Tuesday, August 11, 2009

The Blinking Green LED……

Last Thursday was a normal day. I made dinner for Wifey, got her off to work and went to bed around 7:30. I awoke about 10pm feeling a little stiff in my chest and checked my blood sugar. 115. Not really low but I decided to eat something B4 I went to bed. Waking up with a 50 or 60 isn’t any fun.

I tried to get back to sleep but the chest pain kept getting worse.

I called Wifey at the ER and tried to make chit-chat. She didn’t buy it for a minute. I told her I was coming in and would be there in a bit. I changed clothes and drove to the hospital. My chest hurt like hell and the ER staff swarmed all over me. They were amazing, they saved my life and comforted Wifey as well. It was decided that I should go to Lawnwood Hospital in Ft. Pierce for a heart cath.

I got to ride in the back of an ambulance as a patient. I like it better sitting in the chair rather then being strapped to the gurney.

The Lawnwood ER staff was fast, efficient and friendly. I still hurt but felt better about it. I was moved to the holding area and awaited the procedure. I was scared and confused. The doctor who did the cardiac cath. told me, yes you are awake during the procedure, that two of my four bypasses had closed back up and that they only could fix one of them with a stent and balloon angioplasty.

That wasn’t what I wanted to hear.

Shit.

They fixed the artery that they could get to and sent me upstairs to recover. Wifey and I tried to get some sleep that night. It wasn’t easy as my back hurt like hell as I had to lay on my back and not move my right leg for 18 hours. 6 of it with a 5 lb sandbag on my crotch holding pressure on my femoral artery so I wouldn’t bleed to death. Oh they did give some pain meds, but only enough to make a 4 ounce gerbil sleepy.

I was moved out of the recovery room to another room that I was privileged to share with a real scumbag. The message he got from the Doc was far worse than mine. I didn’t mean to listen in. They were just loud. The Doc basically told him he was dying and with no insurance he had no options. He is in his early 50s. I thought for a while he was planted there to scare me. Then I saw him tell his mother he was going to die. That wasn’t good.

The good news is that I’m home and feeling a lot better. Sure I get to gobble a whole bunch of pills every day and get to go on the prison camp diet but, ya gotta do what ya gotta do.

Sure, one day my coronary arteries are going to close for good. I can deal with that. I’m just going to try and keep that from happening for quite a while.

I still got a lot of stuff to do.

Oh, the Green LED. My cable went out due to a bad splitter outside the house.

Life's a Bitch sometimes......