A New Lease
Hello to you all! This is going to be a special edition of, The Nomadic Lensman, and I have lots to share. So let’s get started!
With what I have to say this week, the photos that accompany the text will be random and hopefully inspire a smile to your faces. Uplifting is the theme for the day and I hope I can instill some of that for you.
I haven’t posted anything since the early part of June of 2024. On June 18th of 2024 I suffered a major coronary event, followed by a stroke. Now, this didn’t happen out of the blue, there were warning signs along the way that I chose to ignore. My body was/is my temple and I let it go to shit! I’ve worked out in my life and have always been physically strong and I needed that in my work as a security officer at a hospital, amongst other reasons. My diet went lax and I wound up, at 5’10” tall, getting to the weight of 224lbs. Obese. I had 3 warning signs along the way, all of which, I ignored. I won’t go into those 3 as they were exactly like the last event on June 18th. That is where we will begin.
On June 18th, 2024, I had just finished mowing the back lawn and had put everything away. I felt my chest tighten up and my heart start racing. The tightening was way worse then the last 3 times and I could not control the outcome this time. My wife noticed my distress and watched as I made my way into the house where she called 911. At our home you cannot gain entrance unless you encounter stairs. I remember the paramedics arriving and placing me on a large canvas sheet so they could get me down the stairs to their rig. I don’t remember anything after they put me in the ambulance. (At the end of this posting I will name key players, players who are serious about their professions and saving lives.)
The first stop was Peace Health Medical Center. They took me to the ED, Emergency Department, and they sent me straight to the Cath Lab. My left anterior descending artery, LADA, which supplies blood to the front portion of the heart and is the biggest supplier of oxygenated blood to the heart’s lower left pumping chamber or ventricle. It also supplies blood to the septum, the muscular tissue that separates the heart walls. Complete blockage, which I had at 100%, can cause a heart attack commonly known as a, widow maker. These types of heart attacks are often fatal. LADA is your heart’s largest coronary artery. It’s a type of cardiac blood vessel that’s part of the circulating system. The network of blood vessels circulates blood throughout the body. LADA carries almost half of the blood to the heart.
So, not to outdo myself, at some point I had an, Embolic stroke. This is caused by a blood clot or plaque debris that develops elsewhere in the body and then travels to one of the blood vessels in the brain through the bloodstream.
This often results from heart disease or heart surgery and occurs rapidly and without any warning. About 15% of ES occur in people with arterial fibrillation, a type of abnormal heart rhythm in which the upper chambers of the heart do not beat effectively. So what’s to be done?
My heart was beating like a hummingbird. It would not slow down, so it was decided to place me on an Impella heart pump. The world’s smallest heart pump used to help maintain blood flow during high risk Protected Percutaneous Coronary Interventions, PCIs. There are a variety of procedures used to open blocked coronary arteries through the use of balloons and/or stents. PCIs restore blood flow to the heart muscle without open-heart surgery.
The doc makes a small incision in the upper thigh and inserts a fine tube called a catheter into the femoral artery. The device is guided by the catheter and a wire into the left ventricle, the main pumping chamber of the heart. Impella pulls blood from the ventricle and pushes it out into the aorta, delivering oxygen-rich blood to the rest of the body. This allows the heart to rest while while the doc performs the PCI. I must add a note here about self-reflection. I have been stubborn about a great many things in my life, some justified, some maybe a little over the edge. This was the latter.
My pig-headedness was getting the better of me. Impella wasn’t working to slow my heart down. The doc would often come out and update my wife and would say things like, “This isn’t looking good,” or, “I’m not liking what’s going on.” It was just the way the situation was and he wasn’t trying to be over dramatic. To this point, all conventional methods to slow my heart down were not working. So, they decided to place me on an ECMO machine, Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation. They pulled the Impella and brought out the big gun in ECMO.
Blood is pumped outside the body to a heart-lung machine and removes carbon dioxide and sends oxygen-rich blood back to the body. Blood flows from the right side of the heart to the heart-lung machine where it is rewarmed and sent back to the body. ECMO lets blood go around the heart and lungs which allows the heart and lungs to rest. ECMO is a form of extracorporeal life support, ECLS. It is used for life threatening heart and lung conditions. According to the doc, after they put me on ECMO, I involuntarily lifted my right arm and yanked out all of lines that were running through said arm. The doc noted that as me having a bit more fight left in me!
Arrangements were made to have me transferred to OHSU, Oregon Health Sciences University. OHSU sent a rig, that had a portable ECMO machine and they transported me from Peace Health. Being stubborn, I developed a bleed at my Impella site and coded. Yup, my heart stopped for about 3 minutes. They brought me back and delivered me to OHSU, where I stayed on ECMO for 9 days. I spent 2 weeks in the cardiac ICU and then transferred to the regular cardiac unit. I was there for another 2 weeks, then was transferred to an inpatient rehab center.
Now there are all sorts of little stories that are interwoven within all this, but they’re insignificant. Dreams, dealing with staff, how to process all of the events, etc.
From A to Z, from the git to my eventually coming home. There has been unwavering support. Could not, in my wildest dreams, envision getting through an ordeal like this without massive amounts of support. From old friends, to new friends and co-workers, both past and present. Family played such an important part in my recovery. From visits to prayers, it all works towards recovery and great mental health after an ordeal like this one.
There are 3 people that I cannot express enough gratitude in their part in my survival and recovery.
The first, Dr. Vishesh Kumar, M.D., Cardiologist. He and his team worked so hard to keep me alive at Peace Health Medical Center, deep into their Cath Lab, they were able to get me stable enough to transport to OHSU. I cannot be anymore serious when I say that Dr. Kumar and his team saved my stubborn hide and kept me living for the ride to OHSU. The gratitude and appreciation I have for them is immense and I literally owe my new lease to them. Thank you, from the bottom of my stented heart, for saving me!
The second, Dr. Christopher Chien, M.D., M.C.R. From the time I arrived to OHSU when I was discharged out of ICU, he was with me the entire way and he and his team were fantastic in continuing excellent care and providing support. I’ve had my second appointment with him a short time ago and he is still amazed at how I came out of it all. These folks work tirelessly to save people and I’m happy that I was strong enough to show everyone the fruits of their labor.
The third, the most important in my book, the most intracule to my survival and recovery, there everyday, my wife Veronica. Whether she physically touched me and talked to me while I remained unconscious, or fed me ice chips on those rare, lucid moments. She was my link to the physical world and I wasn’t willing to let go of that, not now in my life. The sacrifices she made during my recovery were enormous and the miles she put on to be there everyday. I just could not fathom her not being there and will be forever grateful and will love her immensely for the rest of my days.
Well, that is about all I have to share, for now. I work on getting stronger every week, going to PT and OT and then onto Cardiac Rehab. I made some lifestyle changes so that I never go back to what caused all this in the first place. I went from 224lbs., to my lowest, 184lbs. I hover right around 190lbs., and that suits me just fine. I hope by Spring I will be playing pickleball again and lead a healthier lifestyle.
If you feel like there is something wrong with your health, please don’t ignore it. Get yourself checked out. Don’t ignore it like I did, it just leads to worse problems down the line. I, with the help of the aforementioned people, cheated death this time around. I don’t plan on trying to cheat it again. When I go, it’ll be because I didn’t squander my second chance and my body is tired from all the adventuring my wife have done over the years. But until then, death can take a backseat! If you would like to know more, email me and I’m happy to share.
Take care of yourselves and each other, don’t ignore anything! I hope to have some new photos the next time I post so until then, happy travels!
