Recent Health Scare

[tonebender]

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.

[jtcnj]

Wow! Glad to hear you are here to tell the tale.
Be well, take care of yourself.

I went through the same thing a couple of years ago. Not urgent but I felt a similar shortness of breath, not as severe as what you describe.
And I have had this (undiagnosed) chronic fatigue for a long time.

Did the EKG , Echocardiogram, got dicked around by ins. co. but finally got the stress test - bastards made me wear a mask and I pulled it down toward the end.
I went in for a catheter procedure but once in there, Doc says everything looks good. Really good.

Just out of shape it appears.
I got a bit more disciplined and lost close to 25lbs - but have gained back about 10!
I mostly stand while playing - does that count as exercise?

[t100d]

Happy to hear you're okay! I had a similar experience about 12 years ago, but ended up with a triple bypass ... so far, so good
Pretty nice Xmas gift, my man!

[honyock]

Glad to hear they caught it and you are feeling better

Sent from my SM-G998U using Tapatalk

[sabasgr68]

Well, I´m happy to hear about the happy ending, but what a scare!

I´m glad you´re feeling ok. Losing extra weight is always good - not eating what we like is the bad part -.

Anyway, take care of yourself, Jeff, and I hope you have a happy Christmas with Ms. Tonebender and the family.

Un abrazo!

[mickey]

Health scares are NO FUN!

[Partscaster]

Sounds like you might get quicker medical action from a robot MD.
Glad you are okay and survived their dillydally.

[Rollin Hand]

Glad you are OK.

As a heavyset guy in my 50s, this stuff worries the living shiznit out of me.

[ILuvTeles]

Wow, quite a story. Glad to hear you are OK!

[SamIV]

What a shame the world is so busy, they could not take care of someone in need of care. Most physicians are overwhelmed these days. Try to get an appointment with a specialist. Glad it all worked out for you. Take care of yourself.

[toomanycats]

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.

These are probably the most profound four sentences I've ever read on this forum.

A person fully cognizant and aware that they're facing the most extreme crisis every human must inevitable confront, which is death. In that moment of tribulation your thoughts are about how you can help those who love and depend upon you to survive your absence.

You're a good man. Glad you survived and are still here.

EDIT: Did I just write an advertisement for life insurance?

[tlarson58]

That was a tense story with a happy outcome. What a scare! Congrats on losing the weight, too.

What's this Netflix you speak of? Ha. My wife handles the finances here and I am clueless as to any aspect of it. I am blissfully ignorant but should probably start asking questions about how much money she's spending on shoes these days.

[uwmcscott]

Glad to hear everything worked out for the best Jeff, that is indeed a scary and frustrating sequence of events. I'm very happy that you are healthy again and good to go for many more tonebending years.

Having worked in healthcare for about a year and a half after I got laid off in 2020 I got to see the inner workings of the beast and heard a lot of stories like yours too. In general most of the practitioners are very dedicated to helping people, but the systems set up to make it all work are horribly broken in many cases. Healthcare itself needs a quadruple bypass I think!

While not related to health specifically I had a similar gut check earlier this year ago when I was flying to Norway for my new job for the first time. I really dislike flying in general, so a 9 hour trip over the ocean was not something I looked forward too. Just prior to takeoff I started thinking about all the catastrophes that would ensue if I careened into the ocean - my wife would have no idea about finances, etc. It's crazy how our minds work when a real ( or perceived ) crisis exists.

[Floridian FX]

Glad you are alive and kicking. That is some super scary stuff.

I would be in the same boat with my wife.

[MichaelR]

Good to hear your doing ok now.

[Spike]

So great to hear you got this taken care of in time! Too bad there wasn't the sense of urgency that there should've been.

[PoodlesAgain]

Good news: Jeff Tonebenber survives the ordeal, keeps making music!

Bad news: Med providers need to review quality of care protocols

[tonebender]

Thanks for all the nice comments. I wish you all good health and a Merry Christmas.

[andrewsrea]

Merry Christmas, Jef. Glad you worked your way ahead of disaster!

[nomadh]

Congrats on surviving healthcare. Imagine qwhat it would have been during deep wuflu.

[redman]

I just saw this @tonebender I'm glad they fixed you up my friend it does give you a big scare when something things like that happen. If I read between the lines correctly you're 65 I'm 66 closing in on 67 in April and when you get our age it's even more scary.

[ronnx]

Glad you came through this Jeff!

[OMB]

Jeff - Just read this and happy to hear you appear to be OK. I had a heart attack (3rd) at 48 and almost met the maker. They wanted to do a triple bypass but I said no (IN the ER with a Doc I knew nothing about) so they ended up doing a stent once I stabilized, then a year later 2 more. After they discovered I had two prior undetected MI's even though I had been hospitalized right after those.

Couple of questions:

Do you belong to an HMO or signed up to Medicare Advantage?

If either of the 2 - you are part of a system that ques patients and restricts access to tests/scans and specialists. I only use Top Docs for new and existing physicians. EKG's are pretty useless at critical diagnosis. I have had quite a few stress tests and yeah I thought they might kill me!