Where have I been?

Dear family, friends, and acquaintances:

For those wondering why I haven't been online lately, and haven't been posting to my blog. this is my reason... Four days before our (Nadia and I) 3rd wedding anniversary, on October 2 2021, what was suppose to be a weekend planned celebrating completely changed. While we hadn't planned a huge celebration, what we were looking forward to was an intimate dinner at one of our favorite restaurants, Tasty Indian Bistro, in Surrey.

Where we ended up was the emergency room of VGH (Vancouver General), for what I believed was Covid19 related symptoms. You see all week long I had been suffering from mild heart burn and this annoying little cough, which I just couldn't get rid of. We went to the emergency room hoping they would rule out COVID-19, which they did, however their diagnosis was much worse than we had suspected.

When I mentioned COVID to the emergency receptionists, she asked if I was vaccinated, and I responded yes with both doses, and she rolled her eyes and said, then you don't have COVID. I replied, well I need to have someone look at this pain, and I point to my sternum. referring to the heartburn.

I was quickly brought to the ECG station, within moments I had a bunch of wires hooked up to me. This is the point when things took a turn, as I could see panic in the eyes of the doctor/nurse administering the ECG.

I was brought to a private area, asked to strip down and wear a gown, and a whole team of doctors came to see me. I remember thinking that this was a bit much for a case of heartburn, I was informed that my blood pressure needed to be immediately stabilized. And I wondered.. for covid? Well it wasn’t Covid. Some Of you reading might be able to guess what it was... according to the ECG machine I was having a heart attack.

Ok hold up, STOP, wait what!!

I want to go back in time briefly to two days prior. I was working in my garage fixing the bbq when I felt chest pains similar to heart burn, which I dismissed. On a scale of 1-10 , the pain level was maybe a 3. The following day the same situation happened and once again I dismissed it as heart burn. I had been struggling all week with this mild coughing, which I was beginning to think I may have contracted covid (even though I’m double vaccinated).All week, while dealing with this irritating cough, I never once displayed any of the common signs associated with a heart attack.

1. Elephant lying on your chest NOPE

2. Pain that spreads to the arm NOPE

3. Dizzy/Lightheaded NOPE

4. Throat or Jaw pain NOPE

5. Exhausted easily NOPE

6. Sweating NOPE

7. Nausea NOPE

Ok back to turn of events...

Based on my symptoms, the resident cardiac doctors believed I had a blockage in one of my arteries. They immediately insisted I be rushed into an emergency angiogram (A process where ink is injected into the heart and the heart is photographed to determine what the problem may be and how severe it was). Only local anesthetic was used as the doctors inserted the ink dispensing tool through my wrist, up my arm, around my shoulder, along my chest and into my heart. I was then admitted to the cardiac unit, and debriefed on the diagnosis of the angiogram.

The angiogram revealed I would need invasive open heart surgery, a triple bypass, if I were to survive. The bypass surgery would require removing viable veins from my forearm and shin, and replacing my hearts bad arteries in my chest. A cardio team was brought in to discuss next steps and they determined that I was a good candidate for the surgery and that within 24-48 hrs I would be operated on. I was placed on nitroglycerin and was eventually stabilized.

While I was scheduled for surgery within 48hrs, it actually took 4 days before I would go into surgery as it was a long weekend, and I was bumped for more serious patients. 

All went well, according to hospital staff, and a few days after my operation, I was returning home. My recovery will take 6 months, as the bones in my chest need to heal, and to let the scars on my arms and legs heal.

To all I believe this will be my final post, as recovery is making continuing to hard.

Thanks to all