Welcome to February and National Heart Month! Obviously, this year I’m commemorating a little differently after having a heart attack back on December 19th. The oddest thing for me was, I wasn’t scared, nervous, worried, etc… when they told me I was having the myocardial infarction. It’s like I just surrendered and thought, well there’s not much I can do about it. These men and women will absolutely take care of me, and they truly did.
At first The most frustrating lesson that I learned from all this was, I had a physical back in November, my labs did show that I had high cholesterol. No EKG or chest x-Ray to tell me how bad it was just, “You have high cholesterol, you can take meds if you’d like but it’s up to you.” I said “no, if I don’t need them I’ll pass”. I thought, “why aren’t they doing x-rays or EKGs? I got a great explanation from Nurse Tim…click video below.
The care I got at Unity Point St. Luke’s was the best I’d ever seen. Once the doctors and nurses found out what was happening, they wheeled me out to the ambulance. Inside they put in an IV, and sped to from the ER to St. Luke’s with the siren blaring, running the reds. It was actually kind of exciting!
Once at St. Luke’s, they immediately brought me into the cath lab to put in a stent. I was awake, but a little sedated. I then spent the night in ICU. They monitored me overnight and sent me home the next day, December 20th.
I was doing pretty well until a few days later, December 22nd, I was finding it hard to breathe, so much so, I went back to the ER that afternoon. They suspected I was retaining fluid so, gave me a diuretic to get it all out. Wish I could say that worked. It just became harder to breathe over the next few days. On December 27th, I went to cardiac rehab and let the nurses know what was happening. CR Nurse: “You need to make an appointment with your primary physician immediately!” We got in to see him later that day and learned I had a ton of fluid in my lungs! “Congestive heart failure”! Went back to ER, then St. Luke’s where they kept me for four days figuring out what was happening. The fluid in my lungs was caused by an excess of drinking water. I thought water was my friend, but in this situation, heart failure, it’s just the opposite. When you’re in heart failure, your heart isn’t as effective as normal. One Dr. explained it to me like this: “When you are in heart failure, your heart becomes somewhat of a malfunctioning sump pump. It should be making sure the fluids are getting to your other organs, but most is ending up pooling in the basement” or, in my case, lungs.
Day 3 of my second stay in the hospital, I had that fluid drained through a needle in my back. I know, it sounds painful, but I didn’t feel much of anything. They ended up taking 2.6 liters out of me…and, yes, it felt much better!
Day 4, they sent me home but not before letting me know that my heart got weaker since the surgery and I would need something called a Life Vest. It’s a personal defibrillator worn by a patient at risk for sudden cardiac arrest. It monitors my heart continuously, and if I go into a life-threatening arrhythmia, the LifeVest gives me a shock to restore my heart to normal rhythm. I have to wear it for 90 days after my surgery. If, by that point my heart is strong enough (take all my meds, listen to my Unity Point doctors, nurses, buddies at cardiac rehab and, of course Mrs. Waters) I won’t need my life vest any longer. If my heart does not get strong enough, they will implant a small defibrillator in my chest.
For right now, I’m feeling pretty darn good! Good energy, exercising every day, cardiac rehab 3 times a week and I’ve been cutting out all the salt, added sugars, foods high in cholesterol and living on fruits, vegetables, lean meats and lots of unsalted nuts.
Wow, I didn’t realize how much I’d gone through until writing it all down. That was kind of cathartic.
Lastly, though thank you for all the messages and well wishes! I knew it was a great decision to move to Eastern Iowa! 😀 I’ll keep you updated! Thanks for reading and have a healthy and safe Heart Month!!!
- Waters
