Connie

[navy2kcoupe]

Well................now it's my turn!
September 19th I took the trash out to the street to be picked up the next day. It felt like I pulled some pectoral muscles, but the pain went away quickly and I didn't think anymore about it. Then on Friday the 23, I was vacuuming the house and noticed the pain again. Had lunch with Dotty, and after lunch was done, I asked her to take me to the hospital because it felt like I needed another stent.
We went to Milton hospital, where I was admitted for observation and taken to my room. I had to go to the bathroom, so I got out of bed, went to the bathroom, came back to my bed, and bent over to unlace my sneakers. Got a helluva chest pain that also went down my left arm and numbed the 2 smallest fingers. I had an idea of what was going on, so I popped a nitroglycerin tablet, but it didn't seem to ease the pain, so I hit the call button. They put me in ICU with a nitro IV drip and tried to arrange an ambulance to get me to Beth Israel Hospital in Boston, but none were available for at least 7 hours and by that time Beth Israel had given up my bed, and were not taking anymore patients because they were full. Had to spend the weekend at Milton on a nitro drip till a bed opened up at Beth Israel.
Got to Beth Israel on Monday the 26th and went right to the Cath lab. They did a heart catherization on me, but did NOT insert any stents. Met with the cardiac team and was told that I had 3 blockages, and that none of them qualified for a stent. Bottom line.......open heart surgery for a 3 vessel bypass. Milton hospital had given me plavix as a blood thinner, and Beth Israel had to wait for that to work it's way out of my body before they would operate. Had the operation on September 29, and left the hospital on Wednesday October 6.
Got home, and have been recovering here since then. Getting better every day, but I would advise anyone to alter their lifestyle to prevent this from happening. The first 3 or 4 days after surgery ARE A BITCH! I've got an 8 inch scar on my chest, scars on both legs, and a bunch of miscellaneous little scars and scabs all over my chest. I was told that the episode at Milton hospital was a heart attack, but that it was mild and didn't do any damage to the heart itself. Looks like I dodged the big bullet myself!
So, how are you and Connie doing? I'm hoping that both of you are recovering successfully, and doing well. I'm pretty sure that getting old is NOT for the poor, or faint of heart! Heading to Florida will be delayed this year, till I get this behind me.
Andy

[Rich Z]

Andy,

No, that doesn't sound like fun at all. Honestly I was VERY worried about my second stent, as I was still on blood thinner and there was no mention of my stopping it prior to the stent insertion. I was scared to death that my arteries had been weakened (based on how easily I was getting bruised) and the artery was going to burst when they put in that stent. Which would have meant opening me up like a big clam shell, in a race against time before I bled out. There is nothing about heart surgery that even hints at being attractive and fun.

Hope you are going better, and will heal quickly and completely.

I seem to be doing OK. I wanted my cardiologist to cut back the dose on that Prasugrel blood thinner I am taking, but he was resistant to the idea. So I started cutting the tablets in half and taking only 5mg per day instead of 10. Until I found out that cutting the tablets was not recommended. Could not find any reason why it wasn't recommended, but thinking that I shouldn't buck fate, I stopped that practice. But I started taking the pill in the evening instead of the morning, thinking that the drug would dissipate somewhat over night, and during the day when I would be most likely the expose myself to bruising, the bruises wouldn't be as bad. I think it did help somewhat, but still, I bruise 1000% more easily than I used to.

Connie has switched to a different oncologist. She just was not comfortable with her first one. The first oncologist actually stopped treatments, and wanted to put Connie on Doxil, which is a pretty harsh chemo drug. Seemed like she was dragging her feet, wanting Connie to get an OK from her cardiologist, and it wound up going on two months with nothing happening. Connie was scared to death over what she had read about Doxil, so she wanted a second opinion from another oncologist. We actually tried to change oncologists at the original place (Florida Cancer Specialists) and it happened, but only for about a day, when somehow we got switched back. No satisfactory explanation for that from anyone. So we went elsewhere.

Connie and the new gynecological oncologist at Tallahassee Memorial Cancer Center seemed to mesh really well. Like two old friends talking. So instead of just a second opinion, Connie decided to just switch over. The new oncologist wanted Connie to finish up the cycles of the original drugs she was getting at FCS, so she is in the process of doing that now. Connie's last blood test showing the CA125 tumor marker score had risen a bit, after a consistent downward trend, so that is concerning. The new oncologist told us that this was likely to happen, because other factors can influence that score, but still, it did take a lot of wind out of our sails things things were looking really good. The last CT scan, taken in August (I think) didn't show any new developing tumors, so that was a good sign. I think there will be another scan scheduled sometime in December, so that will be "pins and needles" time waiting for the results.

Oh yeah, the new oncologist was shocked that the original oncologist hadn't put in a port for the chemo drug infusions. Those drugs can really mess up veins, and honestly getting yet another IV line put in every time Connie would go in for infusion was extremely stressful for her. So Connie decided to have that port put in, even at this late date. That was a bit painful and uncomfortable recovering from that minor surgery, but it has healed over pretty well now, but Connie says it still feels a bit uncomfortable. But at least it makes it much easier for the infusions.

Connie has been feeling mostly OK, under the circumstances. She has lost much of her hair, even using that DigniCap thing that is supposed to help. Probably she would be completely bald right now without it, so I guess it did help. Side effects haven't been as bad as we had thought. Very little nausea, probably from the anti-nausea drugs they give her. But she still gets an over all "just not feeling well" for a few days after the chemo. She is getting chemo every week this month, so there isn't going to be much down time for her. She is trying to keep food in her, even though her appetite will come and go. She is down to 105 lbs right now, but fluctuates up to 110 sometimes.

I got a prescription for Diazepam (Valium) from my Primary Care Physician back in May (before she left the network and struck out on her own) to help me get through the periods when Connie not feeling well puts cuts into my soul. I have to hold it together to be there to support and help her, so I can't be melting down over this. Honestly, though, it is really, REALLY tough.

[navy2kcoupe]

Rich, glad you seem to be on the mend, and happy for Connie that she found an oncologist that she's comfortable with. You never can tell where help will come from. I was having trouble keeping my blood sugar under control, and on a whim, decided to talk to a pharmacist at the VA. Just like Connie, I felt really comfortable with her, and with her help we're getting it under control. Dot and I are keeping her in our prayers, and tell her to keep moving forward and NEVER give up!
Andy

[85vette]

Prayers to all of you. Knock on wood, my health has been pretty good for a guy about to turn 66 next month. But it certainly appears that getting old can be an expensive endeavor.

[navy2kcoupe]

Rich, just think how bad it would be if you still owned the reptile business! At least you're retired and can devote some serious time to Connie and yourself.
Andy

[Rich Z]

Oh, that would have been VERY bad. I probably would have had the heart attack sooner, and more extensive. So every animal we had would have died because Connie certainly couldn't have taken up the slack. I would have had to just burn down the buildings, because I would have never been able to get the stench from the dead animals out of them.

Semi funny thing about my heart attack. When Connie got diagnosed with cancer, I prayed to God to take whatever he wanted from me to help her get through this. On the way to the hospital in the ambulance, I was thinking "Well God, you certainly didn't wait long to take me up on my offer. So now it is up to you to keep your end of the bargain."