O
Ozmercy
Well, where to begin, first thanks to all of you for you concern, thoughts and prayers. The night before last was a very scary event for me and a great lesson on what it means to be low key.
I want to assure you all that the head of cardiology for Cedars Sinai was on call yesterday and he reviewed every test and visited with me multiple times. He was very attentive and very concerned. I was previously scheduled for a angio-cat-scan for tomorrow, as well as to give blood and have an echo of my carotid artery. So I will be back at the hospital and will check in with the cardiology dept.
Back to what happened. I have to give you a little background into me and my personality before telling you the story. I hope you will be understanding of how hard it is for me to change. I have always lived at a frenetic pace. I am the kind of guy that drives my friends crazy because I just don't stop. When we go to Kauai to relax, my wife lays on the beach and I snorkel. That is as close to relaxing as I usually get. I do watch tv and can be a lazy bum while watching sports or movies, but even then I am usually sitting with my leg bouncing and changing channels at a pace that drives my family crazy. I have changed a ton in the last couple of years and have been learning how to slow down. In the last couple of years I have backed out of many of my responsibilites at church including getting off the elder board. Just a couple of years ago I took 2 of the boys from the group I mentor with us to Kauai and when we kayaked and hiked they complained for me to slow down. I also eat that way. I have been a foracious, but mostly healthy eater, but I have my vices. I have been trying very hard to change many of my old habits, but know that low key to me is a normal pace for some.
So what happened is I took Emily to Dland (she is a frequent flyer there) and our intention was to stay all day catch the fireworks and go home. By 4:00 I was physically done, then I was a good boy and listened to my body, and said we gotta go home. The next day we ran a bunch of errands and Lori offered to take me home, but I wanted to stay with her and didn't listen to my body. Later we had dinner and since we had been out Lori got a pizza and that's where I really blew it when I had 4 slices.
I just kept coming back and getting more. For the rest of the night I was miserable. What was scary was that my heart started pounding like crazy. I knew I was probably over my recommended BP, but I didn't have a BP cuff and I thought if I just take it easy and go to bed I will be okay. I didn't sleep a wink. Finally at about 5:00 I gave in to the better voices in my head and called the guys at the fire station down the street. Some of the best paramedics in L. A. Co. Fire work at my local station and they not only took care of me, they talked the local hosp. into letting them take me all the way down to Cedars in Beverly Hills. We passed at least 4 if not 5 hospitals to get there, but truthfully none of them could really take care of my situation if it was a tear. My BP when I got to the station was 138/98, which is way to high for someone with my condition. I had chest pain, but I am convinced that it was mostly due to the acid refulx. I think what happened is that the BP went up because of the saltiness and spicyness of the meal and the body being run down from doing to much and then the acid reflux kicked the whole problem into 5th gear. It was quite a scare, but the whole time it did not feel like what i imagined a disection to feel like. It was a 3-4 on a scale to 10 and it was that pinching feeling we have talked about not a stabbing or tearing feeling.
I was taken into the Cedars ER and was immediately given a 12 lead ekg and blood tests. They took everything very seriously and got a cardiologist involved right away. My cardiologist was out of town, but the head of cardiology happened to be the guy on call. He was great (Dr. Cercek) and ordered a chest cat scan to check on the aorta and an echo to check on the valve. All tests came back negative, no heart attack and no change in the aorta or AV. He felt that the pain could have been coming from shoulder problems (remember this whole thing got discovered when I was supposed to have shoulder surgery) or more probably a problem with both the BP being too high and the acid reflux being bad. The only thing confusing to me was that the pain went away when I got nitro. Why would nitro help acid reflux? I personally think the test were right, no heart attack and no tear, but a very irritated heart because of a stupid move on my part. I am feeling much better, but am still a bit burpy. I also got the pneumococcal vaccine and my arm hurts from that, but all ina ll it feels grea to be home.
Tomorrow I will have an angio-cat-scan and the echo on my carotid and I will go by to check in with the cardiology group. My cardiologist is out of town, so I will check in with Dr. Cercek again. I will also check in with surgery and see what we can do about moving up my date. I did choose to take a spot one week later than what they offered me (because of a class I am supposed to take!) and now I regret that. The sooner the better!
Lastly, and thanks for your patience with this long string, I vow before you my VR friends:
1. I will not eat spicey foods or anything in excess (at least until after I am recovered).
2. I will stay at home and either be on the computer, watch tv or just hang out.
3. I will go to bed early and will take naps.
4. I will contact my gastro-interologist and see if we can get me on some stronger meds for the acid reflux so that I am not having to guess all the time as to where these pains are coming from.
5. I will continue to live my life as a man who believes that God is in control, but not like a fool who thinks that everything will always work out okay. Death is irreversible. I may believe that the after life is a good thing, but it won't be good for Lori and Emily, and Amy and her husband Brent.
So there it all is. I am open to input, and desire suggestions, but I must apologize to all of you, like I have to my wife, for not taking all of this more strictly.
Know that I am rapidly growing to love you all, and am so grateful for your friendship. I need the positive input though, my doctors are very good and I don't feel that it would be a good thing to change paths at this time. Trento is considered one of the best on the West Coast and he is worth waiting for. Because of his being gone last month he is booked solid through July. I was given the first open date. I believe if tomorrow shows any changes in the size or growth of my aorta they will bump me up, but that means someone else, like Temp69 experinced, being bumped back. I trust the doctors and I trust the Lord, I just need to do a better job at being a good patient. Look how many guys do you know that spend the bulk of their time with young men that are 30 yrs younger than them. I think that tells you a little about me. I am the oldest teenager I know, and can be a little thick like a teenager. Thanks so much for your support and concern, it really means a lot to my family and myself. Sorry ti took me so long to get back to you but the phone has been ringing off the hook and one of my pastors came by to pray with me. Hope I didn't sound to defensive, but all of my friends so far have been lovingly teasing about the whole thing, and I feel pretty lame.
God bless,
Randy
I want to assure you all that the head of cardiology for Cedars Sinai was on call yesterday and he reviewed every test and visited with me multiple times. He was very attentive and very concerned. I was previously scheduled for a angio-cat-scan for tomorrow, as well as to give blood and have an echo of my carotid artery. So I will be back at the hospital and will check in with the cardiology dept.
Back to what happened. I have to give you a little background into me and my personality before telling you the story. I hope you will be understanding of how hard it is for me to change. I have always lived at a frenetic pace. I am the kind of guy that drives my friends crazy because I just don't stop. When we go to Kauai to relax, my wife lays on the beach and I snorkel. That is as close to relaxing as I usually get. I do watch tv and can be a lazy bum while watching sports or movies, but even then I am usually sitting with my leg bouncing and changing channels at a pace that drives my family crazy. I have changed a ton in the last couple of years and have been learning how to slow down. In the last couple of years I have backed out of many of my responsibilites at church including getting off the elder board. Just a couple of years ago I took 2 of the boys from the group I mentor with us to Kauai and when we kayaked and hiked they complained for me to slow down. I also eat that way. I have been a foracious, but mostly healthy eater, but I have my vices. I have been trying very hard to change many of my old habits, but know that low key to me is a normal pace for some.
So what happened is I took Emily to Dland (she is a frequent flyer there) and our intention was to stay all day catch the fireworks and go home. By 4:00 I was physically done, then I was a good boy and listened to my body, and said we gotta go home. The next day we ran a bunch of errands and Lori offered to take me home, but I wanted to stay with her and didn't listen to my body. Later we had dinner and since we had been out Lori got a pizza and that's where I really blew it when I had 4 slices.
I just kept coming back and getting more. For the rest of the night I was miserable. What was scary was that my heart started pounding like crazy. I knew I was probably over my recommended BP, but I didn't have a BP cuff and I thought if I just take it easy and go to bed I will be okay. I didn't sleep a wink. Finally at about 5:00 I gave in to the better voices in my head and called the guys at the fire station down the street. Some of the best paramedics in L. A. Co. Fire work at my local station and they not only took care of me, they talked the local hosp. into letting them take me all the way down to Cedars in Beverly Hills. We passed at least 4 if not 5 hospitals to get there, but truthfully none of them could really take care of my situation if it was a tear. My BP when I got to the station was 138/98, which is way to high for someone with my condition. I had chest pain, but I am convinced that it was mostly due to the acid refulx. I think what happened is that the BP went up because of the saltiness and spicyness of the meal and the body being run down from doing to much and then the acid reflux kicked the whole problem into 5th gear. It was quite a scare, but the whole time it did not feel like what i imagined a disection to feel like. It was a 3-4 on a scale to 10 and it was that pinching feeling we have talked about not a stabbing or tearing feeling.I was taken into the Cedars ER and was immediately given a 12 lead ekg and blood tests. They took everything very seriously and got a cardiologist involved right away. My cardiologist was out of town, but the head of cardiology happened to be the guy on call. He was great (Dr. Cercek) and ordered a chest cat scan to check on the aorta and an echo to check on the valve. All tests came back negative, no heart attack and no change in the aorta or AV. He felt that the pain could have been coming from shoulder problems (remember this whole thing got discovered when I was supposed to have shoulder surgery) or more probably a problem with both the BP being too high and the acid reflux being bad. The only thing confusing to me was that the pain went away when I got nitro. Why would nitro help acid reflux? I personally think the test were right, no heart attack and no tear, but a very irritated heart because of a stupid move on my part. I am feeling much better, but am still a bit burpy. I also got the pneumococcal vaccine and my arm hurts from that, but all ina ll it feels grea to be home.
Tomorrow I will have an angio-cat-scan and the echo on my carotid and I will go by to check in with the cardiology group. My cardiologist is out of town, so I will check in with Dr. Cercek again. I will also check in with surgery and see what we can do about moving up my date. I did choose to take a spot one week later than what they offered me (because of a class I am supposed to take!) and now I regret that. The sooner the better!
Lastly, and thanks for your patience with this long string, I vow before you my VR friends:
1. I will not eat spicey foods or anything in excess (at least until after I am recovered).
2. I will stay at home and either be on the computer, watch tv or just hang out.
3. I will go to bed early and will take naps.
4. I will contact my gastro-interologist and see if we can get me on some stronger meds for the acid reflux so that I am not having to guess all the time as to where these pains are coming from.
5. I will continue to live my life as a man who believes that God is in control, but not like a fool who thinks that everything will always work out okay. Death is irreversible. I may believe that the after life is a good thing, but it won't be good for Lori and Emily, and Amy and her husband Brent.
So there it all is. I am open to input, and desire suggestions, but I must apologize to all of you, like I have to my wife, for not taking all of this more strictly.
Know that I am rapidly growing to love you all, and am so grateful for your friendship. I need the positive input though, my doctors are very good and I don't feel that it would be a good thing to change paths at this time. Trento is considered one of the best on the West Coast and he is worth waiting for. Because of his being gone last month he is booked solid through July. I was given the first open date. I believe if tomorrow shows any changes in the size or growth of my aorta they will bump me up, but that means someone else, like Temp69 experinced, being bumped back. I trust the doctors and I trust the Lord, I just need to do a better job at being a good patient. Look how many guys do you know that spend the bulk of their time with young men that are 30 yrs younger than them. I think that tells you a little about me. I am the oldest teenager I know, and can be a little thick like a teenager. Thanks so much for your support and concern, it really means a lot to my family and myself. Sorry ti took me so long to get back to you but the phone has been ringing off the hook and one of my pastors came by to pray with me. Hope I didn't sound to defensive, but all of my friends so far have been lovingly teasing about the whole thing, and I feel pretty lame.
God bless,
Randy
