Recovery time

[Tedybear]

Sorry to all for not being around much. Had a bout with health issues tail end of January.

Long story short, Had a "transient ischemic attack" (or TIA-mini type stroke) several weeks ago. Scared the holy bat-crap out of me. Went to get checked at the ER and they discovered at some point in time? I had a full blown heart attack. (no way of knowing exactly when, but the blood work and followup EKG proved it)

Wound up at St. Joseph's in Syracuse. (probably one of the best cardiac hospitals in the state). It was confirmed, and no way to use stints or any 'easy' way to fix things. Wound up having open heart surgery for a quad bypass two weeks ago.


Thank God for disability insurance.. I've been out of work for a month now, two weeks of which spent in hospital (heartbeat didn't behave, and bp was all over the map)... and most likely have another 6 weeks worth of recovery.

Now I'm not going to sit back and join the 'anti-smoking-nutters' party, because I did smoke. (gave it up when this party started) However I am going to stress one simple thing.

Just have a basic cholesterol test. Mine was in bad shape, and I had warning signs (short of breath, winded a lot, etc...) The damage resulted in a quad bypass---and most likely about 3 months total out of work.

I got lucky with that "TIA", because that motivated me into getting checked out--otherwise I was a walking time bomb. Just hope that everyone here can use what happened to me---to help prevent any thing like this from happening in their own lives.

S-

 

[Daven]

Sorry to hear that buddy... But i have one question lmao... How the eff do you miss having a heart attack? Just was a minor one?

 

[Tedybear]

Sorry to hear that buddy... But i have one question lmao... How the eff do you miss having a heart attack? Just was a minor one?

I've been trying to figure that one out for the last month. No chest pains, no pains in arms, etc...

Just one of what the doctors call a 'silent heart attack' where one just feels "sick and slightly 'off'". I've always had bad acid reflux--So it could have been me having bad heartburn---which could have been a heart attack?

One thing is certain. The surgeon stated on the day of the operation. "Your current heart function is slightly less then 30%" And it was slowly going down hill. (One artery fully blocked with plaque, two at 70% blockage...and they didn't see the 4th one fully blocked until they had me cracked open. Seems there is one artery that is more towards the rear of the heart that makes it extremely hard to get a good 'look' at).

S-

 

[The83RangerMan]

That's some crazy Sh*t at least u got checked out and taken care of, I know I probably would have just said screw goin to the doc's i hate the doc's office.

 

[Mark_88]

Good to hear you're on the mend...

I used to do ECG monitoring and apparently heart attacks that go unnoticed are fairly common...we were trained to watch the P wave (can't remember exactly, it was 25 years ago) and if we saw an extended dip in it we were to shut down the stress test...

Take your time coming back...try eating oatmeal...lol (good advice, eh) it reduced blood borne cholesterol...but I'm sure you've been put on a sensible diet to help things...

 

[robertc1024]

Wow - glad you're ok. My wife's uncle had a similar experience minus the heart attack. He went to the doctor's for a regular check up. They found major blockages in his coronary arteries and had a 6-way bypass. Take it easy man, it takes a while to recover from something as traumatic as that.

 

[adsm08]

I know I probably would have just said screw goin to the doc's i hate the doc's office.

Same here. My wife is a nurse and we fight about me not seeking proper medical attention when I probably should more than anything else.

 

[straycat]

Get better, Bro!!! I am a DAV and I have issues with chronic nerve damage, brittle bones and chronic pain that is 24/7. It is hard on me. It is in my hips pelvis and spine. I lost the feeling in my legs, feet and hands!! On top of that I have this neurological issue with my heart....low pulse. Bradycardia. My pulse at rest is 34-39 bpm. Sometime it drops to 25-28 and I get weak and have to rest and hope it does not cause me to pass out. It has happened twice and put me in the hospital twice. They say it is caused from me handling hazardous materials while I was in Special Ops. Depleted uranium that was deemed safe....Yea....my ass!!!!

 

[Tedybear]

Heck, I'm normally at deaths door before I'll seek out medical help. This time? Scared the crap out of me thinking I was having a full blown stroke--father had a massive stroke when he was in his middle 40's...and I thought I was going to do a repeat of his medical condition.

Currently I'm still a long ways off. The surgeon put me on the 'water pills' and a horse sized pill for potassium. (flush out the extra water---and ensure I retain plenty of electrolights to keep functioning). I was concerned due to both my thighs feeling like they where on fire anytime they got touched! (can't do my 'walking' cardo when my legs are like that!) They finally figured out my body was flushing out plenty of water, but little potassium--so my levels kicked up to almost double what is expected. Side effect of 5.5 potassium level? (normal is about 3) Cramps...and extreme sore muscles...
(If it hit 6?...I'd be back in hospital due to extreme risk of a major heart attack) Thankfully it seems to be lessening. They left me on the flush pill--and removed the potassium pill from my system.

This is going to be a pain to recover from. On the lighter side? I'm saving 8-9 bucks a day on smokes! (25 days smoke free=$212.00ish in money saved)

Just have to muddle through.....

S-

 

[Tedybear]

Get better, Bro!!! I am a DAV and I have issues with chronic nerve damage, brittle bones and chronic pain that is 24/7. It is hard on me. It is in my hips pelvis and spine. I lost the feeling in my legs, feet and hands!! On top of that I have this neurological issue with my heart....low pulse. Bradycardia. My pulse at rest is 34-39 bpm. Sometime it drops to 25-28 and I get weak and have to rest and hope it does not cause me to pass out. It has happened twice and put me in the hospital twice. They say it is caused from me handling hazardous materials while I was in Special Ops. Depleted uranium that was deemed safe....Yea....my ass!!!!

That's exactly what caused my 2nd hospital stay and my surgery date to be bumped up. Felt like massive crap and dizzy....called 911 and the paramedic stated my pluse rate was 40----but my heart rate was 107?!? About one in every 3 beats where having an effect.

S-

 

[Ranger Dave (B25)]

Damn, man.

Glad you're on the mend. Reckon it goes without saying: watch your health like a hawk now. Eat the right stuff, exercise.

And be happy you were smart enough to heed the warning signs.

 

[doorgunner]

Man......glad you're getting better! I'm not gonna do the religious nut thing on you, but.......just remember the J-word.....

He's on call 24/7/365/just for you!

 

[Tedybear]

Have the doctors (primary care) visit coming up on the 15th.

I'll be doing a hard press to get checked for diabetties (can't spell it)...And to find out why my thigh muscles are still numb, and my right ankle? The muscle can press my toes/foot downward, but it's extremely weak on the up-pull. Makes walking very very hard due to that foot not "Heel-toeing" like it normally would.

All this and they have me released to drive again in about 10 days....and returning to work in less then two weeks. I may ask for an extension if the legs are still screwed.

Cardiac rehab phase 2 also starts hopefully next week....should be fun, they plan on stress testing my heart before they put me into the program. At least that is a class once or twice a week. Works going to be even more stressful LOL.

Best Regards!

S-

 

[COPPERHEAD85]

Glad your better,Hope you up and around soon.