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2010s 2020 Carer Coping Health and Medicine Heart and Lung Failure Love and Marriage Marfan Medical Visually Impaired

Carer things that worked for Greg – the good, the bad and the ugly

By Greg

Being a carer can be like being on a roller coaster, it can be fun, and thrilling, and downright scary. Sometimes it’s all those things at once. And once you are on it it can be very hard to get off. But then again, sometimes you don’t want to get off, you just want it to go on and on as long as possible.

In this Post I will try to pass on some of my experience gained … Read the rest ... “Carer things that worked for Greg – the good, the bad and the ugly”

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1980s Heart and Lung Failure iPad Knowledge Love and Marriage Marfan Snippets and Vignettes

1989

Trenna’s Diary Summaries From Her iPad (with photos)

Intro and extra clarifications by Greg, the rest by Tren

As I’ve said previously … In Trenna’s iPad she has written summaries of each year. As you will see from what she has written she has gleaned the information retrospectively from a wide range of sources.
As I reproduce them on this site I’ll take the opportunity to clarify and expand on some of the stories. Trenna wrote these summaries (and there Read the rest ... “1989”

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1980s Heart and Lung Failure iPad Knowledge Love and Marriage Marfan Snippets and Vignettes

1988

Trenna’s Diary Summaries From Her iPad

Introduction

In Trenna’s iPad she has written summaries of each year. As you will see from what she has written she has gleaned the information retrospectively from a wide range of sources.

As I reproduce them on this site I’ll take the opportunity to clarify and expand on some of the stories. Trenna wrote these summaries (and there are many of them) to help her and I recall our many experiences. It was probably … Read the rest ... “1988”

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2000s 2010s 2020 Carer Collected Wisdom Coping End of Life Gardening Health and Medicine Heart and Lung Failure Medical Snippets and Vignettes Visually Impaired

Marfan and Other Chronic Conditions – Things That Worked for Trenna – Part 4

Coping with Marfan Syndrome, Heart & Lung Failure, AF, Visual Impairment, Chronic Pain and a Few Other Problems

By Greg

Introduction

If this post interests you there have been three others on this topic. All with things that Trenna tried to help her or my life as we coped with her multiple medical conditions.

I don’t think for a moment that every tip or anecdote will be useful, but I certainly am hoping that people living with chronic illness or … Read the rest ... “Marfan and Other Chronic Conditions – Things That Worked for Trenna – Part 4”

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1990s 2000s 2010s Carer Collected Wisdom Coping Health and Medicine Heart and Lung Failure Medical Snippets and Vignettes Visually Impaired

Marfan and Other Chronic Conditions – Things That Worked for Trenna – Part 3

Coping with Marfan Syndrome, Heart & Lung Failure, Visual Impairment, Chronic Pain and a Few Other Problems

By Greg

If you find this post useful or interesting you might want to check out two other posts: Marfan and Other Chronic Conditions – Things That Worked for Trenna; and Things That Worked for Trenna -Part 2.

As the name suggests yet another instalment in a series of posts that tell the things Trenna tried in an effort to make … Read the rest ... “Marfan and Other Chronic Conditions – Things That Worked for Trenna – Part 3”

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2010s Health and Medicine Heart and Lung Failure Marfan Medical Medical Records Writing

Medical Records – Cardiology No. 6

The Last Three Cardioversions

PLEASE READ THIS FIRST – THIS POST IS NOT MEDICAL ADVICE

The following historical information is for interest only. It should in no way be thought of as medical advice applicable to any other individual. Medical science has moved on, and no two people have the exact same medical circumstances. I hope you find the information interesting, To see the “Introduction” to this series of posts, please click here.

Common abbreviations used by Trenna in this … Read the rest ... “Medical Records – Cardiology No. 6”

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2010s Collected Wisdom Coping Heart and Lung Failure iPad Knowledge Marfan Medical Snippets and Vignettes

Trenna’s Marfan Exercises

The iPad Documents – Collected and Created Knowledge From Trenna

Intro by Greg, iPad Wisdom From Tren

Pain relief and the hope of maintaining some sort of body condition were the two main motives for Trenna doing exercises.

When she was able she would walk and exercise daily, and she was very disciplined at it. In the last two years of her life it was very hard to do much physical exercise at all, and I think she quietly grieved … Read the rest ... “Trenna’s Marfan Exercises”

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1980s 1990s 2000s Featured Heart and Lung Failure Snippets and Vignettes

“Better than sex” – Earl Grey and Other Favourite Drinks

By Greg

As I hope you know, one goal of this website is to get you to know Trenna a little better. So, I thought I’d provide some insights into the things Trenna liked to drink.

Spirits

Cine Cellars and Tia Maria

It would have been 1986 or 1987 when I first met Trenna, and it was in a downstairs bar called Cine Cellars near the corner of Hay and Barrack Streets in Perth city. She would regularly go there … Read the rest ... ““Better than sex” – Earl Grey and Other Favourite Drinks”

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2010s Coping Heart and Lung Failure Marfan Medical

“SCOLIOSIS BODY MIGRAINES” 

Introduction by Greg and then Trenna’s words, with only a little editing

The inverted commas in the title were in the original document. A “Body Migraine” is a Trennaism. In this case the term she used to describe this set of symptoms.

Introduction

This is another post that I am including mainly for the benefit of those with musculoskeletal issues. That of course incudes those, like Trenna, with Marfan Syndrome.

Trenna’s words below were on her iPad. It looks like … Read the rest ... ““SCOLIOSIS BODY MIGRAINES” ”

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2010s Heart and Lung Failure Marfan Medical Medical Records Writing

Medical Records – Cardiology No. 3

PLEASE READ THIS FIRST – THIS POST IS NOT MEDICAL ADVICE

The following historical information is for interest only. It should in no way be thought of as medical advice applicable to any other individual. Medical science has moved on, and no two people have the exact same medical circumstances. I hope you find the information interesting, To see the “Introduction” to this series of posts, please click here.

Common abbreviations used by Trenna in this series:
AF – Atrial … Read the rest ... “Medical Records – Cardiology No. 3”

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2010s Heart and Lung Failure Marfan Medical Medical Records

Medical Records – Cardiology No. 2

PLEASE READ THIS FIRST – THIS POST IS NOT MEDICAL ADVICE

The following historical information is for interest only. It should in no way be thought of as medical advice applicable to any other individual. Medical science has moved on, and no two people have the exact same medical circumstances. I hope you find the information interesting, To see the “Introduction” to this series of posts, please click here.

Common abbreviations used by Trenna in this series:
AF – Atrial … Read the rest ... “Medical Records – Cardiology No. 2”

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Heart and Lung Failure Marfan Medical Medical Records

Medical Records – Cardiology No. 1

And Cardioversion

PLEASE READ THIS FIRST – THIS POST IS NOT MEDICAL ADVICE

The following historical information is for interest only. It should in no way be thought of as medical advice applicable to any other individual. Medical science has moved on, and no two people have the exact same medical circumstances. I hope you find the information interesting, To see the “Introduction” to this series of posts, please click here.

Common abbreviations used by Trenna in this series:
AF … Read the rest ... “Medical Records – Cardiology No. 1”

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Coping Heart and Lung Failure Marfan Medical Medical Records Visually Impaired

Introduction to The Medical Records

Introduction by Greg, all the records are Trenna’s work unless specified

I’ve tossed around in my head what to do with Trenna’s extensive medical records.

They mainly comprise the detailed notes she would make at the end of almost all consultations with medical professionals. At first she hand wrote them on A5 pieces of paper (actually hand written on the back of bits of paper that otherwise would have ended in the recycling bin).

Later she recorded them on her … Read the rest ... “Introduction to The Medical Records”

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2010s Carer End of Life Heart and Lung Failure Medical Snippets and Vignettes

A Trip to the Psychiatrist

By Greg & Trenna

This wasn’t the first time that it was suggested that Trenna might need to see a psychiatrist. See also this anecdote from when she was a child.

The recent post “The Key to Happiness and Fulfilment” got me thinking of a visit to Trenna’s cardiologist, which ended up turning into a trip to see a psychiatrist. Here’s what happened…..

It was Monday, 12 June 2017 at 9:30am (actually from about this point we never made appointments, … Read the rest ... “A Trip to the Psychiatrist”

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Carer Coping Heart and Lung Failure Marfan Medical Snippets and Vignettes Visually Impaired

Things That Worked for Trenna -Part 2

Strategies and tips used by someone with a degenerative condition and chronic illness

By Greg

Things Trenna and I Tried, That Worked

in no particular order

This is the second part of this list. For the first part please click here.

I’m already working on part 3 as things we have done in the past pop randomly into my scone.

Coloured Lever Arch Files (although there are electronic filing alternatives now)

As you will find out by going through this … Read the rest ... “Things That Worked for Trenna -Part 2”

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End of Life Heart and Lung Failure Marfan Medical Mourning Snippets and Vignettes Visually Impaired Writing

I am Stuck

A Screen shot from Trenna's iPad
A screen shot from Trenna’s iPad

[Note from Greg: I don’t think for one moment that when Trenna prepared this piece on her iPad that she just added a nice picture to the top. I think the fact that she is standing on an island (Staten), with the rest of the world behind her (New York City) is entirely deliberate and relevant.]

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2010s Carer Coping Heart and Lung Failure iPad Knowledge Love and Marriage Marfan Medical Visually Impaired

The Recce-Vite

A little bit of fun is better than none

by Greg

Trenna became aware at some point around 2010 that she was getting out of the house less and less – it was often pretty hard. But she didn’t want to lose touch with the city in which she lived.  And she wanted some recreation and a change of scenery.

So, she invented the “Recce-Vite”. She was using French words to describe a quick look around somewhere.

A recce-vite was … Read the rest ... “The Recce-Vite”