I finally have an excuse

13:30 hrs – The hospitlaist finally gave me the results of the MRI. It seems that I did have a mini stroke Sunday. It was a very small one but it explained my difficulty expressing myself to the EMTs.

So now I finally have an excuse for being slow, confused, having a bad memory, not being able to hear people when they mumble, forgetting what my wife told me….. I wonder how much mileage I can get out of this.

Well it does underline the fact that I am wearing out. I guess with all the miles I’ve put on this old body the tread is finally getting thin. Well it’s been a good ride so far.

Got to talk to the Neurologist and find out what he knows.

……….

Just sent my wife and the grandkids off to meet Joanna, return Abby and Nicky to their father and get some pictures of our new granddaughter.

Pics later

17:44 hrs: the neurologist basically confirmed that I did have a mini stroke and that my brain is partially backwards, part of my left brain is linked to my left side. He said I was already taking the right drugs to prevent further damage so just keep on as I am.

So off to my consults with Cardiac surgeons.

Surfs up, but I won’t be ridin’ any waves for a while.

Cheers

More Medical Mishaps

9-June_2008

On the other end of the Lifeline while another life entered this world in Dover, NH (see the post immediately below ‘A Blessed Event’):

This morning the hospital cardiologist did a Cardiac Catheterization on me to find out what was going on with my heart. The symptoms and tests of yesterday did not appear to indicate any cardiac problems. The results were encouraging and problematic at the same time.
The good news was that my “Ejection Fraction” (that’s how much blood my heart pumps in each beat) has risen from 25% to 45% since April 15th.

The problematic news is that they discovered that two of my primary cardiac arteries are 70% blocked. From the test results these blockages have been there for a long time, I would guess from back in the 1980’s. None of the other tests I have had ever picked them up. Probably my athletic pursuits over the years had built enough excess capacity to pick up the slack. But now they are keeping the parts of my heart that they serve from recovering from the CHF damage.

Now when they discharge me tomorrow I need to set up a consult with some cardiac surgeons about a double bypass operation. More fun in the Hospital ahead for me.

I hope I can get well enough by September to get back to driving my school bus.

Heres to summer; schools almost out.

A Blessed Event

Monday 9-June-2008

Breaking news:

Dateline Dover N.H.: At 4:25 PM Crystal Withe gave birth to Joanna Joy Withe, at the Wentworth Douglas Hospital in Dover N.H. 7Lbs 3 oz, 19 1/8 inches long; mother and baby are doing fine. Joanna is already hungry in her sleep so we expect her to take after her older brother Nicholas who never met food or chocolate he didn’t like. [well most food anyway]

Joanna was born in a water birth so she went swimming before she took her first breath. This may presage greatness in this water loving family. In the words of her proud father Joshua she looks like her older sister Abigail and her aunt Hannah .

I will be following up on a seperate page.

My Medical Mishaps

Sunday; 8-June-2008

I Finally got a ride in the Newbury Ambulance.

As I write this tonight I am back in the hospital. Apparently I overdid this past week because I was feeling better. Well when you push things sometimes things push back.

I’ve been feeling a dull ache in my upper left chest since I was out in the rain Thursday salvaging wood chips from the stump chipping operation. This morning before church it was back, then after church it got worse running up the left side of my neck. I told my wife that I might wind up going to the hospital before the day was over.

When my left arm went numb and got weak I figured _OK this is definitely not good, I’m calling 911_. I called and one of Newbury’s finest showed up at our door with his medical jump bag. It seems like these days most police officers are also EMT’s. He started the initial evaluation, keeping me talking. I recognized the steps from my own first responder training. He just rolled through it naturally. Not more than four minutes later the EMT’s were there with two ambulances. Those guys are good. They made it look easy. Like starting an IV in the back of a rolling ambulance, and I hardly felt it. EMT’s are good folks, my hat is off to the Byfield Ambulance people.

Anna Jacques Hospital is about 2 miles from my home. I’ve been in several hospitals in the last few years and I’m a frequent flyer at Anna Jacques. When most of the nurses in the ER look familiar and when the nurses on the CCSU floor know your name you know you’ve been there way too frequently. But when I need a hospital I would rather be in Anna Jacques. The nursing staff is the best of any of the hospitals where I’ve been a patient. The doctors are also the best. I guess that is the benefit of a community hospital it’s like being taken care of by your neighbors. They all care about you.

The first best news was the my heart was still in good steady sinus rhythm. In the emergency room my wife was looking a my heart monitor display and called it “A beautiful Rhythm”. My arrhythmia has not returned. That means that I should still be working my way out of the Congestive Heart Failure that put me in hospital on 14 April. The next issue was that my symptoms could indicate a mild stroke. Well thankfully the blood tests and MRI results showed that there were no blood clots or embolism’s in my heart, lungs or head. (so my recent weirdness must have another cause, becoming a writer maybe)

Well I’ve been admitted and await the next battery of tests to figure out what is going on now.

So that’s how I spent my Sunday afternoon. But church was good.