OK, so heres the whole story. Beginning, Saturday, November 1st. My family doctor switches a medication from Diovan, (a med that opens blood vessels, lowers blood pressure, and improves blood flow), to Benicar, same thing, different name. Took my first dose of the new replacement med that evening before bed. Im laying there and I feel a cold-like dull pain in my chest. Exactly center, under my sternum. Sort of felt like I had swallowed a large ice cube, that got stuck before it reached my stomach. I had been dealing with a chest cold and had been coughing all day. Thought it must be from either a build up of crap in my lungs or maybe I strained a few muscles by coughing so much. I try deep breathing and it goes away. The following three nights, exactly the same thing. Right after taking Benicar, so Im thinking by then that it must be this new drug. I intended to tell my family doctor about it on my next visit. Appointment was already set for Tuesday, November 11th. ...Cut to Wednesday, November 5th, around 6:30 am. I feel it again, this time, the deep breathing wasnt helping, instead, it seemed to be growing more intense and spreading. It spread across my collar bone, then to my shoulders, and as it was heading down to my elbows, I called 911. Rescue squad arrived within about ten minutes and took me to the hospital. They gave me Nitro tab under my tongue. It worked fast, the pain was just about all the way gone by the time we reach Mercy Medical Center. Not really that far from my home. In E.R. they started I.V., applied Nitro patch, asked a bunch of questions, and admitted me. Set up a stress test for early next morning. (Thursday) I had the choice of a chemically simulated stress test, or running on a treadmill. I chose the treadmill. After the test that morning, the results from the stress test showed that I had had, what they called, a micro-heart attack. Then they took an echocardiogram of my heart. Much like an ultrasound for pregnant women. That evening the doctor ordered a heart catheterization. They poked a small hole in the femoral artery, (largest artery in the leg), and put in a port. Then he fed a long catheter that followed the artery all the way to my heart. He added a chemical dye through the catheter that made the vessels show up clearly on a live action x-ray. I was awake for this, I watched it with them as it traveled through the arteries and vessels. The catheter was extremely painful, Id say about ten times more intense than the pain that caused me to call 911 the day before. I really thought that he was unaware that I felt it every inch of the way. I really felt like I was now having a massive heart attack during this procedure. I yelled at him, I was trying to let him know how unbearable the pain was. Nurses reassuring me that it would be over soon, and that my doctor was very good and had done this 100s of times. He showed me where the blockage was that the dye made visible. It was due to a collapsed vessel that runs across the outside of my heart. He informed me that he will now be placing a stent in that spot. Im more scared at this point then I have ever been. Still wondering if he is aware of how painful this is. The stent was just behind a small deflated balloon at the end of the catheter. After he had it all positioned right, he began to inflate the balloon. I normally have a very high tolerance to pain, but just as I thought there could be nothing more painful than this, the balloon inflated. I hollered some more. Now I was sure I was going to die right there. I figured the ceiling tile was going to be the last thing I saw. I was really terrified, I actually started tearing up, and told the nurse that I think Im going to die. It really felt like my heart was going to explode through my chest. I have never, ever felt anything in my entire life that was this painful. Thought I might pass out. He deflated the balloon and deposited the stent, opening the blockage. He pulled the catheter out, felt a lot like many blades cutting internally all along the way. Now its all over, says the nurse. But I am still feeling like Im in the middle of a very massive heart attack. The doctor pulls up a chair, and the monitor and starts to replay the video and explain it as we watched. He said, First we entered... I interrupted him and yelled that I feel like Im having a much worse attack right now. He ordered and injection of Nitro immediately. It did not help much at all. Still in great pain, they all rush back to my leg, and put that thing back in. Now I thought for sure this was going to kill me, and protested. But he did it anyway as I yelled and moaned. Pulled it back out and assured me that it all looked good, and that it was a success. No one ever warned me that this was going to be extremely painful, in fact, I was under the impression that it would be very simple, and relatively painless. It is what made it so damned scary. Wondering if the doctor is thinking that Im not feeling it to the degree I was. Anyway, took me to CCU for recovery. There they gave me morphine. It helped a little but not enough. First time Ive ever had morphine. I was expecting relief and maybe even a euphoric state, from what I have heard about it. Didnt happen, no euphoria and only made the pain tolerable. I asked for another dose, but CCU wouldnt give me any more. It was to be given every two hours. They told me to lay completely flat on my back, do not lift my head, and stay very still. Told me that I had to do this for six hours. That was miserable too. We were waiting for the blood thinners to wear off, and blood to thicken back up. There was the port, still hanging out of my leg. It could not be removed until the blood had thickened, or I could bleed to death within minutes. After six hours of being flat on my back, this muscle bound guy, (nurse) told me he was going to apply extreme pressure to my groin as another nurse sort of kneaded firmly the area around the opening, searching for hard spots. He pressed down right on top of it, big guy, his feet almost lifting off the floor. I hollered, ...it hurt a great deal. Then he told the other nurse to pull out the port. She did, as he kept on pressing extremely hard. He continued to do so for about a half hour. All I could do was moan the hole time. My leg went numb. When he finally stopped, they covered the entry point with a compression bandage. The doctor that did the catheterization returned with bad news. He said that he only did one collapsed vessel, and that there was another that he intended to do, but decided not to, since I was having so much discomfort with the first one. I about hit the roof. I could hardly believe that I will now have to go through all of this again. I told him sternly that if he did it, he would have to give me something different to mask the pain. That what ever he used before did not work. That news was extremely depressing. The next morning, (Friday), I was moved to a regular room in the cardio ward. Spent the morning and part of the afternoon there. About 3:00 pm they released me to go home. Instructions were to shower and wet the bandage to make it easier to remove. I was supposed to remove it and go sit or lay down. The wound, (my first look at it), had about four fingertip sized bruises in the crevice between my groin and leg. I sat and posted a few comments on FB, and went to lay down. About an hour later, still having this congestion, I coughed. I felt a slight pull on that area and it kind of worried me a little. I went to check it, it had grown into one black and purple hematoma about the size of plumb. Under that, there were 23 tiny ones, like peas and bee bees, speckling my leg almost reaching my knee. And it was growing more painful, aching all around my hip, my knee, and inner thigh. I called CCU right away, they suggested I come back. I arrived about 5:30 pm. E.R. checked it out and they admitted me once again to the CCU. They wanted to do an echogram of the sight, but it had to wait til morning, when the echogram department returned to work. First thing in the morning, (Saturday), they did the echogram and discovered that a pseudo aneurysm had formed about the size of a ping pong ball all the way around the artery. (an internal bubble of blood supplied by the hole in the artery.) Blood swishing around in it. They called in a specialist. When he arrived, the echogram guy was there to meet him in my room. With the echogram showing the aneurysm on the monitor, the specialist sent a needle in to inject a type of chemical that makes blood coagulate in a split second. This turned the aneurysm into a blood clot. The blood clot formed all around the opening in the artery and acted like a plug, sealing the leak. Now this had to be pressed down on, just like the what the muscle guy did in CCU. But this guy used a tightly balled up towel, about the size and firmness of a soft ball. More pain as he put all his weight on it for about a half hour, just like before. After that, he replaced the balled towel, with a thirty pound sandbag. This was to remain there for eight hours, and once again I was ordered to lay flat on my back, very still, and not to lift my head. Very painful, and miserable. Back was killing me by the first hour, had dose after dose of morphine, throughout. The bag made my hip feel like it was in hot coals. Cant describe the relief at the end of the eight hours when they finally lifted that bag off of me at around 7:00 pm. That wasnt the end though, now aching all over, I was told I had continue to stay flat and not move until morning. It was nearly impossible to stay still while being in pain everywhere, especially my back. This was all done to ensure the hole in the artery would stay plugged and they told me it was crucial. They said the chances were high that it could open back up and start to bleed internally again. If that happened, they would have to start the whole process over again. I did as they told me. Could not sleep at all, had stronger doses of morphine every hour and a half all night long. In the morning, (Sunday), about 8:00, the echogram guy returned with his equipment. We were waiting for the specialist to meet him there in my room in CCU. He showed up about eight, and we watched the screen to see if it all worked. It did, thank God. Spent almost the rest of the day, getting doses of morphine and waiting for all the many doctors that were involved in my case, about six of them, to all come a take a peak at my groin. Along with interns and other students. They all wanted to see the muti-colored crotch. Kind of embarrassing. I got tired of that, so I put my junk in a sock. Heart doctor returned and he told me that he could do the other one right now, if I wanted. Said he would use an artery in my arm this time for access. I couldnt believe he was asking me this. He said I could wait if I wanted, that at this point there would be only a five percent chance I would have another heart attack. I told him that I would rather wait until my leg was somewhat painless. He agreed, so it will be scheduled in three weeks. Then he left. Then the specialist returned to tell me that I have a follow up visit for my leg in his office in fourteen days, wants to see the leg again, make sure all is well. He told me that when I get released, not to pick up anything heavier than a cup of coffee, until I see him again. He left. Then the heart doctor returned once again with the CCU doctor to see if I wanted to go home. I told him yes, and told him that the specialist wants to see me in two weeks. He said that that is unnecessary and not to go. They left. I told the nurse about the conflict, and she advised me to go to see the specialist in two weeks as he requested. CCU doctor returned to tell me I could go home, it was about 4:00 pm. So thats it, thats the end of the story so far. I am home now, of course, and theres a lot of pain in my leg. But I am so glad to be here.
Posted on: Mon, 10 Nov 2014 02:37:26 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015