Much Aloha to all of you!
I am back on Kauai after a very full day yesterday at the
Straub Hospital in Honolulu.
The doctors decided, after the heart catheterization to, for
now, do nothing --- which surprised the heck out of me!!
What was found is that about 5-6" of the top part of the front
artery on my heart (one of the three heart arteries) is narrowed
along the entire length! Many "feeder" vessels of course feed
off that length. There is both calcium and "fat" type deposits
along the length causing, in various places from 15% to 59%
obstruction -- not enough, they said to justify the risks of any
procedure at this time to deal with such a condition. And,
unfortunately, the tightest obstruction is well down the
length of the pipe. A lot to try to remove/clear to get on down
to that part for "stenting" there, and a multiple bunch of "by-passing"
to deal with all the feeder lines. So, for now, do nothing
via surgery.
However, I am to dramatically change my diet; go practically
to a vegetarian one, but not quite: I can have limited amounts
of both fish and chicken. Also need to get even more exercise.
They believe this is the best course of action. They say the
heart muscle areas being fed by that artery and its' many branches
are getting "enough" blood for now for me to continue on without
undue risk of future problems IF I can get my LDL down into the
70 area or so. I am already on the max Lipitor dose, 80mg per day,
so diet/more exercise are best rather than any procedure within or
on my heart.
So, the idea now is to get on with things as they are now found to be,
and do everything possible to prevent any further obstructing to
occur.
Their decision immediately removed my fears about surgery, of course.
They said the tests done here on Kauai which caused the trip over
there had served to alert me to a serious problem, but one that can
be handled by careful management and life style changes. They
said anytime the heart muscle is not getting all the "designed for"
blood flow, that the Thallium stress scan test will come back "positive",
and that the internists here had no choice but to send me to Honolulu
for further tests/probable surgery as my condition tested here.
So no harm done, except I had a few days of fright over this. Guess
I didn't have enough faith. Which brings me to thank very much all
of you who prayed, sent notes of concern, and wished me well...
way too many of you for me to now respond directly to each of you.
Your prayers seem to have had effect!!
I am feeling very light headed/woozy or something today, and the Drs.
suggested that would continue for a couple more days as they gave
me a real going over in the "cath lab". They spent a LOT of time in
there pondering about what they were seeing, and it was very
chilly in that room! They welcomed me to the North Pole as
I was wheeled in.
It is now over, now on to living with what and how I am!!
I've read through what I have typed here a couple of times,
guess it makes sense, even in my slightly out-of-focus present
state!!
Thanks again to all of you.........
Best to all, Jim Reid
_______________________________________________
TenTec mailing list
TenTec@contesting.com
http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/tentec
|