MY REFURBISHED HEART

   

       Those of you who read my blog are aware of my June diagnosis of Stable Angina. What you don’t know is the fact it developed into Unstable Angina. I began to keep track of the episodes on June 27^th. By the end of the day July 8^th, I had had a total of twenty-six episodes and the last six had occurred on that very day. Was I concerned? Sort of, but if I took a nitroglycerin tablet and breathed, the episode went away within five minutes or so.

          On July 9^th, I had my scheduled phone call with the cardiology nurse. This is the program I joined to improve my heart health. I had sent her the table of my episodes sans the last day, i.e., July 8^th. We didn’t do the scheduled program after we talked about the table and the previous day’s six episodes. She said she wanted to talk to my cardiologist and would get back to me.

          The cardiologist called me a few hours later, the end result of which was for me to go to Swedish Cherry Hill Emergency and be admitted to the hospital as soon as possible. She planned to have an angioplasty performed the following day. I wasn’t prepared for this, i.e., Xander was spending the night, so his dad had to come get him. AJ needed to come get me and take me to the hospital. Haley had to come stay at my house for the night with Kuma.

          After a small glitch regarding my admission (the orders couldn’t be found initially), the paperwork was completed and I was in a room hooked up to all the machines as I had been the beginning of June. In the ER, however, I was told the cardiac enzymes indicated I had had a small heart attack…how about that!!! Let me add here that I had had no episodes at all on Tuesday, having made sure I moved slowly all day. The heart attack must have happened on Monday but none of the six episodes, or any of the episodes really, seemed like my idea of a heart attack. Once I was settled in, AJ went home.

          After a not so restful night (they kept coming in to check this and that), a woman showed up early and performed an echocardiogram. She told me she couldn’t tell me anything because the doctor had to read the results. Seriously, how does she know what to look for and document if she cannot read what she’s seeing on the screen???

          Nurses were in and out and a total of three doctors came in to see me. The first one was Dr. Brown and he was the most important since he would be the one doing the angioplasty. A variety of times for the procedure were given but finally, a nurse came in and hauled me off to the operating room. I thought I was totally aware during the entire procedure; however, I was totally wrong.

          As it turned out, I was extremely fortunate I didn’t have a huge heart attack and fall over dead. I did, however, have a Non-ST Segment Elevation Myocardial Infarction. Dr. Brown installed six, that’s SIX, stents in my heart. A percutaneous coronary intervention was performed on my left anterior descending coronary artery and two stents were placed. A percutaneous coronary intervention was performed on my circumflex coronary artery and two stents placed. A percutaneous coronary intervention was performed on my left main coronary artery and two stents installed.  There’s a lot more verbiage in Dr. Brown’s report; however, this is what was accomplished.

          Dr. Brown’s report was completed with the following, “This was a complex procedure due to bifurcation disease, calcification. Additional work required beyond usual steps included serial balloon dilations, T-stenting left main bifurcation. Usual time for this procedure is 30 min and this took 70 min.” I guess you could say I was one lucky individual to have survived long enough to have the procedure(s).

          My chest hurt when I was returned to my room. The nurse gave me a Percocet and I pretty much slept/dozed until the following day except for the multiple times nurses came in to check a wide variety of physical responses. Eventually, discharge orders were written and AJ came to pick me up and take me home.

          My orders at this point in time is to remain calm and rest for about the next week. I’m also to not do anything that requires great physical exertion for six weeks. I am to take up walking on a daily basis but not to the extent I am exerting myself. Of the three new prescriptions given in June, one has been deleted and two new ones added. I have two cardiology appointments next week and one at the end of the month.

          Let me tell you how absolutely amazed I am by all of this. I am also extremely amazed I’m still alive. I was a walking heart attack just waiting to happen. AJ, Thor and other family and friends could be planning my memorial service today instead of just checking in to make sure I’m doing okay and don’t need anything. Seriously, how could my coronary arteries become so bad while my body continued to move about as though there were nothing wrong…my heart rate got up to 124 beats/minute exactly one week before the myocardial infarction.

          In any case, I guess I’ve been given a new lease on life, or at least will be after the next six weeks. I’m not exactly sure what that means at this point in time, but I’m sure those six weeks will give me the time I need to reflect and plan for the future. I’m also extremely grateful for the staff at Swedish Cherry Hill and Dr. Brown and his crew for saving my life. I’m also extremely grateful for my family and friends who rallied round to take care of stuff when I couldn’t and who will continue to monitor my well-being.

          I think you could say I’m one enormously lucky woman.