Well I am out of surgery.
I wrote this before I went in and Gina published it for me.
This is Gina. It is 7:30 p.m. I has been one very long day. They took Paul to surgery at 8:30 this morning. Everything went very well and Paul is in his room and doing well. We will post more tomorrow as we are all very tired right now. All our love to all.....
Friday, November 21, 2008
Thursday, November 20, 2008
Could I be In a Better Place?
Could I possibly be in a better place then The University of Colorado Hospital (UCH)? Sure I could, only if I wasn't sick, only if it wasn't for the damn angry sarcoid. But if you have Cardiac Sarcoidosis and and they are going to do a VT ablation, there is no better place, Period. I am sure of that.
The EP doctor, Dr. K, just dropped by to talk to me and my lovely wife Gina, (aside: how apropos was last weeks reading in the Catholic Church) about what to expect and answer my myriad of questions. She explained that she cleared her schedule and will be there for the whole procedure as well as the 2 other EP docs. She mentions that UCH is partnered with the manufacture of the CT scan and they are going to try to do some new imaging, overlaying the images from the CT scan along with the electrical mapping of the heart (I guess its called a electrophysiological study or EPS). So a representative from the maker of the scanner will be there (cannot remember if it is Siemens of Philips or some other company) to assist with that. That should really help in finding just where these problem areas are.
As for the ablation, what they do is put a catheter into the artery on my groin area and go up into a vein into the top or atrium of my heart and then into the ventricals and that's where they seek out where the VT is propagating from and ablate that area. That's my version, the actual technical version my be slightly different, but that's what I heard her say...
They've done this a bunch of times but not to many hearts with sarcoid. Dr. K mentioned a new study that came out from Michigan about VT ablations but I haven't found it yet and maybe will look for it post ablation. One of the questions I asked was how efficient my heart will be in after the procedure. The answer was that there is a lot a scaring from the sarcoid and additional scaring from the ablation may reduce my hearts productivity (in the heart failure world we talk ejection fraction or EF) but it is a question best answered by a "we'll see." I am OK with that. You know why, I cannot go through life having days of 80 VT episodes, the ICD fireing 6 times, 911 call, etc.. There is nothing worse then knowing every waking moment, in the back of your mind, that that ICD could fire. Then I think about the thing going off while I am sleeping too. I don't envision that thats a nice way to wake up. Yeah, I can't go through life like that.
We also talked about when I might be able to go home and the happy path would be Saturday. If its not Saturday, it probably means that they found and ablated on area on the outside of my heart. Which means that that cut a whole in me just below the sternum. But they have done their research and have the cardiac thorasic surgeon ready to go to perform the that actual cutting. If they do that then the recovery time might be a little longer.
We were told that there is nothing that they won't do to make this successful. And they have already done a lot of leg work working up to 8:00 am Friday morning, November 21, 2008.
So hey, this is all good and I am going to come out of this much better than when I came in. And... so... NO, I could not be in a better place right now then UCH. Absolutely COULD NOT BE. So I am going to relax, watch some football, get a late snack (since I cannot have any food past midnight, NPO you know), unplug the phone and get a good night sleep.
The EP doctor, Dr. K, just dropped by to talk to me and my lovely wife Gina, (aside: how apropos was last weeks reading in the Catholic Church) about what to expect and answer my myriad of questions. She explained that she cleared her schedule and will be there for the whole procedure as well as the 2 other EP docs. She mentions that UCH is partnered with the manufacture of the CT scan and they are going to try to do some new imaging, overlaying the images from the CT scan along with the electrical mapping of the heart (I guess its called a electrophysiological study or EPS). So a representative from the maker of the scanner will be there (cannot remember if it is Siemens of Philips or some other company) to assist with that. That should really help in finding just where these problem areas are.
As for the ablation, what they do is put a catheter into the artery on my groin area and go up into a vein into the top or atrium of my heart and then into the ventricals and that's where they seek out where the VT is propagating from and ablate that area. That's my version, the actual technical version my be slightly different, but that's what I heard her say...
They've done this a bunch of times but not to many hearts with sarcoid. Dr. K mentioned a new study that came out from Michigan about VT ablations but I haven't found it yet and maybe will look for it post ablation. One of the questions I asked was how efficient my heart will be in after the procedure. The answer was that there is a lot a scaring from the sarcoid and additional scaring from the ablation may reduce my hearts productivity (in the heart failure world we talk ejection fraction or EF) but it is a question best answered by a "we'll see." I am OK with that. You know why, I cannot go through life having days of 80 VT episodes, the ICD fireing 6 times, 911 call, etc.. There is nothing worse then knowing every waking moment, in the back of your mind, that that ICD could fire. Then I think about the thing going off while I am sleeping too. I don't envision that thats a nice way to wake up. Yeah, I can't go through life like that.
We also talked about when I might be able to go home and the happy path would be Saturday. If its not Saturday, it probably means that they found and ablated on area on the outside of my heart. Which means that that cut a whole in me just below the sternum. But they have done their research and have the cardiac thorasic surgeon ready to go to perform the that actual cutting. If they do that then the recovery time might be a little longer.
We were told that there is nothing that they won't do to make this successful. And they have already done a lot of leg work working up to 8:00 am Friday morning, November 21, 2008.
So hey, this is all good and I am going to come out of this much better than when I came in. And... so... NO, I could not be in a better place right now then UCH. Absolutely COULD NOT BE. So I am going to relax, watch some football, get a late snack (since I cannot have any food past midnight, NPO you know), unplug the phone and get a good night sleep.
Back to the Hospital
Yes I am back and Boy Howdy! has it been uneventful.
I got poked 3 times and have 2 lines in me, one is the garden hose size. I have had the coronary CT and that went well even though there was some scheduling issues between cardiology and the CT lab. I have had a nice cardiac breakfast and lunch, a short nap and a visit from the cardiac doc. Still waiting for the EP docs to show up and listen to their speech. Then its my turn to do the talking and I have some questions I am going to ask and get answers to.
Gina is just chilling out on the couch, waiting as well. That's what we are doing waiting. I guess we are waiting for 7:30 tomorrow morning. That's when it starts, all goes down.
I got poked 3 times and have 2 lines in me, one is the garden hose size. I have had the coronary CT and that went well even though there was some scheduling issues between cardiology and the CT lab. I have had a nice cardiac breakfast and lunch, a short nap and a visit from the cardiac doc. Still waiting for the EP docs to show up and listen to their speech. Then its my turn to do the talking and I have some questions I am going to ask and get answers to.
Gina is just chilling out on the couch, waiting as well. That's what we are doing waiting. I guess we are waiting for 7:30 tomorrow morning. That's when it starts, all goes down.
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
I really only know 2 jokes
I really only know 2 jokes.
I heard them a couple of years ago while I was skiing Aspen. I was either skiing with Bayless or Sugg, and we stopped in at the sundeck, back when it was the sundeck and not some exclusive club, to hang out on the deck. It was a nice day, cold and sunny, and I am sure we felt good about the skiing we had been doing. We ran into Frogman because when don't you run into Frogman. Froggy had a buddy with him, this guy, if memory servers me correct, was called Bumby. He was living at the sundeck working as the baker. Bumby and I shared a mutual friend. This guy named Chip Johnson. I asked Bumby if he could point out where it was on the back side of Aspen Mountain, that Chip was skiing when he caused an avalanche and died. He pointed to some spot, I think he called it hurricane gulch or something and said it happened over there. We talked about Chip for awhile and then Bumby started to tell some jokes.
So you can blame Bumby for my 2 jokes. The first joke is about a bus load of politicians and and a New England farmer and the second joke is about 2 New England farmers talking at the fence their properties share. It goes like this: there are these 2 New England farmers talking to each other at the fence their properties share. They're talking about the price of fuel, the weather, whatever, and then one of the farmers says he had to put his dog down. The other framers says "was he mad?" (you know mad like foaming at the mouth, roaming the streets looking to eat a baby out of a stroller mad). The first farmer answers by saying "well, he wasn't too happy about it." Get it, he wasn't to happy about being put down. It makes me laugh, but it is also about how I feel about having to go back into the hospital; I'm not to happy about it.
Its my forth time since the beginning of October that I have had to be in the hospital and all the holes that they poked into my body have healed nicely. I not looking forward to wearing the hospital garb, getting more holes poked into me, sleeping in a bed that doesn't fit, eating more cardiac diet meals, getting checked on every 4 hours, getting no sleep and the list goes on and on. But what I am most not happy about the uncertainty of the whole ablation procedure. It scares the living daylights out of me. If you stop and consider what they are gonna do, stick a catheter up your vein and/or artery and put your heart into a life threatening rhythm and them burn parts of you heart that cause the life threatening rhythm, it is rather hard to digest.
Oh well, that's just how I feel, not to happy about it but I guess there is a huge upside that I should really be concentrating on and that is getting rid of the VT, dramatically decreasing the likelihood that the ICD will fire, and me getting back to having a normal life again. Now that I wrote this all down I will try and make that my goal for the day.
So when you see me after all of this has transpired, you can ask me to tell you the joke about the farmer and the bus load of politicians and I will gladly tell it to you. I won't guarantee that's funny but I will gladly tell it to you.
I heard them a couple of years ago while I was skiing Aspen. I was either skiing with Bayless or Sugg, and we stopped in at the sundeck, back when it was the sundeck and not some exclusive club, to hang out on the deck. It was a nice day, cold and sunny, and I am sure we felt good about the skiing we had been doing. We ran into Frogman because when don't you run into Frogman. Froggy had a buddy with him, this guy, if memory servers me correct, was called Bumby. He was living at the sundeck working as the baker. Bumby and I shared a mutual friend. This guy named Chip Johnson. I asked Bumby if he could point out where it was on the back side of Aspen Mountain, that Chip was skiing when he caused an avalanche and died. He pointed to some spot, I think he called it hurricane gulch or something and said it happened over there. We talked about Chip for awhile and then Bumby started to tell some jokes.
So you can blame Bumby for my 2 jokes. The first joke is about a bus load of politicians and and a New England farmer and the second joke is about 2 New England farmers talking at the fence their properties share. It goes like this: there are these 2 New England farmers talking to each other at the fence their properties share. They're talking about the price of fuel, the weather, whatever, and then one of the farmers says he had to put his dog down. The other framers says "was he mad?" (you know mad like foaming at the mouth, roaming the streets looking to eat a baby out of a stroller mad). The first farmer answers by saying "well, he wasn't too happy about it." Get it, he wasn't to happy about being put down. It makes me laugh, but it is also about how I feel about having to go back into the hospital; I'm not to happy about it.
Its my forth time since the beginning of October that I have had to be in the hospital and all the holes that they poked into my body have healed nicely. I not looking forward to wearing the hospital garb, getting more holes poked into me, sleeping in a bed that doesn't fit, eating more cardiac diet meals, getting checked on every 4 hours, getting no sleep and the list goes on and on. But what I am most not happy about the uncertainty of the whole ablation procedure. It scares the living daylights out of me. If you stop and consider what they are gonna do, stick a catheter up your vein and/or artery and put your heart into a life threatening rhythm and them burn parts of you heart that cause the life threatening rhythm, it is rather hard to digest.
Oh well, that's just how I feel, not to happy about it but I guess there is a huge upside that I should really be concentrating on and that is getting rid of the VT, dramatically decreasing the likelihood that the ICD will fire, and me getting back to having a normal life again. Now that I wrote this all down I will try and make that my goal for the day.
So when you see me after all of this has transpired, you can ask me to tell you the joke about the farmer and the bus load of politicians and I will gladly tell it to you. I won't guarantee that's funny but I will gladly tell it to you.
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
48 hours and counting
So in about 48 hours I return to the hospital for the 4 and hopefully final time for awhile. I check in on Thursday the 2oth and have my ablation on the Friday the 21st. Today I also start 5 shots of blood thinner heparin. I am going get Gina to give it to as I think she might enjoy it (as it should be painful for me).
When I check in at the hospital I head to the 12 floor and then just wait I guess. I know that they are planning a coronary CT scan at about noon. That's where they take x-ray images of slice of my heart. I think that's good information for them to know before the surgery. Then I guess they are gonna also poke me and make sure my blood is clotting they way they want it to. and poke a hole in me to give me intravenous drugs if the need arises. And then I think I will get a visit from the docs to go over what is really gonna happen to me. and then we wait. and I say we because you know Gina is gonna be there...
So Friday is the procedure. I still haven't read up on to know exactly what it entails. I will do that between now and tomorrow night. Part of me doesn't want to know. I do know that they use catheters to go vein or artery (I can't remember) in my upper leg to my heart. That's to ablate the areas inside my heart that are causing the VT. If there are areas on the outside of my heart, and I have a feeling there are, they will poke a hole below my strunum and go between my chest and pericardium, the area or sac around the heart. Thats the tricky or more risky part of the whole porcedure as there are lots of really important arteries that feed the heart blood that you don't want to mess with. Anyway, Dr. Bieke may not even let the EP docs do it since I am faily suppeptable to infection right now and he may not be willing to take that risk. I am still having a hard time coming to grips with what this whole procedure.
So I will change the subject. Gina just gave me the shot and it wasn't too bad now it is stinging. Time to start passing the time until I head to the hospital.
When I check in at the hospital I head to the 12 floor and then just wait I guess. I know that they are planning a coronary CT scan at about noon. That's where they take x-ray images of slice of my heart. I think that's good information for them to know before the surgery. Then I guess they are gonna also poke me and make sure my blood is clotting they way they want it to. and poke a hole in me to give me intravenous drugs if the need arises. And then I think I will get a visit from the docs to go over what is really gonna happen to me. and then we wait. and I say we because you know Gina is gonna be there...
So Friday is the procedure. I still haven't read up on to know exactly what it entails. I will do that between now and tomorrow night. Part of me doesn't want to know. I do know that they use catheters to go vein or artery (I can't remember) in my upper leg to my heart. That's to ablate the areas inside my heart that are causing the VT. If there are areas on the outside of my heart, and I have a feeling there are, they will poke a hole below my strunum and go between my chest and pericardium, the area or sac around the heart. Thats the tricky or more risky part of the whole porcedure as there are lots of really important arteries that feed the heart blood that you don't want to mess with. Anyway, Dr. Bieke may not even let the EP docs do it since I am faily suppeptable to infection right now and he may not be willing to take that risk. I am still having a hard time coming to grips with what this whole procedure.
So I will change the subject. Gina just gave me the shot and it wasn't too bad now it is stinging. Time to start passing the time until I head to the hospital.
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