What can I be looking forward to?

[starreloader]

This week has been a real downer.... Been heathy all my 66 years, never any real illnesses or other major medical problems...

Had a "Cardio Stress Test" on Wednesday, failed it miserbily... Darn near passed out on the treadmill.... End result, after going through some more tests yesterday and an attempt today at a catheration of the left and right heart arteries which ended up not being possible, I am now sechedule for double by-pass on Monday...

I know there are a few members on this site that have had this procedure done, how did you handle this?..

For me this is one BIG SHOCK!!!.. Guess life has just caught to me...

[mpmarty]

I'm lucky. Never been where you are. Hang tough and Semper Fi.

[Wal']

Ain't getting old a bitch......................similar to you, went in for a knee replacement 2 years back, 64 yrs & never a sick day my whole life..............come out 3 days later...........a diabetic & a list of pills & drugs a mile long that are supposedly going to keep me alive ?????

What happened........... LOL..... just got worn out I guess, can only suggest you adjust & keep on casting. 8-)

[Duckiller]

By pass surgery is much better than a heart attack. Have a friend that was having severe heart pains. Cardiologists gave him options. 1) Have by pass sugery now with no heart damage, 2) Wait until you have a heart attack then have bypass surgery with heart damage. He choose option #1. Is now retired to Colorado where he hikes, rides bicycle and snow shoes. Your next few months are go[I]ng to be different. You may not be able to shoot large caliber rifles or pistols for a while. You get to watch your diet and exercise regularly. Do all the things that your Dr. has been encouraging you to do to stay healthy and you will enjoy a long life. You are facing scary surgery but many people survive it and go on to enjoy life. Do what the Drs. say and you will be posting here for many more years. Good Luck!

[NVcurmudgeon]

I've had a triple bypass. In your case they will take out the two mammary arteries to replace the clogged arteries. (You have no use for them anyhow.) You will have a chain saw mark in your chest. Not to worry, you won't feel a thing until afterward. The worst thing is waking up after the bypass and having tubes in your throat helping you breathe for an hour or two. Once those are out you'll start getting better. The little pillow you will be given will be your new best friend. It will be essential for a while to protect your chest when you are going to move. At first, walk as much as they let you, it won't be much in the hospital. When you are home walk as much as you can each day. My first day I managed to go about fifty feet. By walking a little more each day you will soon get stronger. Within a week I was OK for a half mile, and after a month or so could go five miles a day. (It's a great opportunity to pick up WW in the gutters if you live in town.) All this is based on the state of technology in 1996, for all I know it's different now. I was about sixty when I had mine and it's been working like a champ for 17 years. Oh, BTW lose the smokes if you indulge. If you can mange it get a Filipina nurse, they treat you like their little brother!

Oops! For a double bypass they don't mess with your legs at all. The mammary arteries come out from much higher. My apologies for the medical misinformation, but I was asleep at the time.

[2HighSpeed]

Like Duck said, Do that the Doctors say. It will be a tough road for a week, Maybe two. I wouldnt baby yourself, But dont push yourself either. Things get worn out, Organs included. I have seen many heart attack paitents in my lifetime. I promise you when I say, You will have a much better quality of life with the surgery then you would if you elected NOT to have it and had a heart attack. 90% of people who have heart attacks never recover 100%, Are at very increased risk of a 2nd or 3rd or 4th and often fatal heart attack, They dont normally regain the same amount of energy before the attack, Heart attacks can lead to other health problems too. Your body needs that blood to pump normally to keep your other organs healthy, When you have a heart attack, Your heart is essentially quivering and not effectively pumping the blood. Which is starving your other organs of oxygen that your blood carries through the ventricles. Also, If your ventricles are clogged with plaque, Which is normally the cause of a bypass, You are again not getting all the oxygen to your organs that they need to survive. Maybe im partial because being in the medical feild I have seen so many people that died because of something they could have prevented. If you have a heart attack, And its bad enough that you have to be recussitated, Your recovery will be alot worse because A) you will have a even more major surgery and possibly a transplant, B) Bedrest for a awfully long time, C) A dramatic change in eating habits will have to be made and D) someone like me will most likely break a good number of your ribs performing CPR to save you so that you can have said major surgery to keep you alive. Its great they cought it now, Alot of people dont get that chance. Look at it as a ticking time bomb.... You have the chance to diffuse it. So go into that surgery with a clear head knowing you will come out of it with a better then ever heart and youll be here to post on this forum for many many years to come. Good luck Sir, My family and I will be praying for you.

[Stephen Cohen]

Several of my friends have had this surgery and all come out fine, My mother is due for it in couple months, your lucky it was caught before you had heart attack, take it as a change of life for the better. Good luck to you Sir.

[GabbyM]

When we are young we worry about our enemies trying to kill us. When we get older we have to worry about what we are doing to ourselves that will kill us.
Simple life cycle. We start out looking out for others. Maybe even trying to save the world. Then we spend the next forty years looking out for ourselves. If we are lucky we have a partner and a few grandkids to look out for.

Your avatar looks like 3rd Marines. My Father served in the third during Korea in some of the first helicopter units out on the East coast US and deployed to sea. First squadrons to receive the H-17. My stepson is serving in the same units now and has five tours in the sand box. I’ll be in a Catholic Church tonight with my wife. I’m new at this Catholic thing. Just pretend to know when to kneel and all that. Hard on my old knees. Somewhere in there they have time to pray. I’ll be putting one in for you.

I know prayers along the lines of piece be with you don’t always ring a bell with old die hard Marines. But at some point in life you do deserve some peace in this world. Our sons are taking good care of the Corps now. Hard to imagine men who have been in for 22 years have been at war the entire time. Makes me feel like a real slacker. But we play the hand we are dealt.

[Wayne Smith]

What Andrea said. The long term outcome is increased energy, increased ability, and a greatly improved life. Stay focused on that while you go through the process of getting there.

Prayers said.

[Hardcast416taylor]

Well, I`ve had a heart attack, had a 6 way bypass, colon cancer surgery, left knee shattered then rebuilt then replaced 20 years later and am still giving people a "hard time". Don`t know how much longer I`ll be breathin O2 instead of dirt, but the sun is out and shining today. Listen to your Dr. and especially the phy. therapists, you may hate them for the pains from them pushing you - but it`s for a reason. You might ask your heart Dr. about having a chemical stress test instead of going on the treadmill, I had to go this route because of my left knee.Robert

[DHurtig]

5 and a half years ago, I started having troubles with " indigestion ". After about 5 months of that it got so bad one night that it was unbearable. Next day I called my doctor and made an appointment. He freaked and scheduled a stress test for the next day. Failed that miserably. Got about half way home and my daughter called and said to get back to the hospital, so we turned around and back we went. They put me in the cath lab and decided that nothing could be done for me there. Scheduled me for surgery the next morning.

Doctors told my wife that I'd be in surgery for 5 to 6 hours. It turned into 12 and 1/2. I ended up having 7 by passes. After they started my heart back up I was leaking blood bad. Turns out my last bout with indigestion was a massive heart attack. Shouldn't have survived that. Weakened my heart so bad that the wall of my heart split open. They had to put a teflon patch on that. Still bleeding. Some how my pulmonary artery got nicked. Couldn't get the bleeding to stop. Thought they were going to have to pack me with gauze and send me to the ICU with my chest still open. Finally got the bleeding stopped. Doctor told my wife to call the family together because they may not get to see me again. Another doctor told my oldest daughter that " if " I survived, that I would probably be an invalid for the rest of my life.

When I came out of anesthesia, I opened my eyes to the priest giving me last rites. I couldn't talk because of the tube in my throat. Wife said she knew from the look in my eyes that I was P!ssed. She believes that I was so mad that I lived just to prove the priest wrong.

Had a tube down my throat for so long that my voice still gets raspy and comes and goes. The main nerve in my left arm got pinched between my top rib and collar bone. My ring finger, pinkie and the heel of my hand are still numb. Feels like that swollen tingly feeling you get when the novacaine wears off at the dentist. Left me with congestive heart failure. My heart works at about 43% efficiency instead of the normal 60-65%. 3 months later I was back at work. Was moving reeeaaaal slooow, but I was back. 11 months after the surgery I was diagnosed with prostate cancer.

Two by passes should be a walk in the park. Best wishes to you, Dale.

[Echo]

I had double by-pass (CABGx2) 6+years ago (Friday the 13th! of October!). No heart attack, just angina, and couldn't complete the stress test. The Heart Buddy pillow WAS my buddy, as I had coughing spells, and the MD's don't like for the chain-sawed/repaired sternum to flex. MY Primary care MD was a pulmonologist, so he took an X-Ray, and my left lung was collapsed, with the pleural cavity filled w/fluid. Went directly to the hospital (nearby) and he removed 1 1/2 liters of fluid from that cavity. A later complication was blood clots in my legs, that defeated the valves, causing edema, so I'm on coumadin to thin the blood and lasix to keep the fluid level down. No drama, though - really - my cardiologist is bored with me. And they harvested from my lower leg.
You will come through OK - may be some complications, but they have seen, and taken care of, all of them.

[popper]

A good friend just got his 13th stent. He also has a Pacer. He was real 'down' before surgery but went home the next afternoon and is doing quite well now. Take care of yourself.

[Rick N Bama]

From my FIL's experience avoid any & all situations where someone that might be glad to see you comes up & slaps you on the back. He had that to happen which wound up causing him more problems than being split open.

Best of luck to you!

Rick

[williamwaco]

Starr,

I am lucky enough to have a good ticker.

My father was not.

Here is what you can look forward to.

When he was 60 he was told he couldn't live a year without a bypass.
He went in for "A" bypass and came out with a stainless steel valve and four bypasses.

They told him he was really lucky. They had just bought him 10 more years.

By the time he was healed up and walking around, he felt better and had more energy than he had since he was 40.

A year later he was going skiing with us ( not skiing himself ). Before the operation he could not function at 5000 feet. Now he was making it back and forth to the bar with the ease of a college freshman. The next ten years, he spent the entire summer at Steamboat Springs in a condo at about 7000 ft. He drove himself up there in his Ford Bronco.

He just kind of ignored the ten year limit and we all forgot about it.

Twenty years after the operation, he was beginning to feel puney, so he went back and found out that the bypasses were all clogged up.

When he was 80, they put stints in the bypasses and again he was a new person. Felt great and was much more energetic and active.

Unfortunately, this time it was not permanent.

He only made it 11 more years.

You can too!


(Oh,yes. I nearly forgot. That stainless steel valve with the 10 year guarantee, ticked like a clock 75 times a minute for 31 years.
That was over one billion ticks.
You should have seen him trying to get through security at an airport.
Please sir, put your pocket watch in the bucket. . . )




.

[Jal5]

Hangin there Starr. I had 5 bypass surgery almost 7 yrs ago. No heart attack. No symptoms other than hi blood pressure. Bad family history though. You will feel pretty tired and sore all over for about a month. Take it slow. Follow orders and try to walk a little more each day. You will get thru this. I am back to all my regular activities and am very thankful to God for that!

[DIRT Farmer]

Dad had his in October of 1989, 4 grafts, 1 1/2 years ago at 93. Did what he pleased untill the last 2 years including a bad farming accident on his 87 birthday after which he retired.
I had 9 grafts in November of 2001 at the age of 51 including two blockages they could not fix. I was told to take disability and enjoy the time I had left. I thought that sucks and 14 months later I went back to work. You will have to make up your mind to get moving again. I have had some friends that had a bout of depression afterwards, I had some probems myself.
The number of grafts they do will not affect the recovery time, the sternum healing is the slow part. My surgon insisted that I not shoot my 10 ga for a year.

[Jal5]

I agree those ribs take a lot of time to heal up properly. I still feel like a weather vane most of the time- I can tell when the front will be passing through before the weatherman! The other annoying part is where they took the arteries out of my leg- that has never felt right again since the surgery. Joe

[2HighSpeed]

Tomorrow is the big day. Don't be nervous, I'm sure you'll come out of it great and your ticker will be ticking like it should. Good luck, will keep you in my prayers.

[GabbyM]

My next wife and love of my life.

Is as I write this in KS to attend the funeral of her cousin. Who died when his construction crane fell. He was a young 51 years old. No sense in trying to explain that.

Best advise I can give is to never give up, After that you call out to Jesus. I’ve been busted apart on two occasions where I called out to Jesus. Am still here because my name is Michael and my mission in life is not complete. Not even close. You are about to be hit with an eight pound hammer. So just buck up and take it. Not that big a deal in the long run.

[km101]

As I write this, I am sure that you are already in the hospital and undergoing pre-op, so you wont see this until you get home. I had triple bypass surgety about 3 years ago. I went in on Mon. had the surgery on Tue. and was going home by 1:00 pm on Fri. Any surgery includes some pain and discomfort during recovery and it is never pleasant, but it is endurable and if you take care of yourself and follow your surgeon's and cardiologist's instructions it will pass quickly. For the first couple of weeks, your "cough pillow" will be your best friend! Keep it handy! You wont feel like much exercise, but the more you move and exercise (within reason) the faster you will recover. I found that walking was the best exercise for me. If you cant get outside, go to the hospital's Cardiac Rehab unit and exercise there. I'm sure they have one and you will be supervised by healthcare professionals while you exercise. You may experience some depression after surgery. This is normal and should pass. If it is a problem, talk to your Dr. or Cardiologist. They can prescribe medication to lessen the effects. I was back to normal routine within a month with the exception of driving. My cardiologist didnt want me to drive for 6 weeks. He said that I could shoot handguns after a month, but to lay off the rifles and shotguns for 6 months.

After my surgery I felt better than I had in years. And this was the case with everyone I talked to who had this surgery. Follow the Dr's orders and exercise and you will do fine!

[starreloader]

I hope I have responded to all the Well Wishes....I was released from the hospital yesterday afternoon.. I don't feel too bad for just going through "Triple Bypass"... Now the long road to a good recovery...

One nice thing is that I don't have the Big Zipper.. The surgical team closed me up by wiring my breast bone at the top, center and the bottom, then putting in a couple of inside staples and then gluing my chest closed.... I do have to say that when you wake up and see all the tubes in you it does scare the S**T out of you..

[41 mag fan]

Star I'm glad to hear you are doing good. best wishes my friend.

[xs11jack]

Your back!!! Wonderful! This kind of surgery gets better each year, and you have a good chance of a long life now. Praise God!
Jack