Two Years In
Exactly two years ago today I was on a gurney and being wheeled into an operating room at Aultman Hospital in Canton, Ohio. I had experienced moderate chest pains three days before, on the 19th, and had called the rescue squad to carry me to our local hospital where, after examination and some blood tests it was verified that I had experienced a heart attack. After a heart catherization they saw I had several blocked coronary arteries and that those arteries were too blocked for stenting to be accomplished.
I was on my way to open-heart bypass surgery.
I won’t go into any great detail about the run up to the operation, the surgery itself or the recovery. I covered most of that in a couple previous blogs not long after they happened. Needless to say now, I got through the operation in decent shape and the recovery went as anticipated.
I am now at the second anniversary of that surgery and believe it’s about time for a little reflection. About time to do some thinking about those days, to compare them to how my life is going now and to contemplate the years to come.
At this point you could ask, “So amigo, how are things going?”
Before answering you I sit here thinking about that very question and wondering how to answer. Incredibly it’s been over 700 days since that dark February two years ago.
“I’m doing pretty well”, I guess would be the short and sweet answer. I have no chest pain. I really don’t have anything to cause any concern about my heart at the moment. Really! At least other than the still vivid memory of how scared I was two years ago. Plus how “gun shy” I have become about ANY slight twinge, pain, ache or phantom glitch in my chest area. Hell, actually anywhere from my adam’s apple to my belly button! I am, of course, reminded daily of that surgery by the physical scars on my chest. I still wince a bit when I see myself in a mirror. The mind has a habit of forgetting the bad days, but the mirror doesn’t lie. It’s right there etched in the glass. There’s no question at all whether that commotion two years ago was all a dream when I see that.
No question at all.
I do have some ongoing medical issues, however, that I’d like to share if you’re up to reading about them. If you’d rather not, then adios my friend and may we meet again soon.
Can these present issues be attributable to my heart problems? I guess “maybe” would be a good response to that one. I have some IBS nowadays that enjoys causing me misery off and on. The symptoms are generally an upset stomach and varying degrees of nausea. Or maybe I’ll have some odd twinges or pains in my stomach/chest area at strange times. (Please see the previous paragraph about twinges, pains and etc.) Do you know how close your heart is to your stomach? Pretty darn close!
Anyhow, I’ve got a good GI doctor now, hopefully, and we’re working on doing what we can. I’ve presently got a list of foods that I should not eat or at least should eat sparingly. You could look up FODMAPS online and get a feel for what I’m talking about. Plus I have a list of foods that I should be eating, so I am trying to comply with the doctor’s wishes by eating more from the “good” list and less from the “bad”. But some of the “probably should stay away from” foods on the FODMAP list have been staples for me for so long, it’s difficult to entirely stop eating them. And their effect on me varies from none at all to quite a bit. So eating is a roll of the dice a lot of times. Was this particular twinge, pain, ache or discomfort caused by the heart problem? Probably not. Probably just gas passing through the stomach and beyond or, as Ebeneezer Scrooge thought in A Christmas Carol, “You may be an undigested bit of beef, a blot of mustard, a crumb of cheese, a fragment of underdone potato. There's more of gravy than of grave about you, whatever you are!” But the brain is also an organ involved in this process and it likes to jump to conclusions not necessarily rooted in fact.
I have problems time to time with not being able to taste food. Again, it’s not all the time. Just hit and miss. Some days food tastes fine – quite normal actually. Other times there’s not much taste there at all. On those days either the food’s taste is almost nonexistent or it has evolved into active nastiness. Again, is this caused by the heart problem? Possibly. A better guess would be it’s just one of the joys of getting older.
Another disconcerting thing about my health is something that was discovered while researching my stomach issues. A CRT scan found that I have an abdominal aortic aneurysm. A bulging aorta down in my belly. They reported the bulge as being of a certain length. From what I’ve learned, it has to be somewhat longer than that before anything will be done to fix it. It’s one of those “wait and watch” kind of deals. My cardiologist doesn’t seem too terribly concerned about it, so I try to go along with him and not worry. Ha! Worrying is something I do VERY well! Besides, it’s not HIS aorta that has the bulge! Anyhow, I’ll make sure to get it checked yearly and hope it doesn’t grow. But it’s there and I know it. Was this abnormality also attributable to the heart problem? From some research I’ve done on the Internet it was more likely a byproduct of the years I spent smoking cigarettes. Another fun thing you don’t know about which smoking does to you. I quit that nasty habit many years ago, but the manifold rewards of tobacco usage just keep rolling in.
So that’s the downside at the present time, pretty much. And what’s the upside?
Well, I guess still being among the living would be the biggest one. Life is good as the old adage says. I’m still able to take our dog for walks, still able to enjoy the sunny days along with the rainy and snowy ones. I still enjoy the fruits of retirement, getting out of bed in the morning at a time of my choosing, traveling and having good times with family and friends. My wife and I get enjoyment out of our exercise classes and sweating with our fellow old fogies that are there.
I guess just being thankful for all the good things that I can still enjoy even though there are the occasional aches, pains and other limitations from time to time.
I suppose you could call today actually a Thanksgiving of sorts. Even more so than the holiday of the same name, this Thanksgiving has definite personal significance.
To be honest my friends, I’ve been very lucky. I’ve attained an age that other folks, probably more deservedly than me, have been denied. My wife and I have put away enough pennies to make our retirement comfortable. My sleep may be interrupted by the call of nature most nights, but I do wake up each morning and am ready for the new day to start.
So another anniversary rolls around and another personal Thanksgiving is attained. For that I am thankful.
And always more eager for the next chapter to begin!
