Sunday, May 10, 2009

I Could Have Died, But I Didn't

Hey Folks, just thought I'd let my 2 readers know that:

I had double bypass heart surgery on Feb. 24th. at Mercy General here in Sacramento after an angiogram showed a 100% occlusion of my heart's left descending artery (the so-called: "Widowmaker"). I had few symptoms. They cut through my sternum with a bone saw, pried my rib-cage apart, pulled a bit of artery out of my left leg and grafted it onto my heart around the arterial blockage and then pulled my rib-cage back together with a guitar wire (lol) wrapped between alternating ribs. I spent two weeks in the hospital.

This is the first opportunity I've had to tell you I was OK after I came out of surgery. It all happened so fast after the initial test that I had no time to tell anyone what was going on. After going in for my angiogram I woke up two days later in the hospital. I guess they didn't want to wait around. I've always been active, ate well and sensibly but they tell me that genetics are probably responsible, as well as having smoked for decades.

Prognosis is good for a full recovery, but I don't know if I'll be able to keep the job it took me 15 months to find. Besides that, I can't really do the type of physical stuff now that I used to do for a living. Combined with my ankle fusion, and broken 7th. cervical vertebrae, I may just have to apply for SSI disability after my State short term stuff runs out. I don't know. Someone up there must think my shoulders are broader than I do.

Anyway, it hurts to type, so I'll just hope all of you and yours are well, tell you to STOP SMOKING CIGARETTES, if you do - which is supposedly what eroded my arterial walls so the 'plaque' could adhere to them - and to go see your heart doctor ASAP because this stuff can lurk with few symptoms.