Tag: heart attack

Making it Work > heart attack

Moving Forward #asonedoes

Posted on May 15, 2018May 15, 2018 by pioneerintrees

Just to look back one more time … I present to you, my timeline of wtf.

The first bit:

Sept 14 2017 – routine mammogram #squished
Sept 21 – mag view mammogram (to get a better look, ya know?) #surewhynot
Oct 6 – biopsy #holyshitthatsawkward
Oct 19 – family doc reads results – CANCER. No biggie, I figure. I can deal. #cancerwtfareyoukiddingme
Oct 24 – surgeon appt – omg so HOT. phew. #silverlining #thereisagod
Oct 31 – MRI – met mr. lorazepam – weeeeee #notanaddict
Nov 17 – surgery – bi-lateral mastectomy – 53 staples, 2 drains and ms. oxy – weeeeee #thatsgoodshit #ihavesomeleft
Nov 23 – drains out – NASTY NASTY #justtrytorelax #didntpunchherout
Nov 27 – staples out – omg noooooooo – #breathebreathenamaste
Dec 7 – hot surgeon reads path reports – lymph nodes negative YAHOOOOO but not so fast he says, you’ll hear from an onc soon… #soonmeansnothing #merrychristmas

The Next Bit:

Dec 29 – fast talking, eye rolling oncologist explains treatment plan #shedidntbreathe #wedrovetothedirtyshwaforthis
Jan 4, 2018 – MUGA scan (heart test) #meh
Jan 9 – portacath insertion – FASCINATING #heyicanfeelthat
Jan 10 – first chemo #icandothis #circlebackwiththosecookieswouldya
weeks and weeks and weeks of awesome friends visiting and sending me shit, and me doing my damnedest to mitigate some rather nasty side effects #loveyoupeople #chemosucks
March 6 – Jenny shaved my head! #liberated #peoplelookbetterwithhair
March 14 – 10% reduction of chemo due to neuropathy development in hands & feet – I start freezing my extremities with ice – people stare #shutupimbeingproactive
March 28 – last chemo WOOT WOOT – feel like shit, but so happy it will be downhill from here – EXHAUSTED #imisswinesomuch

The last bit:

April 15 – heart attack WTF?? (It really does feel like your chest is in a vice. And it’s hard to breathe. NASTY NASTY) #shouldhavecalledanambulance #itwasnttheavocado
April 17 – angiogram to confirm SCAD “Spontaneous Coronary Artery Dissection” – it’s a thing #lookitup
April 24 – meet with stern oncologist who I notice thinks with her eyes shut – no Herceptin for me until she talks to my cardiologist (ya, well, I don’t have one… OMG REALLY?) #idontwanttorestanymore #fuckoff
May 6 – Hike for Hospice (in a wheelchair, but I did it!) – My team raised over $11,000 WOOT WOOT – I love my peeps #fundraisingwin #dontaskmetodothisnextyear

Ok what? Unplanned meets planned. Did it all.

The final straw bit:

May 7 – @ 2 am I start passing a kidney stone – think I’m dying – mr. morphine saved my ass – SWEEEEEET – CAT scan confirmed it #thankspaulforholdingmypukecontainer
May 10 – cardiac ultrasound – technician is no nonsense – asked her to ultrasound my boob bumps – NOT IMPRESSED WITH ME #omgsofunnyinmyhead
May 11 – kidney stone expelled – the mother fucker had two sharp points #shouldibronzeit
May 15 – met with oncologist who actually smiled (maybe she thinks I deserve ONE smile) – clears me for treatment and agrees to send my kidney stone off for analysis #inquiringmindswanttoknow #heyyoudidsomethingnice
May 16 (tomorrow)- Herceptin resumes (this is my 6th treatment) – have to have a loading dose again because it’s been 6 weeks since my last treatment (double the amount and a 1 hour observation period CRAPPY but I like the chemo suite … free cookies, ya know?) #petitioningfororeos

So the breast removal is done, the chemo is done, the heart attack is done, the kidney stone is done. All I have left is my targeted therapy, Herceptin. I continue to get it every 3 weeks till I have had a total of 18 treatments. In order to make it fun I have decided to take the remaining number of treats to the nurses. 12 tomorrow – a dozen of blueberrry muffins, me thinks (last time it was 13 chocolate dipped oreos! NOM NOM). #gottamakeyourownfun

The only other thing is, well, recovery. I somehow keep forgetting that I’m actually IN recovery. Both from the chemo and now the heart attack. So ya, being slow and tired is the new normal and being patient with it all is also pretty new. #workingonit

Thanks for all of the lovingkindness. Strength in numbers, I say! #peaceout

Angiogram Highlights

Posted on April 17, 2018 by pioneerintrees

It’s nearing the end of day 3 and I’m ready to go home. I’m typing with one hand and this floor feels prohibitive to sleep. I would leave now if I had this needle out of my arm!

Yes, it’s sore and it looks sore (Liam flinches) but since the angiogram procedure in which a wire (?) was shoved in and up my other arm, my left feels great comparatively. I think it’s bloody from all of the typing.

Overview of the Angiogram:

The prep took as long or maybe longer than the procedure itself. The team worked incredibly efficiently and with very few words through the entire procedure. So impressive.

During the angiogram I had to:

– ditch my stolen (and favorite) hospital pants with the penis hole sewn up so that they could prep my groin – in case they couldn’t use the artery in my arm (the nurses kindly stowed them in a bag for me)

– have new and fancy heart monitor stickers put over specific areas of my body that they had SANDED clean. Yes, sanded. With “hospital grade” sandpaper. WTF!! It burned, as you might have predicted. Nice.

– get positioned perfectly with my head craned to the left so that I could see the monitor (big wall of 4 flat screen TVs that lowered down to eye level for the doc)

– promise to stay absolutely still for the entire procedure (“if your nose is itchy, ask the nurse to itch it”)

– endure freezing on the inside of my right arm (where the carotid artery is, obv). I’m not going to lie, I honestly thought Dr. B.A.L.L. forgot the freezing and was shoving the thing up my arm without it! Made me tear up. But I didn’t flinch.

– accept some kind of delicious relaxant in the port my left arm since the nurse saw my eyes turn into ponds of misery

– watch and learn

Best parts? Warm blankets. Seeing my arteries on the screen light up. The drugs that took the searing pain away.

The Doc’s Analysis:

No sign of heart disease. No blockages. No need for a stent. He showed me the area that is damaged and went to quickly consult with the other cardiologist while I watched re-runs. Mesmerized.

The doc told me that what happened to me is called Spontaneous Coronary Heart Dissection. (SCAD) Essentially there is a sudden tear in the artery wall that blocks blood flow and causes a heart attack. From what I’ve read so far there is no known cause and no known prevention. It’s very common in women. Young, healthy women. Ahem.

Recovery:

Easy part: I had to stay in the cath lab until my pressure cuff could be taken off – about 1 1/2 hours. During that time one of the nurses printed off some info on SCAD, so I was able to understand it a bit better. I will do a lot more reading on it obv, and look forward to hearing from the doc tomorrow and getting the Cole’s notes. Remember those?

Harder part: My understanding from the literature is that the artery will have to heal and I’ll have to do a few things to help that process along. Keep my blood pressure low, don’t stress the heart, that kind of thing. Of course my greatest concern is that this SCAD doesn’t interfere with my breast cancer treatment which continues till January 2019 (thirteen more treatments to go!). Fingers crossed that the cardiologist I see tomorrow (for discharge) will refer me to a cardiologist who will treat me (?) and talk to my oncologist.

But First… I have to see how well this last sleeping pill blocks out my restless roommate’s vocalizations and the exceptionally loud nurses hanging out at the nurses station. Annnd out.

Bit of a Heart Thing

Posted on April 17, 2018 by pioneerintrees

On Sunday I was having a snack (healthy, I will add) after being out for a walk in the freezing rain and scraping off the ice encrusted hot tub lid. I figured I wouldn’t make it to dinner (I was around 3 pm… the time where you know that if you stay hungry, you’ll be so ravenous during dinner prep that you’ll eat half of everything you chop up). Mid snack I found myself experiencing some chest pain, coupled with pain between my shoulder blades and also pain down the backs of my arms and into my baby fingers. Not little pain. Serious pain. Out of nowhere. My thought process went like this:

– am I having an angina attack … or something? Am I stressed? Did I pull muscles in my arms when scraping that ice?

– I said “calm the fuck down” to myself, even though I felt perfectly calm.

– I thought hmm. I wonder if I’m having a heart attack? Well, if so, I’d better have a shower.

– so I had a shower. Nervously. And quickly.

– pain still there a bit, but better, maybe I’m ok? Lay my chest on the bathroom counter. Calm the fuck down. Breathe.

– wondered … is this caused by the Herceptin? I’d better look that up. (Google search ensued) No connection to chest pain. Hmmm.

– back to snack area, had another episode … hurting again. Wondered – am I allergic to avocado?

– decided I should likely go to the hospital – didn’t want to scare the kids.

– went upstairs and quickly packed a bag with practically all of my technology, a book and my wallet

– decided that it would be stupid to drive myself and not tell anyone – I would get serious shit for that from … everyone

– texted Paul and asked him to bring over the ribs now. And maybe he would need to drive me to the hospital. Now.

– told the girls I wasn’t feeling well – that I’d text them – and that I would be ok … (Annie looked traumatized.)

– figured I’d be fine by the time I got to the hospital, but that I should still go, even though it was in the middle of an ice storm. Fine.

What happened at Emerg – Day One:

I sat in chairs for a bit as there were no receiving nurses in their little booths. The lady who came in behind me was having a hard time keeping her young daughter awake (she had hit her head) – so when the nurse finally came out I told her to go first. Got checked in eventually, put on a face mask (since she made me).

I was ushered into a little room for an ECG. I took off my jacket and sweatshirt I realized that I looked a bit like a skinhead – all in black with my Doc Martens (for the icy roads). Had Paul take this pic …

Skinhead Halloween costume — It’s a keeper.

Then some blood work and into an exam room to wait for the results of the ECG and blood work. Eventually saw a doc who did a history and told me that everything looked fine in the tests so far. Went to the “lounge” to wait 3 hours till I could do a repeat of the ECG and blood work. Waited. It came back showing elevated levels of Triponin which is a marker of a heart attack. It can go as high as 40 … once it’s over 40 it’s considered a “massive heart attack” and they don’t measure it anymore. My first test was a .1 which was why no one seemed too concerned, second test was a 3 which showed that something definitely happened. (Eventually these markers went as high as 9.7 before they came back down again.)

So I had a heart attack. My head was spinning a bit.

I was put in a different room in emerg where the doc asked me if I still had any pain. (Everyone was taking it more seriously now.) I told him that I had some pressure in my throat and carotid (neck) but that I wouldn’t call it pain. He just stared at me. I guess I’ve become so used to discomfort with the chemo side effects … a bit of pressure in the throat is no big deal. He gave me some pills to thin my blood. And some big huge potassium pills – had to break them in half. Lots of pills.

Oh, and some morphine. I said I didn’t want any thanks. They said it was important to take away the remaining pain in my throat and carotid – but also because it also acts as a vasodilator, which is important apparently. Once high as a kite I was much less upset about having a heart attack. Go figure. Saw the cardiologist who had a great handshake, the same haircut as me and explained that I’d need an angiogram. This was the quote of the day: “Dr. Ball? B. A. L. L.?” (Said morphined up Janice. Deanne thought it was hilarious.)

Transferred to my the ICU at 1am. Much quieter there. Sleeping pill. Annnnnnd out.

What happened at the ICU – Day Two:

I lay in bed all day waiting for the angiogram. Had a muffin that Paul got me at Tim’s – the Hospital food was not quite appealing enough…

Cereal for the elderly — *This begins to look good when you’re not allowed to eat anything …*

Wasn’t able to eat anything after 10 until after my procedure was done. We all placed bets on when we thought it would happen – one of the nurses was hopeful with a 1:30 slot – Michele went long with 5:00. No one won since they couldn’t fit me in. I know it’s a good thing that I was low on the priority list for an angiogram, but being hooked up all day in bed (and hungry) kinda sucked. And so many things attached to my body … heart, finger, wrist. Yeesh.

Needle and the damage done — Necessary. Evil.

Highlights of the day included a visit from Michele and Deanne where we suddenly realized that Paul and Michele were dressed exactly alike. Which we found outrageously amusing.

Quote of the day: “You’ve kind of had a shit year.” (Deanne) … seemed a lot funnier in the moment.

Later a visit from Alison when we determined that yes, I could knit if I put the oximeter on my toe. Works like a charm. Called Bree and Annie to have them find me a Zauberball and some needles to be delivered the next day. Excited!

Toe jam — Good thing I have long, skinny toes!

Sleeping pill. Annnnnnd out.

What happened at the Hospital – Day Three:

After a breakfast of grapes had a visit from my 2nd cardiologist (who I also met yesterday and his name is impossible to spell, I will add). He confirmed that this regimen of pills will be my “new normal” (minus the needle they put in my belly at night – I don’t have to do that one at home). He explained that I’d be moving to Telemetry which sounded to me like a Hogwarts class (he didn’t laugh). He told the nurse to get me up and moving HURRAY! And he explained what will happen with the angiogram – that if there is a blockage in the vessels they will put in a stent right then, but if there are several they will not do open heart surgery since I’ve just had chemo (ok, …. was that a joke? … he didn’t laugh..) I filed it under ‘that’s good to know’.

So I’m signing off now … will post again after the angiogram. So exciting, this life of mine! Stay tuned…