Tuesday, May 01, 2012
Well, Now I have Answers
The
waiting is over and also continuing as well.
I sat down with my
cardiologist Friday, May 27th and discussed options regarding my Coronary
Artery Disease (CAD). The bottom 1/3 of my heart is dead and there is 98%
blockage to the right coronary arter and the circumflex artery. Google it if you need a visual.
There is not enough of this vessel below the blockage to do a bypass graft. Sooooo.... the only option might be angioplasty. If it is not an option then we wait till I drop dead . . . literally. While doc says he does not know my mortal time frame, he's suspecting a year or two if not intervention is possible or even sooner.
Well, so much for my 40th high school reunion or retirement.
An
angioplasty is done using a thin, soft tube called a catheter. A doctor inserts
the catheter into a blood vessel in the groin or wrist. The doctor carefully
guides the catheter through blood vessels until it reaches the blocked portion
of the coronary artery.
A small, expandable wire tube called a stent is often
permanently inserted into the artery during angioplasty. A very thin guide wire
is inside the catheter. The guide wire is used to move a balloon and the stent
into the coronary artery. A balloon is placed inside the stent and inflated,
which opens the stent and pushes it into place against the artery wall. The
balloon is then deflated and removed, leaving the stent in place. Because the
stent is meshlike, the cells lining the blood vessel grow through and around
the stent to help secure it.
Doc has adjusted my medications and put me on some new ones. One of the side affects of one of the meds is my diabetes is more under control. (Go figure, I get on a medicine that reduces my blood sugars only to have less life to utilize it.) I continue to do an hour of exercise 3-4X a week with other activities in between.
I will be on the new meds for 90 days and then return to see the cardiologist to see if they have any effect on the blockage and determine if I am a candidate for a stent placement. In all of this I am fairly calm and accepting. My focus has been more acute in getting things done in the event of my death with the hope that becomes prudent planning than immediate need.
Sooooo . . . I am waiting once again. In the mean time, I will continue in prayer, support my wife, my patients and staff and continue on with life. I will ride my HOG and play golf. Why stop until you have to?
Whatever you do, work
at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters,
since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a
reward. It is the Lord Christ you are
serving.
Colossians 3:23-24
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