Coffee Break?

Things have been a little slow around here, lately, so if I have regular readers I apologize for little that’s new on the blog scene. 

Had a bit of a surprise recently, needed to ‘wrap my head’ around it (classic British understatement…LOL) and I really had no intention of writing about it until I thought it may be beneficial to others out there.  Medical matters have always interested me.  Actually, a family thing for they interested my father and sister, too, though neither of us are in or associated with the medical profession but…we do know enough probably to be a little dangerous to ourselves.   Over the years I’ve had occasional problems with heartburn…some days worse than others and nothing that really sets it off.  It just happens.  About five-six weeks ago I noticed it was a lot worse.  I’d go to make the bed, slightly bent over and I’d have that familar but deeper burning behind the breastbone only it was going up to my throat.  Soon as the bed was made and I sat down it began to ease off.  Same thing happened when I’d be sweeping/mopping floors and yet hauling in seven bags of heavy groceries in one go, it didn’t bother me.  For some reason I had given a smidgeon of passing thought that it could be angina but pushed that away…I felt well and rudely healthy otherwise, it was similar to my usual heartburn discomfort only a bit more so…so maybe it was GERD or something else.  I did do some research on the web and it could have been any one of those three.  Well, I had my usual BP check at the doctor’s office and, besides my partner insisting I mention it to him, I decided it wouldn’t hurt anything to do so. 

Doc did an office EKG and mentioned that this one had changed slightly since the last one I’d had done about two years ago plus I’d had one in the ER last September so we checked that one, only to find it had also changed since then.  He thought it necessary to go have a nuclear stress test.  This was Friday, I went for the stress test on Monday.  Later that week, thinking it might have been a false positive, I was stunned to learn that I may have had a minor heart attack and was at increased risk for another.  Off to the cardiologist on the following Tuesday.  He reviewed the recent tests, EKG and told me he strongly recommended a cardiac catheterization to be done the next day.  Off to get the pre-procedure x-ray and lab work…in a total daze.  This I had never expected from my ‘heartburn’.  Next day I reported to Beebe at ten for the procedure to be done or begun at eleven.   During the cath they discovered that the main artery in my heart was 99% blocked.  They could try to do a stent placement or else it would be bypass surgery.  It was agreed we’d go ahead with the stent.  This was succesful…highly succesful…and I was taken up to a room for overnight observation and I did, eventually, get to go home the evening of the next day.  That was three weeks ago and no-one could be happier than I to say I am feeling super-fine.  Thing is, I did before all of this came down the pike, anyway.  Aside from hypertension somewhat controlled by meds, if anyone asked about my health I also said I was “rudely healthy”.  I still think I am…just my engine needed tweaking and the ‘carb’ blown out.

One of the toughest things to accept was that this had happened at all.  I’m pretty careful about diet…being one of those odd people who actually love healthy foods, veggies of all kinds, only use the right oils, eat lots of fish, don’t eat much junk food, hardly any fast food.  I wouldn’t say never because on the rare occasion I want a Burger King or a Taco Bell, I’d have it but it was rarely.  I firmly believed in my granny’s philosophy of “everything in moderation” and it worked for her.  She died seven weeks before her 100th. birthday and to our knowledge she had no heart problems, no cholesterol problems and no hypertension (and yet she would have been today’s nutritionists nightmare!).  Maybe she did have those things and we just didn’t know about it…more to the point, neither did she so she wasn’t stressing out over any of them.  Who knows?  As a matter of fact, the day I was discharged from hospital my partner went to check what further changes could be made to my diet to keep me healthier and came back wondering where we go “from here” for I already do, and have done for years, all that was highly recommended.  Genetics…my one fault, I guess, was believing my regular diet and lifestyle could change my genetic make-up whereby my parents both had heart disease and, in part, my one sibling had already had her own experiences with that genetic background.  Perhaps, as my best friend told me today…and she had been a cardiac tech for 26yrs….my saving grace had been my diet and lifestyle or ‘this probably would have happened years before now’.   That was comforting to hear.

At any rate, I’m going to try the cardiac rehab being offered to me by Beebe’s after-care but only to get into the exercise habit.  That’s a tough one since I’m much more cerebral than kinetic!  I had not quit smoking as I discussed in an earlier blog (which is why I didn’t pursue updates!  Embarrassment!) but am well on my way to quitting now…gone from more than a pack a day to about four or five (cigs, not packs…LOL).  Guess I had the scare I needed…and it was a scare.

At any rate, I thought it might be of some service to readers…particularly women…for I had always been well aware that heart attack or any heart problem generally manifested symptoms differently from men, for the most part.  Certainly was in my case…no crushing pain, no dizziness, nausea, weakness.  Just burning discomfort.  So…don’t take for granted that the typical signs or symptoms are what you THINK they might be.  Get them checked out…given what I now know I really do feel I have been given a good second chance and don’t plan on wasting or throwing it away.

Funny…the day I was admitted to hospital our new Wii-Fit was delivered…ironic, huh?  LOL…but we have started using it and can’t wait to see what damage…to furniture, dogs, futons and coffee mugs might occur with this one.  One thing is for sure…should make me much fitter and to heck with damages!