2 Heart Surgeries Done, 1 More To Go $$
My story
--- short version
I'm lucky to be alive.
My chest hurt. Badly. Visited cardiologist. Got all clear from nuclear stress test and imaging. Chest hurts some more. For three and a half months. Dr and I looking for answers. Mid November three quick episodes of severe unstable angina sent me to the ER. Long story short, I enjoyed the hospitality of Piedmont Athens Regional Hospital for a full week. ER Tuesday. Heart Catheterization Wednesday. Kidney rest day Thursday and CABGx4 first thing friday morning. Thats a Coronary Artery Bypass Graft. Quadruple bypass. Preop testing found severely clogged carotid arteries. Surgeons conferred about doing both surgeries concurrently, but decided against it. Went January 10 for TCAR procedure to stent my right carotid artery. That one hurt way more than the open heart surgery. Have to repeat this one after three months on the left side.
Any way, the truth is I have missed a lot of work and need help keeping up the regular bills. I am only working part time now and I miss hours going to cardiac rehab three times a week in the afternoon. Not to mention the massive medical bills in my immediate future. I don't even want to think about all that.
Please consider making a donation to my page. It would really be a blessing to me if I could worry less about paying the electric bill (its really high, no furnace. i'm using space heaters) and more about working to recover from this unexpected heart surgery.
--- long version (i like to talk.)
My chest hurt. Kept hurting. I'd just had a clear nuclear stress test and imaging in August. All clear he said. no blockages he said. Less than 01% chance of death from a cardiac event within a year... he said.
So my DR and I assumed my continuing chest pain was musculoskeletal. It is a very common cause of chest pain. But after three very bad chest pain episodes (unstable angina I know now) Monday night and Tuesday morning I called my DR and she advised me to go to ER. I’m sure that saved my life.
I drove myself to the ER on my lunch break. I still had no idea it was anything serious. Sure it hurt like crazy, but a cardiologist had cleared my heart. I wondered what it could be. The ER team took me right back (just say Chest Pain and see how fast you bypass the lines at the ER) and before long I found out I was gonna be a guest of Piedmont Athens Regional for the night. They scheduled a heart catheterization for first thing the next morning. Why do they have to do everything before dawn?
But…the heart cath told the tale. Almost 100% blockage in my left coronary artery. Right above the fork. Probably hours away from what would have probably been a fatal heart attack. The left coronary artery feeds 2/3 of the heart. That’s a lot of heart muscle to lose. They scheduled open heart surgery to bypass the blockage for Friday November 16, 2018. The only reason they didn’t do it the next morning was because they have to wait for the catheterization dyes to clear the kidneys. I was hooked to every monitor you can imagine.
Thursday they come in for an ultrasound of my carotid arteries (standard before open heart surgery) and found them to be pretty clogged. They said both blocked at 70% at first, then amended that number to 70%-90% then 60%-80% after a CAT scan. Bottom line, they BOTH need stents. asap. Great.
you know me, I draw all over everything. LOL I hit the white board in every empty room on that floor.
4 am call for Open Heart - CABGx4
I was in surgery almost 8 hours. Woke up still on the ventilator. grrrrr I asked for a pencil and paper and penned a few indignant notes to the nursing staff. They weren’t impressed. Vent stayed.
Stayed in hospital for 4 more days, released two days before Thanksgiving. Very happy to have four chihuahuas to keep me company. 
First evening home. Doggies were glad to see me. I was dog piled with four furry chihuahua.
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Now the Carotids:
CATScan and consult with vascular surgeon in mid December, then set the date for January 10, 2019. I went into surgery at 5am to have the TCAR procedure on my right carotid artery. After the surgery I stayed in ICU almost all day. There I got to learn the finesse of using a bedpan and not getting it all in your bed. Or tried to anyway.
Finally moved from ICU to a step down room in the evening, only to be taken back to ICU after two hours. My blood pressure kept tanking out and they were having difficulty keeping it up at a safe level. The lowest I remember seeing it on the monitors was 75/38. that’s pretty low. It still runs low.
I stayed the night in ICU (so many wires, how does anyone sleep?) Figured out maybe the bedpan wasn’t so bad; in this ICU I had to get up and use a bedside potty - in front of cameras in my glass walled room. At least I didn’t have anyone in the room watching me.
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First day home. This one hurts waaaaay more than the open heart surgery.
I have another vascular surgery to do after 90 days. I have to have it done; my left carotid is a stroke waiting to happen. I don’t want to have a stroke.
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Please consider a small donation to help me out here. I'd very much like to put this all behind me.
I'm working hard for my physical recovery, but I have to keep the lights on too.
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Heart Surgery Hospital only. Vascular surgery hospital charges were $50k - Another 50K for next surgery in April.
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I have missed some work (obviously) for all this. I didn’t have any short term disability to cover my wages. I am back to work now part time but playing catch up as best I can. I tire easily still. I attend cardiac rehab three days a week after work. I anticipate only being able to work part time for a few more weeks.
Anyway, that’s my tale. Feel free to ask any questions. I like to talk…
