Since January 2021, Paulie has been having health issues and going to the doctors frequently to find out why. Mostly the issues were difficulty breathing, no energy and body aches. Without a definitive diagnosis, he ended up taking a lot of time off from work which resulted in him exhausting his PTO. Believing it was just an ongoing asthma issue that was progressing, he continued to work and live his life. In May 2021, he was in the process of buying a new house and his health started to deteriorate rapidly; then in July 2021, the house purchase was complete, and he slowly started to move in.
In August 2021, he went to the doctor’s again with the same issues, but this time an EKG was done, and an irregularity was detected in his heart. He received a referral to a cardiologist and underwent testing. Originally, his cardiologist ordered an angiogram and anticipated to have to adjust Paulie’s medication, possibly put a stent in however, the doctor performing the angiogram admitted him into the hospital and scheduled him for a triple Coronary Artery Bypass Graft (CABG) surgery. He had to wait 5 days before the surgery could take place because of the medication he’d taken for the angiogram and because he was a “walking heart attack”. Paulie’s angiogram showed a severely calcified left anterior descending (LAD) artery, which was narrowed in 2 places 85% and one other place at 70%; essentially this means the arteries in his heart were narrowing from calcium build up and not allowing his heart to pump clean blood into his body. If left untreated, Paulie would not have lived another 4 months without a major heart attack that would have instantly killed him.
Four days after the surgery he was sent home with strict limitations on activities. This means Paulie went from 60 to 0 and his body did not react well. His entire body is bruised and sore to the touch. Part of his recovery included walking 3 to 4 times daily to encourage healing. About a week after being home, he was unable to walk because the pain in his leg (where they removed an artery for the bypass) has become severely painful and swollen. He made an appointment with his primary care doctor who scheduled an ultrasound, which detected a very large clot in his thigh. He was taken by ambulance from the image care appointment to the hospital for a MRI to check for blood clots throughout his body and it was confirmed he had approximately 12 blood clots; some very large ones in his thigh and the rest were in his lungs. He was rushed into surgery for a Catheter-Directed Thrombolysis (clot-busting procedure) for his lungs, an inferior vena cava (IVC) filter was placed to stop blood clots from going up into his lungs (which will hopefully be removed in 90 days), and an angiogram to check the pressure in his heart. He was then admitted to the ICU for close observation and heavy doses of blood thinners. Within 24 hours it was decided he would need a Thrombectomy to remove the larger clots in his legs that were not responding to the blood thinners. During the thrombectomy, the surgeons found more than expected: large blood clots throughout his thigh and throughout his abdomen all the way to the bottom of his heart’ thankfully the surgery was a success.
He has a very long road to wellness and his recovery will be a painful one and we are praying no more complications will delay the healing process. Meanwhile, his PTO is still exhausted, and he is still out of work, all savings have been spent and put into the house, and the Short-Term disability he is on is extremely low. He is still living in his apartment because he has no way of finishing his move, and is now paying rent for his apartment, mortgage for his house, plus double all other bills with two residences. He will be out of work until November 2021 and will not be able to make ends meet. Without financial help, he will have to foreclose on the new house and go into a deep hole of debt with medical expenses on top of normal lively hood expenses.
It was very difficult to get Paulie to agree to post this GoFundMe; he is a very proud man who has worked his entire life to make sure his friends and family are always well taken care of. He went from taking care of everyone he loves to being unable to do anything for himself, which includes keeping a roof over his head. Any and all donations of any kind are appreciated beyond words and will make a life changing impact on Paulie after he’s been through so much.
