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 27th. By the end of the day July 8th, 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 9th,
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 8th. 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.
Old age is so good have problems think they are little and they turn into something serious
ReplyDeleteYou take it easy we want you to be around for a lot longer
I read your post. I almost held my breath the whole time.
ReplyDeleteGlad you got help! I know you are going to recover nicely because you are a smart person who knows how to handle things.
Get some rest and congratulations to you, your family, and your health care team.♥️
Paula, so sorry to hear about your heart issues, I all too acquainted with the cardiology crews both at Cherry Hill and at Kaiser. Just hoping my masking tape keeps holding up. Glad you got help in time. Get well, thinking of you. Much love, and hope to see you soon.
ReplyDelete