Well everyone this is the aftermath and my scars for life after the super glue as I like to call it has been removed from my chest. Endocarditis is the cause of this its a very bad, a lot of times fatal, blood infection of the heart. The center zipper scar of course is from my open heart surgery and my valve replacement. I hate blood and getting my blood drawn and the had to put 4 IVS In me before my surgery! 2 in each arm including a pick line in my shoulder/ neck that was interesting weird and painful lol. My new 31mm heart valve is from a cow, I could have got one from a pig or a cow, I asked the doctor which ine i was getting and so the doctor asked me in return well pork or beef lol I chose beef...lol The horizontal scar on my left shoulder is from my pacemaker installation surgery, Thanks to Dr. Gimbel and his staff for that, and sorry about talking so much through the whole thing and u having to tell me to plese be quiet, a couple times lol. They didnt put me completIy out for the pacemaker which is a very weird,awkward feeling, they gave me enough pain meds, anxiety, and just over all numbing meds so that my body was numb from about halfway up my neck down to my toes, also the strap your arms in which I hated, its about a 3 or 4 inch incision plus having to dig out and hook up wires and secure the little device that is about an inch and a half wide, 2 inches tall and like a 1/4 inch thick around 1 to 2 inches down from my collar bone. And its implanted in me forever! I had a full heart blockage, so basically part A and part B of my heart were out of sync. The dots and holes under my zipper scar on my stomach were from 4 if these battery looking things and wires that ran up through my ribs to my heart for the temporary pacemaker I had in the hospital, and when those were pulled out and OMG it felt like a bug or snake was crawling or slithering INSIDE me down my chest and stomach! Overall though the #1 worst procedure was the lung drains, I cant spell the name of it lol, but basically you sit on the side of the bed, put your arms on a table and lean over, then they numb a small area in the middle of your back next to your spine where your lung is, stick a needle then a suction tube, which isnt exactly small, into your lung, run it to a 2 liter tea jug, than a vacuum pump in the wall and turn it on! And I had 2 of these done in 4 days! The first one there was 1 1/2 liters and the second 3/4 of a liter of fluid on 1 lung! You can imagine how much that is if u think about a 2 liter coke jug, sorry to be so graphic. Afterwards when my lung was expanding back out cause they are like balloons, I coughed for at least 5 or 6 minutes straight uncontrollably, sweated so bad that the nurse even asked if I was ok cause she had never seen anyone that bad and couldnt breathe right for a while that day, then of course 4 days later more fluid=more lung draining, yay! The last thing I had to have done was after I came home and done my self hookup IV antibiotics which were pretty cool by the way lol, I had a midline IV port in my right arm on the inside up next to my shoulder and it was 9 inches long in my vein and wrapped around my shoulder into my chest! It really amazes me how they even done that. All of this has amazed me. Im just the luckiest guy in the world that medicine has advanced as far as it has. Thank you Lord! Thats about it on big procedures, I just wanted to explain what I went through for a couple good reasons. For one I put these pics on here for anyone that is battling opiate addiction, any kind of addiction for that matter, or for anyone who might know someone who is having a hard time quitting or just scared to ask or get help. I hope that my misfortunes and hardships will actually help someone by showing them what could happen. The first step to quitting is admitting You have a problem and your life has become unmanageable. And by the way including myself I have known of about 5 or 6 people that got Endocarditis and had the same problems I did and i am the only one that survived...thats the cold hard facts of this awful thing. All thanks going straight the the good Lord about and also an amazing huge extreme thanks to one of the best heart teams in the USA at Parkwest Hospital in Knoxville, Dr. Thomas Pollard and his staff were amazing and the other doctors were also amazing, I had about 6 or 7 different doctors that team up for serious cases looking after me. God bless each and every one of my medical team even down to the nice asian and russian ladies that helped keep my room nice and clean and Ms. Mary for staying on me and making me get up and walk everyday!Thank you Lord for putting these amazing people in my life and blessing them with the ability to dedicate their lives to helping others get better and to be able to perform life saving procedures on someone when they are depending on it the most. It amazed my family and I when the doctors had just finished my procedure and told my parents they were about to do their 2nd heart transplant in the same day!, not to mention lord only knows what other surgeries had already been done by Dr. Pollard that day lol. Just amazing! Overall if it wouldnt have been for having great faith and confidence in the man above, dedicating my life to the Lord and getting saved the day before my surgery, by the way a special thanks to Pastor Dean Haun of First Baptist of Morristown for coming and helping me turn my life over to God! AMEN! Also once again the whole amazing medical team that worked on me. My family who were there every waking second, my mom and grandmother slept in the most uncomfortable fold out chairs for over 3 or 4 weeks every night and never complained once and if it was 4 in the morning they would hop up just to give me a drink or whatever I needed, God bless them and thank you to all to my whole family from the bottom of my like new heart! You are more than anyone could ever ask for and so much more. And thanks to the very few of my friends who showed me their true friendships, it showed me who my friends really were and werent. Guess its time for some new ones lol. Cause I need a few. Sorry for the long messages but these are just a few rough drafts and excerpts from my book that I have started working on, also i havent been on facebook in a long time till recently, so thanks for any comments or to any family or friends any memories u wanna bring up and share, just remember if its to bad or embarrassing please privately msg me my grandparents, parents, and people I go to church with etc. etc. read my Facebook and trust me Ive been through enough, I dont need any unnecessary stress on my heart, have respect just like I know I would show u, thanks a bunch, lol Or my number is 4238395106. I wanna help people and share my experiences with others in need or just anybody who needs someone to talk to and might need some advice, i cant promise it will be right or what u wanna hear but it will be honest lol.There is always help around the corner but you HAVE to do it for you, you have to want it for you, and u have to admit everything in your life that is causing this disease to effect you. And once that your life has started changing and you are back out in the real world now the people, places, everything has to change! Thats a big big part of staying sober and has been a big downfall always for myself living in a small drama filled town. Addiction is a recognized disease by the American Medical Association so dont think its only yourself or a few others, its world wide. Thanks for reading and commenting and hopefully liking my mini health/sermon postings lol. Done this on my phone so if auto correct done something stupid im sorry lol i only proofread this once. Please call or text anytime to talk. God bless and thanks for the comments and likes everyone!
Posted on: Sun, 19 Oct 2014 07:21:32 +0000
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