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
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