Thanksgiving Message from Daniel Taverne (Blog Owner)

A Protein losing enteropathy (hypoproteinemia) is pretty tough to deal with. I know what it’s like to attend family functions only to lay on the couch with my legs elevated while everyone else visits having a great time.


I understand the feeling of not being able to eat because food in my stomach, and excess fluid in my belly makes it hard to breath.

This is why it’s so important for people like us to grab onto the moments when we feel pretty good. Since they are few, We know that such moments are not to be wasted.


Maybe you are chronically ill with another affliction, this applies to you too. Actually, this is just as important for the perfectly healthy, though they may not realize it.


Is this an advantage we have over them; that We learn the value of moments?


I saw a TV show this week where a man told a woman to take pictures of moments, not people.  That’s what we need to do. We all need to pay attention to (and value) moments...Even in the midst of illness.

Anatomy of My Illness

A tough condition like yours and mine has an anatomy, and I’m not talking about ‘the illness’ in itself. I’m talking about all the aspects of a person that an illness touches.


I wrote this letter to a fellow on television a few years back. I feel compelled to include it on this blog to let you know a little about my illness anatomy.


Here’s the letter: I don’t want to die yet. I have a young spirit! There are things I want to do. I’m not one of those old people who refuse to do things because those things are jouvenile. I love laughing, riding my bike, camping, hiking and I have interests.


I was a brick layer/ block layer as my illness raised it’s ugly head, and I remember my last day on the job when I couldn’t see good enough anymore to lay some soldiers across a lentle at a Corky’s BBQ Resteraunt. While driving home that morning, I could have caused an accident as I skidded through an intersection because I couldn’t tell that it’s light was red until I was only a short distance from it. That was also the last time I’ve driven my car on the streets.


There was a while when I placed 2 donation cans in a local convenience store, we didn’t have money for food, or Christmas, and the usual food bank was out of food because it had already given out its inventory because of the holiday.


We’ve had to file bankruptsy and only have about 2 more years to pay on it. I am getting social security disability, and until recently I had a job as a physical therapy tech. I was having to go to the hospital too much, and my supervisor could see I was trying to work through a lot of pain which I was unsuccessfully trying to hide. They eventually replaced me because of this. I loved the job too because in 2002 I had just about completed COTA certified Occupational therapy assistant college and finally had a chance to feel like I was benefiting others by using a lot of what I learned.

Emergency Treatment for my Hypoalbuminemia

Will there ever be a need for me to have  “emergency” treatment for my hypoalbuminemia?


My kneejerk reaction was to answer "no", but thinking back now, I remember instances when my breathing was impaired due to acites (fluid accumulation in the abdominal area), so I have to answer my question with a "yes". This fluid was interfering with my mechanical ablility to inhale deeply enough to maintain a normal oxygen level.


I have also had fluid accumulate around the lining of my lungs (plural effusion) which would impede the full inflation of my lungs.


In my case, the fluid overload I was experiencing was treated with a combination of Albumin infusions, and intravenous Lasix. That said, the plural effusions were taken care of manually by physically draining them with a needle.


I can’t say that because of my low albumin that I was in danger of death because of these two issues, but I was extremely uncomfortable, and in some pain.


Another emergency, not necessarily due to the fluid overload, are serious infections. When these unfortunately arise, I’m usually given strong intravenous antibiotics as well as intravenous immunoglobulins to help boost my immunity.


Many of my hospitalizations I was given the albumin and lasix at 8 hour intervals for a week, then before I left, they were followed by a final dose of the immunoglobulins.


This final dose sometimes seems to help the other proteins gain a foothold in my circulatory system as evidenced by unusual spikes in my total protein level.


Questions, comments or criticisms can be left either in a comment or in my guestbook.

Healthy Eating Video - very good

This is good stuff, and it's very interesting. I think I'll incorporate some of these ideas in my home. What do you think?