HEART ATTACK????
I didn't think so either. It's really a very long story. I'll try to be brief.
Back in August, the same week that school started and my Stormy entered 6th grade, I started feeling "bad". I wasn't sure what was going on. I had some nausea, my "lungs" hurt, and it felt like my back needed to be popped. You know, nothing horrible. This started, I think Sunday evening. By Thursday, I was not feeling better, so I go to see my Chiropractor. I get adjusted and feel a little bit better. Lovebug and I go out for lunch -- I had a very light lunch. Immediately following lunch, I began to feel bad again. All week long, I'm thinking, at worse this is an anxiety attack (my Stormy entering 6th grade and we couldn't get her schedule right) or I've developed asthma. I'd been having some breathing issues for several months, but nothing severe. Just a bit out of breath, like I couldn't get enough oxygen deep into my lungs -- obviously still functioning.
So, I called DH and told him something isn't right and could he pick Stormy up from school. Well, this conversation didn't go well and I ended up driving to pick Stormy up. (Stupid, stupid, stupid!!) Once home, I call our family dr. In a nut shell, after hearing of my symptoms, the nurse tells me to go to the Emergency room. "DO NOT WAIT!! GO NOW!" She was very insistent saying these are classic signs of a woman having a heart attack. I didn't remember any of these being classic signs, but I tell her I'll go.
So, I load everyone up in the van. DH was there too, he was waiting at home when we got there from school. I drive us to the ER (again, stupid, stupid, stupid!). We get there and I tell the receptionist that my Dr's office thinks I may be having a heart attack, but I don't think I am. Well, they hook me up to a monitor, check my blood pressure, ask many questions, move me to a different room, hook me up to more monitors, ask many more questions, hook up a central line, take blood, give me nitro glycerin, do chest x-rays, blah, blah, blah. About 2 and 1/2 hours later the ER doc comes in and tells me "Good news!! It's not your heart!! We don't know what is going on, but your heart seems fine. Follow up with your family Dr."
What a relief!! We'll be going home soon!! We will still be able to make it to Lovebug's Open House at school. I turn to DH and tell him "This has been a big scare -- from now on we all eat right and get in shape."
About 20 minutes later, the ER doc comes back in saying one of the blood test looks messed up. He thought that it had been left out too long or the nurse ran the test wrong. He wants to run it again. I'm thinking to myself, so long as I'm not paying for it. HA! This test was checking my enzyme levels. And the 1st test came back at about 1.2. So, they take more blood, re-run the test and this time it came back at about a 2.2. This time the ER doc asks some more questions about my past history. I can tell by the puzzled look on his face that these were not the answers he was looking for. He says to me "You are really confusing us!" Again, thinking to myself, that can't be good! I'm just lying here on a gurney giving you my blood and you are getting confused??? YIKES!!" So, he tells me he wants to run the test again and this time he wants to run it in a different machine -- he's still convinced something else is wrong.
So, third time around is a charm or so they say. My enzyme level came back at around a 2.6. (Notice the slowly rising levels) This time he tells me, I'm sending you up to the Cath Lab. We want to be absolutely sure that there is nothing wrong with your heart. It's a very low invasive procedure. If there is something wrong, they'll be able to fix it right then. But most likely all will be well.
Well, now I'm freaking. Surgery? On my Heart? Surgery? On MY heart? SURGERY? My mind racing, I'm trying to figure out a way to access the internet from the ER room. I have no knowledge about this procedure. I finally ask for some written literature. They did one better. They had a nurse who had been through the procedure bring in the written literature. Then the activity level increases. Central line number two is placed in my left arm, more nitro, and finally oxygen -- TA DA! I immediately felt better for the first time all week. Oxygen. Again, leading me to think it's asthma.
Well an hour or so later I'm wheeled up to the Cath Lab -- this trip is NOT for those who have motion sickness -- trust me! Once parked, this great looking young man comes to my bedside. It looks like he is wearing a kilt and I tease him about it. He takes it all in great strides and tells me he's got Irish in his blood. Next, I'm being wheeled into the actual Lab and this same great looking guy is telling me about the procedure and what was going to happen. One of the things he tells me is that I would be shaved around my pubic area. I'm thinking "That sucks, but okay", but then HE proceeds to doing the shaving!! OMG!! I'm sure I turned about 20 shades of red. As he's working he tells me he has to do both sides so that the dr. has access to either side. "Great!" Then he tells me he has to paint this brightly colored disinfectant on too. Will the humiliations ever end????
Well, now I'm waiting for them to put me to sleep or at least give me a twilight drug or something. Nope, I'm wide awake for the whole thing. However, they did give me a drug to "relax" me and I swear it was the best damn drug invented!! I felt GOOD! Anyway, I can see them threading the wire up to my heart via the monitors. It was quite the miracle to watch. At one moment no blood was moving through that artery and then two stents later I was watching the blood gush through. Amazing. Simply amazing. So, I'm told "You had a myocardial infarction (heart attack). Right artery was 100% blocked and your left vertical is 50% blocked." We'll treat the 50% blockage with medication. Go HERE to see a short video about angioplasty and stenting.
For several hours after the surgery I had to lie prone. The surgery was at about 9:00 p.m. and not until the following morning was I allowed to get up to go pee! I was just about to agree to have a catheter put in, but then the nurse checked to see when I would be allowed to get it up -- I had two minutes to go! It was the longest two minutes. Honestly, waiting to go to the bathroom was the hardest and most painful part of the whole ordeal.
I felt great. I felt better than I had in weeks. DH said I looked better -- I had better color.
I still can not believe it some days. My life has changed. I am not the same person I was before Aug. 24th. I have to take six types of medications -- this was the first hurdle to jump through. I've never taken pills well -- not even a daily vitamin, but I'm faithful to these current meds. I've had to change my diet. My GYN has recommended the South Beach diet -- not to loose weight but as a way of eating. (This is a whole different post, which I promise to tell you about another day). I have to exercise at least 30 min. a day - up to 60 min. a day. Exercise is now put on my calendar and I keep those appointments. I have to manage stress. I've let go of almost all volunteer work. If I take on anything it has a begin date and an end date and is usually something I can take care of in a few hours -- nothing I have to think much about. Oh and one of the perks. . . as of today I have lost 33 lbs. I feel better than I have in years -- I feel young again and I believe the weight loss and the exercise have done this for me. I still have about 35 lbs left to loose to be close to my "ideal" weight (according to some chart). But I feel confident that I'll get there.
Now if all that weren't enough, here is one more part of my story. I called my little brother -- okay, he's not little, but he's 13 months younger than myself and told him about my heart attack. Our mother had died at age 50 -- "hardening of the arteries", so I thought he should know. Now here is where I say the Twilight Zone happened: Almost 4 weeks to the day after my heart attack, he calls me -- FROM A HOSPITAL ROOM -- and says "I couldn't let you out-do me!" He had had a heart attack. My little brother! A Heart attack! He's only 40. He had 100% blockage in the right artery (sound familiar???) and more severe blockages (than I) in his left arteries. He ended up having two different surgeries and 4 stents put in. He tells me that if I had not have called him and told him my symptoms, he most likely would not have gone into the dr's office that morning. I'm tellin' you, the symptoms we had are not your classic "heart attack" symptoms. If he had been 10 or so years older, they would have done bypass surgery on him instead of the stents. I still get freaked out when I really think about it all.
Well there you have it. We are feeling pretty grateful this year. And personally I feel better than I've felt in a couple of years. If I could have done it differently I would have, but I really believe having the heart attack was the best thing to happen to me in a long while. I'm a better person for it.
Well that's my story for now. I hope to update more frequently now. I've missed you all.
This year though, Tom was a little dry -- I'm sure it was because dh could not keep the oven closed!! It might also been dry because we had to transport it to my sisters house and finish it up there. Ohhh, but the taste! And the aroma. Makes my mouth water just thinking about it.
Waiting in my refrigerator is one 
