't receive the how-to brochure on life? That you didn't get enough guidance about major life issues? So did I. You don't have to be an only child to feel this way. In my podcast, we'll explore some of the best ways to better navigate adulthood. In doing so, with humor and light. Welcome everyone to the Only Child Diaries Podcast.
Today, I'm going to provide an update on our first cardiology appointment, which was kind of a big deal. This is post-hospitalization for my husband, Bill. When he was still in the hospital, and just a reminder, he was in the hospital for 58 days total. So when we were still in the hospital, I was surprised because they scheduled a post-discharge appointment with the nurse practitioner, which sort of confused me. Uh, it seemed sort of strange, but I, you know, I went with it. And that was the week after he was discharged. And they wanted us to come down to the hospital. And that particular day, Bill wasn't feeling very good. He had an issue with his insulin pump overnight. And we both woke up tired because we had been up early in the morning trying to fix that problem. So we ended up doing a phone call, which was perfect. And I think that the information that was provided by phone probably was what would have been provided in person, and I think it worked out fine that
way. But the following week, which was last week, now that I'm recording this, we were supposed to go in person to see the cardiologist. And he's not at the hospital proper. He's in Beverly Hills, which is near the hospital. And that's still about an hour away, give or take, right? So I was going over this in my head and thinking about the logistics of getting him in the car, going in the car, getting him from the car to the office, etc., and how he was gonna feel. And I knew that this would be a lot for him because he's still tired, he's still weak. But and it was also super hot. So I asked our neighbor John to help. Just I I probably could have done this myself, but I wanted to be sure that it was done safely. And we do have a transport wheelchair that we've had for a long time. Uh actually, Bill's mom bought it for us because when he had all these issues with his feet, it helped that I could just take him back and forth to the doctor in our own transport wheelchair. And it's it's about 30 pounds, I think. Um, so I can get it in and out of the car relatively easily. I still have to lift it up. Sometimes that's a little hard on my back, but I can I can do it. John came over, we got him in the wheelchair, got him to the car. What I didn't think about was that the wheelchair is low and the car is high. So that was a little bit of a stretch, but we did get him in the car, have air conditioning, so we we drove down to the doctor's. Um, I had seen how he got in and out. Well, I saw how he got in. I
was able to get him out of the car safely, wheeled him upstairs, but he was already tired, let's face it, right? The doctor came in. We had to wait for a while, and we had our portable oxygen, which we hadn't used yet since being home. Um, and I was kind of freaking out because I forgot to bring the extension or the charging cord, and they said it would last for six hours, but I wasn't really sure about that, and I was thinking to myself, what if we run into traffic or something? Anyway, it was that was fine. So the doctor came in and Bill was kind of slumped over in his chair because he was tired, and he looked at Bill and he said, You know, you look so much better than you did in the hospital. For me, I've seen him every day. It's hard for me to really characterize that myself.
He talked to us for a few minutes, he asked some questions, and he said, I just want to put an ultrasound on your heart and just see what's going on in there. I I have a feeling, I'm hoping that you're doing better than you were. And we were like, Okay, sure, what you know, great. So again, we had to wait. He said he had a like a handheld ultrasound. I guess they couldn't find it. So we had to go to the other side of the office complex. I think the doctor has most of the floor, so we had to go through all these doors and get to the other side where he had like a stationary ultrasound setup, and the doctor came in and did it himself. He just he just wanted to quickly look. He said, This is better because this is a better resolution machine, fine, whatever. So he looked for about a minute, and he said, Well, you know, you were at 20%. His heart was functioning at 20%. And he said, It looks like you're functioning now at 30%, which was great. Um, that really made us both happy. Well, it made the doctor happy too, but it made us both happy that he's seen some progress, that he has uh improved. And the doctor said that it's his hope that with time that he'll keep improving, obviously with the medication as well. And um, I'm not sure where his kidney function is now. I'm hoping that his kidneys are also improving. Um, so they don't want to see us for three months, which to me is a wow, that's a long time, isn't it? But I guess he feels confident that we're moving in the right direction. You know, he he had said in the hospital that he wanted to do the stents, but he said it's not an emergency. So um, okay, three months. Wow. Uh that's so that's the first week in December. Um, so we just carry on. We're gonna see our primary in two weeks. Um about a week and a half from now. So we'll get some labs done, I'm sure. And uh things are moving along at a good pace.
It's still a lot of work for me, but Bill is getting stronger. We have the in-home PT coming twice a week. He's able to stand up now a lot better, a lot stronger than he was. Um he's gotta have the walker, he's still on oxygen. Um he's uh having the nebulizer treatments, he's still coughing up stuff, but he's I think his breathing is a lot better now. He's more comfortable with the breathing. He can lay on his on his back, he doesn't have to adjust the bed so that it's he's always sitting up. Um, so I think things are going in the right direction. I'm very grateful for that. And I'm just tracking his the fluid intake and the fluid output to make sure that he's not retaining too much fluid, and there's a lot to consider, but um I feel now like we can focus on or start to focus on a few other things.
There's issues around the house, plumbing issues that I kind of put on hold, and it's time uh to take care of those. So I contacted the plumber, and we're gonna start working on those things this week, hopefully. Fingers crossed, fingers crossed, um, because I've been working without a uh washer for over a year now. And uh in fact, I have to go to the laundromat today, and it's such a hot place to go that it's like it's like going to hell, really. And uh doing some other things around here to make my life easier, certainly. So happy to do that, cleaning up a little bit, and also just trying to maintain the other things that I need to do. So things are a little bit better. Um, yeah.
Trying to get my rest. It's funny because people still say to me, you know, you've got to take care of yourself. And it's true, but there's just not enough hours in the day to do everything that I need to do. So the the things that are on my list, my personal list, get done in little increments. I have to make sure that he's taken care of because he can't do most things by himself or for himself. Uh and that's just the way it is right now. But we're we're managing and we're getting along, we're getting along a little bit better. So for that again, for that, I'm very grateful. And next week, well, we'll tackle another topic together. I hope you'll join
me. If you like this episode, please follow the Only Child Diaries Podcast on Apple Podcasts or other platforms you might listen on. And consider rating Only Child Diaries and writing a review. It helps others to find us. Please share it with a friend you think might like it as well. Visit my Instagram page, Only Child Diaries, or Facebook, Only Child Diaries Podcast. Thanks for listening. I'm Tracy Wallace, and these are the Only Child Diaries.
