Ben; Your little story failed to answer the one question that matters most in all this, and the one I feel we can all benefit from:
How hot were the nurses of Mt. Diablo? Did they tend to your _every_ need? M >:^o -----Original Message----- From: Ben Braver To: CF-Community Sent: 3/11/03 6:17 PM Subject: Re: Almost Gone and Back Again, A Hospital Tale Beth- Thanks. I'm glad I'm still with me too !! BTW it wasn't that crappy (although I know what you mean) - I mean, if you have to go through something like that, at least do it with a _lot_ of quality care nearby. Compare this to a major heart attack and non-immediate care - you're either dead right away, or have a long recovery with a severely damaged heart. -Ben At 02:00 PM 3/11/03 -0900, you wrote: >Ben, thank you for sharing your crappy experience. > >We are glad you are still with us. > >----- Original Message ----- >From: Ben Braver <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >Date: Tuesday, March 11, 2003 1:46 pm >Subject: Almost Gone and Back Again, A Hospital Tale > >> by Benbo Braver >> <with sincere apologies to J.R.R. Tolkien> >> >> (LONG post, sorry.) >> >> Promised to recount what happened, how it felt, etc. >> >> Hope these "few" words from the brink may inspire some others on >> the list >> to make changes before looking into the Grand Canyon with a hand >> on your back. >> >> Before: >> 5'11", as high as 283 pounds barenaked. Mostly around middle (bad) >> - >> couldn't easily see feet :-( >> BP not too high, typ. 130s over 80s. >> Cholesterol and ratio not good - as of last August, >> Total Chol. 274, Triglycerides 366, HDL 40 (should be over 45), >> LDL 161 >> (s/b under 100) >> >> Realistically, needed to lose about 90 pounds, really change the lipid >> panel numbers. >> >> Was doing "strength/endurance" exercise trying to rehab the hip >> and back >> muscles, and get in generally better condition, but was not doing >> hardlyany aerobic stuff (walking was tough with the injured hip >> muscle). Also had >> motivation limits on how much time I was willing to spend at the gym. >> >> Father had angina pectoris - means "choking sensation of the chest". >> Like a heart attack, but no permanent damage because heart isn't >> deprivedof oxygen for very long. >> His was induced by exercise and stress. >> He stuck nitroglycerin tablets under the tongue to relieve symptoms. >> Then he had a couple of small heart attacks, followed by a fatal >> one at age >> 54. >> >> A couple of days before my attack, I was talking about stress with >> my boss. >> He's a really super mellow person, on the outside at least. >> Hardly ever seems "ruffled". >> I asked if he ever had "anxiety attacks", feeling tight in the chest, >> anxious, wondering how to "get it all done". >> He said (surprisingly) "more often then I want to admit, lately". >> I was also thinking about unfinished work and an upcoming vacation. >> Plus the stress of "hormone week" at home, the friction with the >> son, etc. >> Figured a vacation was just what I needed. >> But the vacation was also a source of some stress - would I be >> able to ski >> (how would the hip/back muscles do?), etc. >> >> The morning of the attack, I awoke about 5:30am, before the alarm >> went off. >> Felt almost panicky. >> Tight feeling under sternum (breastbone), but no "pain". >> Thought "this feels like my Dad described angina." >> Decided to try the first aid his doctor had recommended - straight >> shot of >> whiskey. >> Believe it or not, padded out to kitchen in my robe, tossed down a >> jiggerof JD. >> (Very unusual - never drink except maybe one cocktail before >> dinner or wine >> with a meal.) >> That felt somewhat better, lessened the tightness. >> Thought "gotta keep a close eye on this, report it to doctor later >> today,maybe go get checked." >> Wife woke up, said "feeling stressed, need a hug". That helped too. >> >> Went to the throne room, relaxed quite a bit responding with puns >> to some >> cf-comm posts (WiFi in PocketPC). >> <sorry> >> >> Got dressed, felt good enough to go to work. >> Told wife if I felt bad, could go to Medical at work. >> She says she should have insisted right then that I go to the ER >> and get >> examined. >> She's probably right - but on the other hand, if the symptoms >> lessened,they might have checked and sent me away. >> >> Driving to work, just before my freeway exit, started feeling more >> tight,and worried. >> Found myself reciting the "Shema" prayer out loud in Hebrew (uh- >> oh...).(In English, "hear, o Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is >> One".)Thought about driving to hospital, decided I was closer to >> work, and could >> get the EMTs giving me first aid while they got an ambulance if >> needed. >> Got into office, sat down, started feeling queasy (not nauseous), cold >> sweat on forehead. >> No pain, but numbness down the left arm to the elbow, and a CRUSHING >> pressure on the chest - >> like an elephant was sitting on it. >> >> Was reaching for the phone to call the Emergency number, when my >> boss stuck >> his head in to say good morning. >> >> He said "hey, you don't look well - you look WHITE." >> I said "I don't feel well, I feel green, and..." >> >> Never got to tell him about the pressure - he interrupted to say >> "can I >> take you to Medical?" >> I said "yes, now!". >> >> A mistake - walked across the street to the parking lot to his car >> (slowly).Should have said please bring the car over. >> >> At Medical, rang the bell, started signing in. >> Voice said "be right with you". >> I said "please make it sooner, not later - having chest pains". >> By this point, it hurt. >> >> Within a minute, he and the gal on duty had me lying down, chewing >> on an >> aspirin tablet, trying to attach EKG leads (but I was sweating too >> much). >> She said to him quietly "should I initiate transport?" and I >> looked up. >> He said "do you understand that?" >> I said "if she means initiate ambulance transport to the hospital, yes >> please". >> >> The paramedics got there, slid me onto a gurney, wheeled me out, >> put me in >> the ambulance. >> Guy said "I'm a paramedic, gonna be starting an IV in your arm." >> I said "paramedic? as in Airborne??" >> You should have seen the look he gave me. >> But heck, I was still alive, getting care. >> Should I just roll over and die?? No way. >> He gave me a spray of nitro in my mouth - a lot quicker than the old >> tablets dissolving. >> They kept asking "on a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 being none, and 10 >> beingthe most excruciating pain imaginable, how much pain are you >> having?"It started at 6, went down to about 4 after the aspirin >> and couple of nitro >> squirts. >> >> I could tell from counting the speed bumps that as soon as they >> went out >> the refinery gate they turned on siren and sped up. One of the best >> emergency facilities in the area is Mt. Diablo Medical Center, >> only about 2 >> miles from the gate (or about 4 miles from Medical, 5 miles from >> my office >> - it's a BIG place.) >> >> Think I had a total of 2 or 3 squirts of nitro. It dilates (opens) the >> arteries to the heart, increases blood flow, relieves chest pain from >> angina, reduces the heart's workload. May or may not reduce risk >> of death >> in a heart attack. But it also drops blood pressure - this may be >> good or bad. >> >> At least with the IV started, I was all ready for whatever drugs the >> hospital wanted to dump in. >> >> In the ER, cardiologist introduced himself, started telling me the >> thingsthey would do, and might have to do (needed to get me to >> sign "informed >> consent" forms). (Later found out he's one of the best cardio's in >> the area.) >> >> Said they were going to administer clot-busting drug, TNK >> (Tenecteplase) - >> breaks up clot, prevents the ongoing damage from a heart attack. >> (Damage is >> from heart tissue beyond the clot being deprived of blood flow >> thereforeoxygen.) >> >> Then they would do angiogram - go in with catheter through femoral >> arteryin groin, put in contract die (iodine-based) to allow taking >> images of the >> arteries and determine how many clogged, how much. He asked if I >> knew what >> that was, said "yes, had one in 1982. Was very uncomfortable and >> stressful." He said "now we use Conscious Sedation" - local >> anestheticplus tranquilizers. Not as dangerous as general >> anesthetic, but you're >> kinda zonked out... >> >> Dr said they would probably do a balloon angioplasty, might insert >> a stent >> (I said "oh good, my wife owns stock in Medtronic" and OY did I >> get an >> unbelieving look for that one), and possibly emergency bypass surgery. >> >> I signed the forms, and went off to the cath lab. >> Don't remember much at all. >> >> This all started when I got to work at 8am. By 11am or earlier, I was >> sitting up in bed, wired and hosed, wondering whether I was really >> going to >> be ok. In walks my wife. I broke out in a huge smile, said "gee, >> you look >> wonderful". :-) >> >> At this point, the pain was virtually gone. >> >> Asked the wife to email MikeyD, so he could tell the list what >> happened. >> BTW they _did_ put in a stent - 12mm long mesh cylinder of steel, >> like a >> liner for the damaged portion of artery. (The circumflex artery.) It >> expands to hold the artery open, then integrates with the artery >> wall over >> time. I can't have an MRI for a couple of months, for obvious reasons. >> >> Had some ups and downs - apparently, a combination of 2 drugs they >> gave me >> (a beta blocker and ??) lowered my BP too much, it went down to >> 70-something over 40-something, they got worried. Felt wierd >> while they >> got the BP stabilized. >> >> Had an IV in the back of each hand, a red "ET light" oxygen and pulse >> sensor on a finger, EKG electrodes on the chest. And a wound in >> the inside >> hip joint from the catherter. Very difficult to rest comfortably >> or adjust >> position in bed. Found it difficult to concentrate on reading, tv, >> anything- partly from the drugs, partly from exhaustion and stress. >> >> Had a BP cuff on one arm, all the time. Prevented me from bending >> the arm >> fully. >> For a while, they were taking the BP every 15 minutes (!!) - it >> transmittedto the nurses' station. >> I could see the monitor above my bed, with some difficulty, and >> see an >> occasional wierd-feeling heartbeat show up as a blip on the EKG >> graph. (Was >> told that my left ventricle might fire too strongly or out of sequence >> sometimes, as the heart got used to having more oxygen.) >> >> Did _not_ enjoy having to use a urinal - many, many times a day, too, >> because of all the IV fluids. >> Re: the alternative, that part of the body just switched off >> completely,thankfully. >> Didn't re-activate until Saturday when I got into a room with a real >> bathroom <yay>. >> >> They had me on solid food as of lunch Thursday - but low cal, low >> cholesterol, low sodium menu. OK. I actually got to pick my meals from >> several choices. Better than a lot of airline food I've had :-) >> >> Hospitals give you medications on a schedule - hence the classic >> line "wake >> up to take your sleeping pill" (not relevant in my case, but >> funny). >> >> After a while, it got "old" and boring - ok, folks, I'm alive and >> startingto recover. Now I'm uncomfortable. Tried really hard not >> to complain, >> considering the alternative. Felt almost euphoric, elated mentally >> whilehassled physically. Strange. >> >> Friday, they were supposed to move me to a regular room, but >> didn't have a >> bed available. So I got kept in CCU. At least I was able to talk >> them into >> giving me a telephone. >> >> Was I ever surprised when MikeyD talked his way through the nurses >> and got >> me on the phone. He wanted to know my Hebrew name so he could say a >> traditional prayer for healing for me - much appreciated!! And >> even more >> surprised when a little later Friday afternoon, Eri*K*a and Philip >> fromEngland got me on the phone. Wow. >> >> Saturday afternoon, one of my rabbis came over to visit. A while after >> that, they moved me to a regular room, with a roommate. This was >> anothertrip - roommate was 81 years old, had just gotten a >> pacemaker. He worked at >> the same refinery I do (under prior owners) from 1945 to 1977 when he >> retired. Boy, was he happy to have an audience for all his stories >> - I >> understood enough to ask questions and draw him out. (And of >> course I got >> to tell him stories <g>.) >> >> Uncanny - we both have 2 kids, a boy and a girl. We both have >> photographyas a hobby. I'm going to Australia in 6 months, he just >> got back 6 months ago. >> >> So, now that I'm home, it's hard to just sit or lie down and rest. >> But I don't have a lot of endurance - so eventually I give in and >> take it >> easy. >> >> Am going down to the gym at least every other day to do the >> exercise bike >> or treadmill, while monitoring pulse rate. Need to work up to 30 >> minutes or >> more every day. >> >> Am also going up and down the stairs at home a lot - partly for >> exercise,partly because my computer is up there <g>. Then I have >> to go downstairs to >> eat or pee. Amazing what those diuretic pills can do <ha>. >> >> Really conscious of every little twinge or funny feeling, but for >> the most >> part feel better than I did before (but tired). >> Think about it - if a blood vessel in the heart were 50% blocked, >> and now >> it's open, what a difference that makes. >> When you add this to the thyroid medication and the air pump for sleep >> apnea, the brain is actually functioning !! >> >> Wife goes between the "stiff upper lip" and breaking down crying >> saying"I'm glad you didn't die". >> >> Sorry for the length of the post, but it feels good to lay it all out. >> >> OK, folks - a couple of items from the "bully pulpit" - >> (1) get your cholesterol and blood pressure tested >> (2) get regular exercise >> (3) learn to reduce stress >> (4) be here longer for those who love you. >> >> -Ben Braver >> >> >> > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Archives: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/index.cfm?forumid=5 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/index.cfm?method=subscribe&forumid=5 Structure your ColdFusion code with Fusebox. 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