On A More Serious Note . . .

**I wrote this a while ago (January 24th) and never published it. But I think that people I don't speak with often would like to know about it, so here it is. Sam returned to work today and fingers are crossed that everything will work out and his boss won't suddenly can him. It could happen, but then . . . that's what life is like everyday when you work for John. More on this another time . . .**

About two weeks ago, Sam had a stress test done after he felt some pain in his chest. The doctor made us wait over the weekend until the following Tuesday to find out the results. There was a blockage, he said, but he couldn't tell how big it was. Probably it was nothing, he assured us. Most likely treatable with medication. But he wanted Sam to have a Cardio Catheterization (Angiogram) so we could see exactly what was going on. He left the office with a Friday morning appointment at the hospital.

This test involves a small incision at the very top of the leg where the cardiologist can get into a major artery that leads to the heart. He slides a length of tube up to the heart and releases a dye that they can track as it pumps through the heart and out into the body. It shows where blockages are and how big they are. It can also cause heart attacks, strokes and kidney failure, to name a few.

So, after setting up lots of help for babysitting that day, Sam and I went off for his test at 7:00 am this past Friday. I sat in the waiting room while they did the procedure, reading, sort of, and waiting for a nurse or doctor to come through the door and tell me everything went alright. Nurses kept coming and going and one of them finally said that things were going fine, but they weren't done yet. She wasn't really coming out to talk to me, but I guess the look on my face shouted "I NEED INFORMATION!!"

Finally, someone told me I could go back in to see him and that everything went fine. Then the doctor came to speak to me.

There were three major blockages. The left main artery was 98% blocked, and two other, less important arteries (are there really any unimportant arteries??) were also blocked, one was 75% and the other 100%. There was no damage to the heart.

We had two options. The doctor could ignore the two less important blockages and put a stent in the main artery or he could perform open-heart surgery and take care of everything at once.

STENT!!

So, that afternoon, Sam was moved from Chilton to St. Josephs in Paterson and, what seemed like hours later, they placed a stent in his artery. (This is a metal piece that is inflated once inside and left there to hold the artery open.)

Now he's home, recovering, and he's taking lots of pills to help keep everything open and working. He's not allowed to work for two more weeks, but so far, everything is going well.


If you didn't know about this already, I'm sorry. It all happened very quickly and I'm just now recovered enough to take the time to write about it. We are all doing fine, babies are readjusted to the new routines around here with Daddy home, and, now that the crisis part is over, I'm fine too!

If you have any history in your family and you haven't been nice to yourself in the past, don't wait! Go have a stress test done. It's only a few hours and it could save your life.

The doctor told Sam yesterday that if we hadn't caught it when we did, Sam would be dead. That main artery was nearly closed off and the back up for it (yes, your body has lots of ways to get around these problems on it's own) was the artery that was 100% blocked! So, while we count our blessings, you should really make sure you get your preventative checks done regularly!