With all the changes and challenges coming up in our lives, I decided it would be a good idea to put together a place on the web where I can put all the updates and then all our family and friends can just check here to see what's going on. For now, I'm the only one who will be updating this. In the future, Jim and the boys may be adding their own bits. We'll see.
This past week has been a very tumultuous one for us. After mentioning to his doctor about some pains in his left arm during exercise, Jim went to the VA Hospital for a stress test. Sadly, he failed miserably. At the end of the test, he was breathing quite heavily and his color was bad. They put him on oxygen and admitted him to the hospital for a few hours. They were hoping to do a heart catheterization. If there were any blockages, the cardiologist planned to put in stents. They were unable to fit him in that day and had him come back on Friday the 19th. The cardiologists fully expected to put in the stents and keep him overnight.
Unfortunately, the heart cath showed numerous blockages in three of his 4 arteries, making stents a non-viable option and necessitating a triple bypass.
Ordinarily, bypass patients will have some test done, the results of which are then sent to the thoracic surgeon for review. Then the patient meets with the surgeon to review the results and schedule a time for the surgery. After hearing about Jim's condition and the extent of the blockages, the surgeon scheduled an appointment for this afternoon. His assistant, Jill, managed to get Jim into the vascular lab early this morning, and she's working on getting his echocardiogram appointment for early this week. The surgeon, Dr. Bull, wants to operate the last week of September.
The initial shock really threw us for a loop, and my very witty, upbeat husband was very subdued most of the weekend. (He rallied last night, insisting that an episode of Masterpiece Theatre was certain to put too much stress on his heart. I'm happy to report he survived the ordeal.) As the shock began to wear off, we have been able to see all the silver linings and blessings in this.
The problem was found before he had a heart attack.
His heart is actually very healthy, going so far as to create some of it's own bypasses
His resting heart rate is in the mid 60s
His blood pressure is 110 - 120/60
The VA is going to take care of the related expenses
The VA hospital has a brand new, state of the art cardiac operating room
The Thoracic Surgeon is one of the best around
So, here we are. Jim's recovery is expected to take about 6 months, which is going to necessitate some intriguing changes in our lives. While I can't say we're looking forward to this, I can say we're looking forward to improved health and a renewed love of life. Thank you for your thoughts and prayers. If you have any questions, feel free to ask. Our famly email address is familyfoote@live.com.
I will try to keep this updated on a regular basis.
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