Help Justin Miale Recover from Life-Saving Surgeries

On Saturday December 7th I pinched a nerve in my neck, when it happened I felt a quick electric shock down my left arm to my fingers. I honestly didn't think much of it when it happened, but the next day I noticed my arm was getting very week, my finger tips were numb and tingly and every time I turned my neck to the left I got a slight "jolt" down my entire left side. This got rapidly worse over the next few days, to the point that by Wednesday I had lost almost all use of my left hand and I had to really focus to get my left leg to move when I walked. I had planned to go to the Urgent Care at my Dr's office, but I got an emergency call from a customer so, as usual, I put someone else's needs before my own. I did finally go to my Dr's on Thursday, and she immediately wanted to send me to the ER in Plantation because she was afraid I might be having a stroke or that there was some severe damage to my spine. I went to Memorial Regional in Hollywood, as soon as I left her office, where they quickly put a cervical collar on me(which I've been wearing ever since) and almost as quickly sent me upstairs for CT scans and am MRI. What was discovered was severe damage to my cervical spine from my C4/5 to C6/7, including degenerative spine disease, spinal compression, and spinal stenosis which is affecting the nerve that communicates with my left arm. I was told, in no uncertain terms, that I need to have surgery to remove the damaged vertebrae and fuse them together with titanium and donor bone, and I need it as soon as possible. Unfortunately, my archaic habit of smoking little cigars, or a 2 month hold on that, as you have to be nicotine free for 2 months before that type of surgery in ensure proper healing and fusing of the bone. So I went home Friday night, actually feeling better, I only had lingering affects in my left arm. The leg was fine, the tingling was all but gone, and by the evening I could even make a fist again.

Everything changed at 3am, Saturday morning, when I woke up feeling like I got hit by a truck. I had a sharp pain in my upper left back, almost the same area where I felt the pinched nerve, but this was different. I took a shot a cherry Nyquil and took a steaming hot shower, thinking I was having a muscle spasm from sleeping in this damn cervical collar, I had also started coughing real bad and that was hurting my lung and chest. The 1st time I coughed something up, it was red, but at the time I attributed it to the Nyquil. I continued coughing stuff up for the the couple hours and I noticed it was still bright red, my the time the sun had risen, I had already been on Google for about an hour and had "self diagnosed" that I had a pulmonary embolism or something equally as horrible. I returned to the ER shortly after that, this time going to Memorial Pembroke, where they quickly admitted me, and diagnosed me with pneumonia, which they soon verified with a CT scan w/contrast. They started me on an aggressive course of multiple IV antibiotics, attempted to mitigate my pain(which was, on a scale of 1 to 10, at 15 at that point) with IV morphine. That gave me quick, albeit extremely brief, relief, but they were definitely doing the best they could. I'm not quite sure why, but they decided to do another CT scan shortly after midnight and I remember the attending physician for the evening coming into my room with a very concerned and distraught look on her face, which I could see even thru her face mask. She told me that she had already been in contact with the cardiothorasic team at Regional, and she was facilitating my immediate transfer to that hospital. She explained that what she observed in my CT scan was a serious issue with my heart and they just were not equipped to deal with it at that particular hospital. So she literally called 911 and got Pembroke Pines Fire Rescue to pick me up in one of their ambulances. These 3 amazing gentlemen where at my room by 3am, had me at the ER entrance at Regional by 3:30 and I was in a private room in the Cardiac ICU by 3:45. This is when my world just turned upside down. I was finally told what they had discovered, on top of a slightly enlarged heart(cardiomegaly), my ascending aorta was on the verge of rupturing. While that part of the aorta should normally be about 2.5cm, mine is just shy of 7cm. Basically making me a walking, ticking time bomb. They were so concerned about the massive aneurysm, that they were weighing the risk/reward of doing surgery while I was still battling pneumonia. Ultimately it was decided the the best course of action was to continue to aggressively treat the pneumonia with IV antibiotics and extreme breathing treatments, while simultaneously monitoring every aspect of my heart and lung function. Since I have no known history of heart disease, and I had not exhibited any symptoms related to my condition prior to this miraculous discovery, I think they felt it was safe, and ultimately better to knock out the pneumonia before proceeding with the heart. They did several ultrasounds of my heart and lung, over the next couple days, while continuing the antibiotics and aggressive breathing treatments every 4 hours, and also taking chest x-rays twice a day to monitor the mass that was the pneumonia, in my lung. By Tuesday I was feeling 100% better, most of what was in my lung was now at the top, and had become phlegm that I was able to easily expel with a cough, but I was diligent and, to this day(Saturday Dec 21st), continued with the breathing treatment. They used Cardiac catheter to check the rest of my cardiovascular system, basically clearing me for surgery, finding no calcification or clogging of any arteries, but also verifying the severity and extreme scope of exactly how bad my aorta is.

So I'm going to be having open heart surgery within the next 5 days or so, which is honestly quite terrifying, but at the same time I feel extremely blessed. The entire chain of events last week that led me to going to the particular ER that I did, at the exact time I did, undoubtedly saved my life. As much as pneumonia sucks, and let me just tell you IT SUCKS, if I had gone to the Dr's a day earlier, or had gone to the hospital in Plantation as she wanted me to do, I wouldn't have caught pneumonia(I 100% caught it during my initial ER visit), they would've never done the CT scan w/contrast, and I would've never known about my heart. It would've been identified during my autopsy after rupturing in my sleep or on the job.

I've now been in the hospital 9 days(excluding the Friday night I went home), I've got at least 4-5 days before my surgery, and then possibly 5-7 days of post-op recovery here, and then a long road of recovery at home. All this time I will still be wearing the cervical collar, because I'm at risk of permanent paralysis until I have the spinal surgery, which is going to be done as soon as I fully recover from open heart surgery. The road to recovery for my spinal surgery is going to be even longer, not to mention the surgery may not fix the issues in still having in my left arm. I have no resistance strength in my arm, I can pull I can grip with my hand, but I can't lift anything heavier than a napkin and I have very little control of my forearm. The surgery might make it better, the nerve at the C6/7 may start to communicate with my arm post-op, it might do nothing for it. The purpose of the surgery is to prevent any further damage, but it's also going to rob me of about 30% of the range of motion in my neck, which is pretty significant, but definitely a better alternative to paralysis. Being self employed has been an amazing experience for me, and I wouldn't change it for the world, but the double edged sword to being your own boss and running your own company is there's no backup plan no sick leave, no AFLAC. I am most likely going to be out of work well into the middle of 2025 if not longer. I live a simple life, I have fairly cheap rent, and not much in the way of monthly bills, but having no savings and no money coming in, I'm now in crisis mode and I'm not even out of the hospital yet. I'm going to need to cover rent for at least 6 months, as well as the many follow up and physical therapy appointments I'm going to have, food and other essentials, and quite possibly a home health aid because I'm going to definitely need assistance with everyday things for the 1st month or so, and I don't know anyone that can afford to take a month off of work to take care of me. This is just for after heart surgery, I'll definitely need a home care aid after the spinal surgery because I won't be able to bend or lift or turn for the 1st couple months after that.

So while I feel blessed that they found my heart issue before it killed me, the stress of my impending financial crisis, is not something I can even fathom right now. So even if it's just $5, or you're just sharing this on your page or in a group, every little bit will help me get thru this, stress free, and be stronger and better than ever before. Not exactly how I expected to start my 50th year on this planet, but I've got a new lease on life, and I'm excited for the future. Thank you all for reading this and for any assistance you may be able to provide. Happy Holidays!!

Justin Gram Miale