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
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