Health issue

[CopperNick]

About in a similar boat as Tony1968. My belated gift to myself for my 50th Christmas was a heart attack. The rebuild involved 4 arterial replacements 2008 or so, I was diagnosed with gall stones; the cutter wanted to do it via laproscopic surgery only the bladder was buried behind the liver so they had to do it old school and now I have no gall bladder. 2015 I ended up in the hospital with a massive abdominal hernia that took out the entire abdominal muscle wall. So now I am meshed from my diaphragm to my pubic bone and from hip to hip. Finally, my early Christmas gift for this past Yuletide was an unscheduled run to the emergency due to a Blood Pressure Reading somewhere over 200 that resulted in them admitting me and sending me up to the Cardio-Cath ward so they could install a pace maker. At least it was made in Germany, not somewhere in the PROC from parts purchased from the PRNK.

If I take my shirt off and look in the mirror, (Yeah, right, as if............) it looks like I have a zipper from above my breast bone to my belly button with just a small interruption about where the diaphragm resides.

Right now I am waiting for my Doctor to contact the respirologist to make an appointment for me to get my lungs checked.

While in for the artery work, one of the other guys had come in for a mitral valve repair. The surgeon actually harvested tissue from the immediate vicinity of the site to create the replacement. The other options at the time were Pig's valve and mechanical. Piggie had a ten year life span and the mechanical meant he'd be on anti-rejection drugs for the rest of his life. The black humor in it all was that his heart rate was normally very low while he slept and the monitor kept calling a Code Blue on him cause it thought he was having a heart attack. Nurses would come racing into the room with the crash cart and he'd just waking up and wondering WTF was going on..... Hadda be there to dig the joke I guess.

All that aside, good luck with your pending work.



Nick

 

[mikester]

Some of you guys have been through some tough times. Sounds like youre all doing okay though.
I'll be up tomorrow at 4am to get ready for the big day. If Im real lucky the cath will go well and I wont need any stents or by pass surgery but Im not counting on that. Time will tell. Even if I need an interventional procedure for a clogged artery I'll still need the valve done.
This getting old stuff is getting tough.
Im hoping I get back on here to give you guys an update.

 

[Tony1968]

Think positively. Be strong for yourself and your family.

 

[ck80]

A tiny piece of calcium from the valve can break off and travel right to the brain. That would suck. I'd never want to be a burden to my family. Thats been weighing heavy on my mind.

It's not much consolation I know, but with so many of us gbody guys getting older a lot of us know exactly how you feel.

Of all my injuries and spine/disk issues, other medical concerns, the one that had me the most scared was a bad umbilical hernia even though it's usually as low risk type a procedure as you'll ever have. Hospitals and insurance considered it an elective surgery which dumped priority down for scheduling. Except the wrinkle was, I was ultra high risk for strangulation due to how things were inside. From how it was explained to me, I would have about 6-8 hours to get confirmed, an OR booked, and under the knife if it slipped just wrong inside or the bowel would die. I was constantly second guessing if something going on was the onset of a relatively latent warning sign aside from the couple obvious ones... or if it was nothing at all.

I cant say theres anything that really 'makes it ok' when you worry something silent and without warning is out there. But I think you've got the right idea trying to keep busy and do things you enjoy, it's all any of us can do.

Im hoping I get back on here to give you guys an update.

I'm sure you will. I'm a firm believer that in many cases the will to live and knowing, even subconsciously, that there are things you're fighting to be a part of helps a body pull though things better than some who just give up the fight. Doesn't apply to every injury or condition obviously, but, I DO think it can make some difference.

And you've got that fighting will inside you. So, we'll be waiting for you here on the other side of things, just don't let the wife catch you flirting with too many of the nurses (or she'll give you the worst punishment of all, requesting all male nurses on your behalf including for sponge baths!!)

 

[liquidh8]

Best wishes Mich, praying for you!

 

[ssn696]

Standing by. Let us know.

 

[Olds G's]

🙏🙏🙏

 

[mikester]

Well guys, Im home. Up at 4am, got to the hospital at 6:30, in the CT at 7 and in the cath lab at 11. The interventional cardiologist measured for the valve and also wound up putting in a stent in the artery also known as the widow maker. It had a 95% blockage. Quite a shock. I had a cardiac CT done back in '08 and at that time it was only 25%. The rest of the vessels were prefectly clear. The whole thing went by pretty fast. I was awake talking to the doc while he was doing it. He even told me to watch the stent being opened. Pretty wild.
He came to see me in the recovery room. Told me the valve can go in after a two week recovery from the stent. He also told me the valve has more risks. Strokes and death are the major issues. He was honest and said around 3% of his patients have suffered one or the other. Usually those are older people that are in poor health or frail. He thinks I should do well. I go to see the cardiac surgeon on Tuesday.
Downside to the stent is Im going to be on blood thinner for a full year. He said I wont be able to have the surgery for the kidney stone. Only if its an absolute emergency. That would suck. I also have to be VERY careful when I do things so I dont hit my head on anything. He said it could result in a brain bleed. Geez. I constantly bump my head on stuff. Time for a padded helmet. LOL
The doc let me go home as long as I could walk without getting dizzy. I walked into my door just before 7PM. Modern medicine.

Tuesday night I was out in the garage until 9 trying to get more stuff done on the 81. Trying to get the engine harness finished. I switched the size of the split loom 4 times before I was happy with the way it looked. I was trying to keep the 6AL wires in the same loom as the rest of the wires but in the end I decided to run those in their own smaller loom. All thats left on the 81 is the relay for the neutral safety and the 6AL.

Thanks for all the support and kind words guys !!! You all know it was greatly appreciated !!!!

 

[Tony1968]

Glad to hear you made it over this hurdle. Keep us posted.

 

[69hurstolds]

Time for a padded helmet. LOL

I heard you were signing full-sized replica helmets...