Recent Health Scare
Posted: Tue Dec 20, 2022 10:49 am
Right around the first day of November I started to experience a shortness of breath with the slightest amount of exertion. The first time I noticed it I walked a guitar out to my truck getting ready to leave for rehearsal. As soon as I would stop and rest it would go away. It was not like I was gasping for air but I would get the icy cold feeling right up through my chest like that when you finish a sprint in cool weather. I immediately called my cardio doc and made an appointment. The first opening was the 9th.
During the visit I saw the nurse practitioner which has become the routine the last few years at my annual. She ran an EKG (useless test) and then we talked. She agreed something was wrong and ordered an ecogram, three day heart monitor and a stress test. The issue was the tests were spread out over the next month. It did not seem to be urgent enough for me but what do know as I am the patient.
The very next day while sitting at the breakfast bar I began having chest pains. It was not severe, say 3-4 out of a 10 but it persisted. I asked Ms Tonebender to take me in. I was in overnight. They ran all kinds of tests and determined I did not have a heart attack. They diagnosed me with Stable Angina and prescribed me with a medication that would help increase blood flow (not Viagra). They also moved the stress from the 7th back to the 29th. It still seemed to far out for me but again, what do I know?
I did the stress test and it was the worst 90 seconds of my life. I was sure that was it, but I survived. They scheduled the follow up to talk about the results for the 13th. Now I am really thinking this is taking way too long. Finally the 13th came and I saw the actual doc. He looked at the stress test and found some abnormalities. He said I needed a heart cath ASAP. This was on a Tuesday. So I go out front and they schedule it for Friday. So now ASAP is day 4. I related to them that my next door neighbor went in for a routine physical. They saw his cholesterol was off the chart and said at his age this could be an indicator of blockage. They scheduled him for a CT scan the next day and found he needed a stent. I asked why we could not just get right to it and they said that was just not the way they did things.
Bottom line on Friday the 16th Doc Ismail went in and discovered I had 95% blockage in the widow maker artery. He installed a stent and now I am good for another 65 years, in theory.
I knew I was dying, a person just knows. I kept telling them but there seemed to be no sense or urgency. I sat down and typed out three pages of instructions for Ms Tonebender. Sweet woman, I love her dearly but she has no idea how all our finances work. All things that happen via email work off my email as she does not even use personal email. Put it this way she has no idea how we have access to Netflix. I even gave her Mickey's number so he could let you guys know if I checked out.
I am doing great now and I have lost 30 lbs. I started losing weight the first time I had a symptom and I firmly believe is was key to me surviving until they finally got around to fixing the issue.
During the visit I saw the nurse practitioner which has become the routine the last few years at my annual. She ran an EKG (useless test) and then we talked. She agreed something was wrong and ordered an ecogram, three day heart monitor and a stress test. The issue was the tests were spread out over the next month. It did not seem to be urgent enough for me but what do know as I am the patient.
The very next day while sitting at the breakfast bar I began having chest pains. It was not severe, say 3-4 out of a 10 but it persisted. I asked Ms Tonebender to take me in. I was in overnight. They ran all kinds of tests and determined I did not have a heart attack. They diagnosed me with Stable Angina and prescribed me with a medication that would help increase blood flow (not Viagra). They also moved the stress from the 7th back to the 29th. It still seemed to far out for me but again, what do I know?
I did the stress test and it was the worst 90 seconds of my life. I was sure that was it, but I survived. They scheduled the follow up to talk about the results for the 13th. Now I am really thinking this is taking way too long. Finally the 13th came and I saw the actual doc. He looked at the stress test and found some abnormalities. He said I needed a heart cath ASAP. This was on a Tuesday. So I go out front and they schedule it for Friday. So now ASAP is day 4. I related to them that my next door neighbor went in for a routine physical. They saw his cholesterol was off the chart and said at his age this could be an indicator of blockage. They scheduled him for a CT scan the next day and found he needed a stent. I asked why we could not just get right to it and they said that was just not the way they did things.
Bottom line on Friday the 16th Doc Ismail went in and discovered I had 95% blockage in the widow maker artery. He installed a stent and now I am good for another 65 years, in theory.
I knew I was dying, a person just knows. I kept telling them but there seemed to be no sense or urgency. I sat down and typed out three pages of instructions for Ms Tonebender. Sweet woman, I love her dearly but she has no idea how all our finances work. All things that happen via email work off my email as she does not even use personal email. Put it this way she has no idea how we have access to Netflix. I even gave her Mickey's number so he could let you guys know if I checked out.
I am doing great now and I have lost 30 lbs. I started losing weight the first time I had a symptom and I firmly believe is was key to me surviving until they finally got around to fixing the issue.
... so far, so good 
