Three weeks ago, Tuesday, June 28, I collapsed on the way back from lunch at work.\u00a0 I had just walked up an inclined ramp when my heart started pounding and I just could not catch my breath.\u00a0 I clutched onto a parts cart, then I passed out.\u00a0 According to my co-workers, I went to my knees, then just laid down on the ground.\u00a0 I was out for about a minute.\u00a0 The next thing I remember is I was looking up at my boss, Gene, and he was telling me I just collapsed.\u00a0 Then another co-worker said they called 911 already, and I could already hear the sirens, since they are located across the train tracks from where I work.<\/p>\n
I had Gene call my wife, then I was loaded onto a gurney.\u00a0 Within moments they had an EKG hooked up\u2026not a heart attack, but my pulse was about 150 to 160.\u00a0 They also put an IV in.\u00a0 If you have never had an IV, they do hurt a bit going in.\u00a0 In about 4 minutes, I was at LaGrange Memorial hospital.\u00a0 Once at the hospital, I was asked if I had been sitting a long time, on a long plane ride, etc.\u00a0 No, nothing like that.\u00a0 I had been feeling odd for about a week before then, loosing my breath going up stairs.\u00a0 After a while, I remember my older brother was diagnosed with Factor V Leiden.\u00a0 This is a genetic issue with involves how blood clots and un-clots. I had a pulmonary embolism, but they did not know how bad it was yet.<\/p>\n
First test up was an echo-cardiogram.\u00a0\u00a0 This one is like a fancy ultrasound, but it was very hard to hold my breath.\u00a0 Next up was a chest x-ray.\u00a0 After the ER doc consulted with a couple of specialists, I was off to a CT scan of my lungs.\u00a0 This, again, required holding my breath and pumping me up with some dye.\u00a0 The results were back in about 20 minutes.\u00a0 Pulmonary Embolism in both lungs, big ones, old ones. \u00a0They stopped counting when they reached 20. \u00a0I had been living with this for a while.\u00a0 Most Pulmonary Embolisms are acute, mine is chronic.\u00a0 They gave me two options, pump with clot breakers, which has a 3% mortality rate, or perform an angioplasty on my lungs and install \u2018drip lines\u2019 of low dose clot breakers, along with a filter for my vena cava.\u00a0 The risk was much lower and had a better chance to work.<\/p>\n
So, about 2 1\/2 hours after I collapsed, I was wheeled into the Interventional Radiology room.\u00a0 I was mostly awake and they inserted 2 catheters into my jugular vein.\u00a0 First they checked the pressure in my heart, right side.\u00a0 Very high.\u00a0 The right side of your heart usually has very low pressure, since it only has to pump through your lungs.\u00a0 In my case, my poor heart had been working against so long, the right side was very strong.\u00a0\u00a0 Pumping with about 4 times the normal pressure.\u00a0 For those of you who have never had the joy of an angioplasty, here is what happens.\u00a0 They move you onto a narrow table and kind of block you in.\u00a0 Next, they cover your neck with this padded sticker and cover your whole head with a tent like arrangement.\u00a0 Next up is a lidocane like shot for the skin on your neck.\u00a0 This numbs it up and then they go in.\u00a0 You can feel them moving stuff around your chest, it is very creepy.\u00a0 No pain, since there are no pain receptors in there, but you defiantly feel it and remember it.\u00a0\u00a0 The whole procedure took about an hour and a half.\u00a0 They did give me some Valium to take the edge off, but other than loosing track of time, I pretty much remember everything.\u00a0\u00a0 They also shaved part of my chest and put a holding block on there for the 4 tubes coming out of my neck.\u00a0 Lots of tape, more on that later.<\/p>\n
Next up was the Intensive Care Unit.\u00a0 The drip lines in my lungs were getting a constant source of clot breaker.\u00a0 They asked me the standard set of questions;\u00a0 Where do am I?\u00a0 LaGrange Memorial.\u00a0 What time is it?\u00a0 5:27 P.M.\u00a0 The seconds hand of your clock is broken, so I can\u2019t be more accurate than that.\u00a0 The elicited a laugh from the nurse.\u00a0 What is my birthday?\u00a0 Etc.\u00a0 I spent the night in the ICU.\u00a0 During the night it got easier to breath.\u00a0 Over every house I saw my pulse going down, my oxygen going up, and just plain feeling better.<\/p>\n
At 8:00 A.M. The next day, they sent me back down to the CT scanner for another look at my lungs.\u00a0 The results were back in about 20 minutes, all of the major clots were broken up, some minor ones remained, but those would break up over time.\u00a0 Off to Interventional Radiology again.\u00a0 This time, they rechecked the blood pressure on the right side of my heart, looked at the clots, and then got the okay to pull all the tubes from my neck.\u00a0 That part was pretty painless.\u00a0 What hurt (and the most painful part of the whole ordeal) was taking the tape off the right side of my check.\u00a0 They had placed a block to hold down the six tubes from my neck overnight.\u00a0 I\u2019ll tell you one thing, removing tape from a nipple really, really hurts.\u00a0 They tore a little skin as well, but it was out and I was back up to my room in the ICU.<\/p>\n
Wednesday was a day of recovery after all the tubes were out.\u00a0 I was feeling better already, but still not quite myself.\u00a0 Very tired since I only got about 2 hours of bad sleep the night before.\u00a0 Some visitors, but mostly rest.\u00a0 Sleeping on the second night was much easier than the first.\u00a0 They turned off some of the beeping monitors so I could sleep better.\u00a0 I was only woken up by the blood pressure cuff and a really bad blood draw in the early hours of Thursday.\u00a0 If you ever get a blood draw, never, ever, let them try to get it from your hand.\u00a0 It hurts like someone is digging in your hand with a knife.\u00a0 The next morning I learned I would be going to regular room later in the day.<\/p>\n
On Thursday morning, before anything else, they had two \u201cCode Blues\u201d which are when a patient\u2019s heart stops.\u00a0 So the ICU nurses were pretty busy for the morning.\u00a0 Talked to the doctor again, everything was looking pretty good.\u00a0 I did have one really good accomplishment, my first bowel movement in the hospital.\u00a0 You take for granted the simple things.\u00a0 I also had my first solid food in 2 days, and they let me walk a little bit.\u00a0 When I first stood up, I was really shocked how much better I felt.\u00a0 Even though I had not stood in two days, it was so much better than it was in the weeks leading up to my collapse.\u00a0 Around lunch time, Gene, my manager and the first person I saw when I woke up visited along with Diane, another person I went out to lunch with on the fateful day.\u00a0 The remarked how much better I looked and sounded.\u00a0 I really did feel better as well.\u00a0 Later in the afternoon, I was off to my regular room on the fourth floor.<\/p>\n
My regular room was very nice, with a couch, view of the heliport, a few chairs and even a built in desk.\u00a0 It looked like a really plain hotel room.\u00a0 It even had a real bathroom, not a curtain affair like my ICU room.\u00a0 No more connected monitor, just a wireless telemeter for my vitals.\u00a0 My only battle was to get off my \u2018mechanical\/soft\u2019 diet.\u00a0 I really don\u2019t know how I got on there.\u00a0 No one went down my throat, and all the food looked like cat food.\u00a0 My little netbook really helped pass the time, since I am not a real TV watcher.\u00a0 That night I slept pretty darn well, since I didn\u2019t have a blood pressure cuff waking me up every hour, on the hour.\u00a0 My parents, wife Tiffany, and son Glenn were all able to visit, since it was a normal room.<\/p>\n
Friday was a pretty uneventful day.\u00a0 I was able to wander the halls, as long as I didn\u2019t try to leave the floor.\u00a0 Finally got my diet changed to a normal one, and I really enjoyed non chopped up food for the first time in days.\u00a0 At noon time, three more friends from work, including Dave and Jeremy visited.\u00a0 It was nice to see that a lot of people cared about what happened to me.\u00a0 Walking again really helped my spirits as well.\u00a0 Saw the doctors again, they were all happy with my condition.\u00a0 I was also cheered up by being able to wash up better.\u00a0 After 3 days of no shower, you get really funky.<\/p>\n
Just waiting for my INR levels to get higher.\u00a0 It was creeping up slowly, so until it gets over 2.0, I have to be on Heparin.\u00a0 Later in the day, when Tiffany was visiting, the primary care doctor\u00a0 asked if I wanted to go home the next day, if I was willing to get Lovenox shots.\u00a0 It was that, or stay in the hospital a week or more longer.\u00a0 I decided I really wanted to go home and started on the shots that night.<\/p>\n
On Saturday, Glenn\u2019s birthday, Tiffany came in the morning to learn how to administer the shots.\u00a0 They would be twice a day, until my INR was high enough.\u00a0 The needle did not hurt, but the chemical burned for about 10 minutes afterwards, but it was worth it.\u00a0 A little later, a social worker talked to us about the Lovenox shots, she thought I had no insurance, but that is not the case.\u00a0 With her new-found information in hand, everything we set up for picking up my prescriptions.\u00a0 About 11:00 or so I was released and picked up our other car at work.\u00a0 I felt really good.\u00a0 So much more aware than I have been in a long time.\u00a0 I never knew how much I was suffering until I had a frame of reference.<\/p>\n
I visited the parents\u2019 after getting out and celebrated Glenn\u2019s real birthday with a cake and a candle.\u00a0 It was great to be out on his birthday and back in the real world.\u00a0 The next day we celebrated with a full cookout with the whole family and friends in the backyard.\u00a0 I was able to enjoy most of my vacation that week.\u00a0 We were able to go to the beach, have a picnic, and appreciate life.<\/p>\n
After everything that happened, I do feel like a new man.\u00a0 I feel better now than I have in years.\u00a0 I don\u2019t loose my breath going upstairs.\u00a0 I am not tired at 10:30 in the morning.\u00a0 Now, all I have to do is take a pill, get weekly blood draws until they get me level, and stay away from knife fights.\u00a0 You never think of pulmonary embolisms, but they are the second leading cause of sudden cardiac arrest.\u00a0 I hope to enjoy life more.\u00a0 My hands are steadier, my mind is sharper, and I can smell again.\u00a0 I wish I didn\u2019t scare my family so much, but at least I came back to tell this tale.\u00a0 I still remember what one of the EMT guys said.\u00a0 Passing out is like nature\u2019s reset button.\u00a0 When your body can\u2019t deal with it anymore, it just stops everything for a minute, resets everything, and lets you know something went very wrong and you should see a doctor.<\/p>\n
As a word of advice to anyone who has a family member with Factor V Leiden. \u00a0Please see your doctor about getting tested for it and what what can you do to prevent blood clots if you are positive for it. \u00a0You don\u2019t want to end up on the ground, wondering what happened to you, like me.<\/p>\n
Now, back to watches.\u00a0 I received a beautiful Seiko a few months ago, and due to my fatigue\/medical issues, I haven’t had the chance to review it.\u00a0 I will rectify that shortly and get back into the groove of things.\u00a0 Also on a watch related note, my hands are much steadier now, making watch repairs much easier now.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n In case you have been wondering why posts have been scarce, here is a repost from my main blog: Three weeks ago, Tuesday, June 28, I collapsed on the way back from lunch at work.\u00a0 I had just walked up an inclined ramp when my heart started pounding and I \u2026 Continue reading ![\"Facebook\"](\"http:\/\/watches.cyberphreak.com\/wp-content\/plugins\/social-media-feather\/synved-social\/image\/social\/regular\/48x48\/facebook.png\" "\\"Share")
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