Carotid Surgery a Success

First of all, the carotid artery surgery went well and I’m on the road to recovery.  I actually feel pretty darn good.  But I’ve got to wear a huge bandage on my neck until next Thursday when I go see my cardio surgery doctor. 

Meanwhile, my regular cardiologist wants me to have another echocardiogram.  He didn’t say why but I suspect it’s because of the number of blockages in my heart arteries.  I think there are 7 now.  A nurse told us they don’t like to do more than five, maybe six bypasses at a time .  Sometimes, a blockage may be on the back side of the heart making it harder to get to.  That takes more time, not only to harvest the veins in my legs, but to install them in the heart.  They don’t like to keep me on the heart/lung circulating machine for a long time because that can cause organs to stop working or become damaged by the long delay.  I guess I’ll know why he wants it when he tells me to come do it.

It appears that my open heart surgery will be week after next instead of next week.  They seem to be concerned about something.  But they are both fully convinced that the blockages need fixing soon.  

Meanwhile, I had to be kept hooked up to the machine to monitor my vitals all day yesterday.  I could hardly move with all those damn tubes on me/in me.  By afternoon I was getting yancy (a kind word for impatient as hell).  I even told the surgeon the story about the guy who “Prayed to God to give him patience, and to be quick about it.”  He just laughed. 

After he removed and replaced the bandage, he decided that I needed a prescription for a pain medication (although there was no pain) and another type of blood thinner or something that he wanted me to take last night.  But the Pharmacy was closing at 6:30.  We hustled and arrived at 6:33 and was able to get the medicine.

Meanwhile, Judy had not slept in the two days.  She was exhausted.  

Meanwhile, the machine they had me hooked up to all that time was checking my heart beat, blood pressure, breathing and my oxygen saturation.  The alarm kept going off when I would doze off because I would stop breathing repeatedly soon after falling back asleep.  The alarm was because my oxygen level was dropping to under 90%.  They like it to be 100% or close to it.  The alarm would continue to sound until I started breathing again and brought my oxygen percentage to above 90%.  That went on quite a while.  The nurse then told me that I probably have Sleep Apnea.  I’ve known that for years but it never seemed to have caused any serious problems.  But it turns out that undiagnosed/untreated sleep apnea probably contributed to my heart condition and other issues, including my lack of energy and even being overweight.

Needless to say, I’ve already been researching my options.  I don’t like the idea of having a mask on my face but everyone I’ve talked to said they love their Cpap Machines, and they are finally getting good sleep.  And they feel better.  I’ll first need to go to a sleep lab to get an official diagnosis and severity determination.  Then they will determine which type device is recommended for me.  I think Medicare may pay for it, but I may have to pay for any upgrade device. 

And it appears that exercise (probably walking) is also in my future.  I know the walking only works if you get your heart pumping really good, so I’ll probably look into getting another treadmill, probably with a heart rate/breathing rate monitor I wear and can download the data.  I don’t like walking in the street or going to gyms.  And I do like to actually see the data to show me how well it is working, or not.

Getting old and staying alive has become a frigg’n full-time job. 

And on top of all this, I’ve got people all over, including some I’ve never even met praying for me.  One is forming a prayer circle where they all hold hands and pray.   I also have some special friends who will keep their fingers crossed for me.

Life is what it is, then you die.  Then what???  But right now, I'm getting everything fixed that can be fixed.

More about the procedure:  https://www.omicsonline.org/open-access/efficacy-of-mandibular-subluxation-for-carotid-endarterectomy-with-combined-fixation-using-interdental-wire-and-putty-2329-9495-1000170.php?aid=69940 

Multiple Surgeries On The Calendar

We spent almost two hours with my new heart surgeon today.

Good news and bad news!  Wait!!!  There is no good news!  Unless you figure the statistical odds of something going wrong is less than 1 in 500.  That’s not much.

There were three people in the waiting room this morning on what was described as a ‘slow day.’  They see patients 5 days a week.  That probably means they have seen an average of about 25 patients a week since January 1^st (about 14 weeks).  That would make it about 375 patients. 

Breaking the odds down from 1 in 500 to 1 in 375 means (assuming I know what the hell I’m calculating) the odds are 2.6 in 375 of something going wrong with my upcoming surgeries(s).

Yes, ‘Surgeries.’  All serious, and all life-threatening unless fixed.

Here’s what my blockages look like.

The first surgery is Tuesday of next week to repair my Carotid Artery.  I go to the hospital tomorrow for the ‘pre-op’ stuff.  Probably just some blood work and legal forms.  It was determined that my Carotid Artery has upwards of a 75% blockage.  It needs to be fixed first.

The week after the carotid artery surgery I’m to be scheduled for open heart surgery to repair five blockages ranging from 80% to 90%.  That should keep me alive and ticking for awhile.

Then, they will determine when I should return for aortic valve replacement.  But it should be done within two years.

He was complimentary of my being in good shape, my heart being strong, and he was blown away surprised that I was still able to lift 100 pound stones during landscaping projects.  He even said he liked my shoes and wanted to know how I kept them looking so well.  (Mineral Oil).

I asked him if changing my lifestyle would help slow the blockage build-up, and he looked at me oddly before saying “no.”  Judy thinks the odd look was because he is fixing me back to 100%.  And it took 78 years to get to this point in my health.  It’s not likely that I can attain this level of blockage again before I die of old age. 

So in celebration we went to a favorite high-calorie restaurant, Abita Café in Abita Springs, and had some high-calorie lunch.  And I may have a Blue Bell Homemade Vanilla and Fireball Bourbon Float for dessert later today.  Hey!  If I’m gonna live, I’m gonna live good… Know what I mean Vern?

Now you know the latest.  

I may have that Blue Bell Homemade Vanilla Ice Cream and Fireball Float now.  Seems like as good a time as any.

Life is Catching up to Me

Well, after 77 years and 11 months, my life is finally catching up to me.  And if things don't go right in the next few weeks, it might just pass me up.

Yesterday I underwent an 'exploratory angiogram.'  It was initially scheduled to see why I had what appeared to be a 77% blockage in my carotid artery.  It turned out to be only a 50% blockage.

But my cardiologist decided to check my other arteries while I was there.  And he was quite surprised to find that all four heart arteries had 80% blockages.  He was surprised because I had undergone a stress test last year and I was fine.

Obviously something has to be done about it, so we contacted a recommended heart surgeon and I have an appointment day after tomorrow.  It's more of an introductory meeting but I'm sure to be scheduled for open heart surgery within the next two weeks.

I know open heart surgery is pretty common these days, and has a very high success rate, but this time it's me who will be on the operating table.  Instead of having a one-in-a-million chance of something going wrong, I see it as a one-in-one chance of something going wrong.  At that moment, all the millions of success stories mean nothing until my surgery is over and I'm up walking around.

I already know some things will need to change in my life, lifestyle among them.  Food intake is surely on the list, as is exercise and restful sleep and etc, etc, etc.......

I'll try to keep my blog updated but it too may end up being a casualty to the need for change.

Wish me luck.

Eggheads Visiting La Maison des Poulets

During the past few weeks we've had a flock of visitors to La Maison des Poulets (aka Chicken Ranch).

First there was Gene 'Crimson Gator' Skillin and his friend Tim from Florida.  Gene was on his way to compete in a steak-cooking event in Katy, Texas.  Tim is a certified SCA Judge and was serving as a Judge at the contest.

I posted about their visit below on February 17th along with a video of Gene cooking Waygu steak for dinner.  But here's the video link if you missed it:  https://youtu.be/TKqUL-S47fI

Then came Jay "SSN686" and Kathy Taylor from Florida.  Jay was serving as a Judge at a BBQ event in Hammond, Louisiana, just a few miles west of us.

While here, Jay cooked some of his famous Shrimp Burgers.  They are definitely a crowd-pleaser.  Here's the link to the video of him cooking them: https://youtu.be/fL-LKG9SElk

And no sooner than Jay and Kathy left for home on Sunday, Pete 'Celtic Wolf' Benac from North Carolina arrived towing his RV trailer, Wolf Den.  He parked it at a nearby RV park and 'camped out' there the whole week before heading to Florida.

Pete came ready to cook some Lamb Chops for us. And I made a video of that cook as well.  Here's the link to it: https://youtu.be/q2LKr_gxQAI

We had a feeling we would see a few old friends now and then.  After all, we're on the East/West route.