Jimmy's Achy Breaky Heart

On Tuesday June 22nd, my Dad called the paramedics because he had been up all-night experiencing indigestion and stomach pains. He finally called for medical assistance and the EMT’s arrived at 5 in the morning when they did an EKG and said everything looked “normal”. Well everything wasn’t normal even though the EKG clearly stated “abnormal”. They offered to transport him but declined since he was told it looked “normal”. At this point he figured it was food poisoning or a bad stomach bug. Throughout the day, we checked on him and offered again to take him to the ER, but he kept insisting he was fine and that it would pass. At midnight that night he called and asked us for a ride to the ER. Within an hour of being seen I was told they were going to take him to the Cath Lab. I immediately drove back to the hospital to be with him. Thankfully, the doctor let me see him right after and explained that he had 100% blockage in his right coronary artery. They placed three stints in the Cath Lab and at that point all we could do was wait 48 hours to see how he responded to them. 48 hours in the ICU he was only allowed one visitor for 4 hours a day. His glucose levels were elevated, and he was diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes in addition to the stints. Thursday, we got the news that his heart was accepting the stints and the muscles seemed not to show long term damage from the blockage. But he wasn’t out of the woods yet unfortunately, the electrical part of his heart was not firing the way it should. They continued to monitor him in the ICU taking extra precautions because his heart rate dropped dangerously low over night. There were no changes by Saturday, so the doctors made the decision to implant a Pacemaker. The surgery went well, and he was moved from the ICU to a regular room on Monday. He was finally discharged and sent home Tuesday. He’s now home after a full week in the hospital and has been ordered to “take it easy” for a few weeks. If you’ve ever met my Dad, you know he doesn’t ever take it easy and is anxiously waiting to return to work. So, while he was going stir crazy in the hospital, he is now going stir crazy home until his doctors release him to return to work. He’s going to be responsible for excessive medical bills. After just getting back to normalcy from covid he now has this unexpected burden. He can’t wait to return to work doing what he loves and engaging with his co-workers, customers, and friends. Your generosity would be greatly appreciated as we try to raise money to assist with his medical bills. Thank you