When The Body Tries To Warn You – Part 2
If you haven’t yet, I recommend that you read part 1 of this series, so that you understand how I got here.
I arrived for my appointment on April 16th, early, not out of enthusiasm, but just because that is how I am. An IV was placed into a vein in my hand. This would be used to inject the radioactive isotope for when they would take any pictures for the nuclear scan. Of course, the hardest part of any procedure for me post-cancer, is getting an IV into me or blood draw, chemotherapy having destroyed my veins. Before I would head to the treadmill lab, it was off for my first set of pictures with the isotope having been injected, showing my heart at rest, a.k.a. no stress.
Once that was done, I was connected to telemetry, which would monitor my heart once I got on the treadmill. At this point, there were now four others in the room with me; a nurse, a tech watching the telemetry, and I am not sure who the other two were.
Then it was go time. I climbed up on the treadmill. The “exercise” tech explained to me how the test would work. The test would last approximately twelve minutes (I was definitely confident that I could handle that). Every three minutes, the belt would speed up, and the treadmill incline would increase. This would be done until my heartrate got up to the desired result they needed for the test.
Aaaaaaannnnndddd, go.
Of course as the test began, the belt was definitely slow walk pace, and flat incline. Got to the first three minute mark. And then, the first increase in speed and incline. Almost immediately, I began to get that tightness feeling in my chest and shoulder. But as I was not suspecting anything, I said nothing. I had nine more minutes to go. Then a nurse asked, “are you okay?” I responded, “yes, I am just starting to get that ‘tightness’ that I mentioned before.” The nurse asked, “can you go a little further? We are almost getting to where we need your heartrate.” Confidently with a bit of bravado I answered, “go for it.”
By the time I got to the six minute mark, I had the full tightness and pain in my chest and shoulder as usual. No one was saying anything to me at that point, so I just kept going. And then the belt increased again, and the treadmill raised its angle some more. In less than a minute, the tech said, “stop the belt. Mr. Edelman, you can step down.” All that I heard was that something showd on the EKG, something had happened. I was still oblivious, not connecting how I felt with the result of the EKG.
I was taken back to the lab, for another dose of the isotope, and then back to radiology for another set of pictures, this time, my heart having been “stressed out.” I did not feel any differently, as usual, the tightness and pain had gone away. Once this was finished, the IV port was removed from my hand, and I was told to wait out in the waiting room before being released. In the meantime, I could enjoy something to drink and something to snack on. I was starving.
And then I noticed something. People who had come in to the office after me, were leaving before me. I mean everyone. This was not a good sign. Something did not feel right. Was I forgotten? Then a nurse appeared and said, “Mr. Edelman, will you come with me please. The cardiologist would like to talk to you.” Yeah, this was deja vu, just as I wrote in my book. Cardiologist? Wants to talk to me? There’s nothing wrong with my heart. Right? Riiiiggghhtt?
Dr. S was a young doctor, quite possibly my age, very friendly demeanor, but had a serious message. “I don’t usually put things this way, but I am 100% certain that you have a blockage. The good news is, we can check you right in to the cath lab next door, pop a couple of stents in you, and you will be as good as new in a week or two.”
Blockage? Cath lab? Stents? Couple of weeks? The doctor did not need to tell me what the actual problem was when the Kubler Ross stages had already kicked in. Denial first. And then bargaining.
“Listen doc. I am sure this is serious, but listen, I have a wedding I have to DJ this weekend. How about if I come back Monday after the wedding and we can get this done?”
This was his response, “perhaps you did not understand me, you have a blockage to your heart. Your heart is not getting the blood supply it desperately needs. Time is crucial to get this repaired.”
These are the images that the doctor was looking at. As long as I picked out the right picture from my records, this is a photo of my pending death, or what would like be my demise. Though the doctor did not put it in those words.
Ok, the doctor had my attention. I would forget about arguing about the wedding. The doctor was saying I would be good in a week or two, if I got this done, and doing stents were going to be that easy, I was sure I would still be able to pull off the wedding anyway. But I was still not done tryin to gain some sort of control by bargaining.
“Look, this really caught me off guard. I need to go home tonight, I need to wrap up a few loose ends. Most importantly I need to see my daughters. I’ve never been apart from them, and I need them to know I am fine.” The doctor replied, “okay. Just please, do nothing else at home. Just relax, get here first thing in the morning.” So I replied, “perfect. Nothing but relaxing. In fact, I’ll spend time relaxing mowing my lawn.” His actual response, “are you an idiot? Didn’t you hear me? I said nothing but relaxing.” I interrupted, “but mowing the lawn is relaxing to me.” I could tell from his expression I needed to rethink my idea of relaxing.
It was an hour drive home, and it still really had not hit me, “I’m going to have heart surgery tomorrow morning.” How could that be? I’m too young for this. I’m in good shape, I’m happy, things are going good for me. This isn’t right or fair.
When I put my daughters to bed that evening, I told each of them how much I loved them, hugged them, and kissed them goodnight. I explained that I would be gone in the morning before they headed off for school and daycare, but that I would see them afterwards. We had never been apart from each other, and it was not going to start now.
Paul's Heart 