On April 16th, 2008, I went for a nuclear stress test. I was 42 years old. I had been having a chest tightness that I had finally gotten annoyed with to do something about it. My family doctor, knowing my health history, ordered this test herself, which ended up getting me in a lot sooner than if I had tried to make the arrangements myself.
Within a couple of minutes, the test had been stopped. I was connected to wires which showed my heart activity, and the technician running the test saw “something.” I was escorted for my next round of heart scans and then placed into an exam room. While in the waiting room, I watched everyone else leave before me, that came in after me. I have seen this play out before. I knew this was not good.
The cardiologist came into the room. He had informed me that I had a blockage, somewhere. He said he normally never offered a diagnosis of 100%, but he was 100% certain that I had one. He wanted me to check into the catheterization lab next door to his office. There, they would go up through my leg, and try to place a stent wherever the blockage was.
Whenever you are dealt a health crisis, you are likely to enter the Kubler-Ross stages (denial, bargaining, anger, etc.). I skipped the denial. I have had bad news before. But immediately I told him, I had plans that I would come back Monday. He got my attention real quick, “you may not have until Monday.” Depending on where and how bad the blockage was, neither of us had any idea what was ahead.
I did come back the next day. When I said goodbye to my daughters, then aged 5 and 3, I kept is simple. That I was just going to stay overnight in something like a hotel, and I would see them “tomorrow.” And it was that simple. But as the expression goes, “tomorrow never comes.”
I was coming to, when I saw the cardiologist, my wife, and a friend at the foot of my bed. All I could make out was that it was worse than they thought. I did not grasp the technical way the doctor explained it. But my friend who was there, was an EMT, and she knew what it meant, and in shock blurted out, “a widow maker.” Again, I was still under the influence of the anesthesia, but as the fog wore off, the severity began to settle in.
I was now set up for an emergency triple bypass the next day. Not any time to go through those stages. First thing in the morning.
But it was not the surgery, or the risks, or the possible results that I was worried about. I wanted to see my daughters just one more time before the surgery, and that was not going to happen. There was no time.
For the first time in their lives, we would be apart. I was able to speak to them on the phone. Hardly a consolation from the hugs that I so desperately wanted and needed. And because of their ages, I could not explain to them what was going to happen, what could happen.
I do not know what was worse. Having no time to prepare to go through this, or be like others, who often wait weeks or even months until they would have gotten that test done. All I do know, is had I waited any longer, you might not be reading this right now.
A couple notable things occurred today. In the county where I live, today was the ending of a mask mandate for helping to prevent spreading of Covid19, which our country is still dealing with in numbers as large as last year this time. You do not need to be a mathematician to figure out, that is not a good thing, and a huge reason if any to continue the mandate until we get down to numbers that are at least 20% of what they currently are (this would have been the equivalent of February or March of 2020.
Businesses had already ripped up the floor stickers and taken down any signage about social distancing, equating the ending of the mask mandate as the “all clear” to go back to the way we behaved in December of 2019, when we never heard of Covid19.
There is no doubt, vaccines have made a huge difference in this pandemic. And we have made the progress faster than ever could have been imagined. At this point, it is a matter of outpacing new cases with vaccine administrations. Consider this analogy, you battle a brush fire, by trying to contain it, not chase it. When you hear that a brush fire is 100% contained, that does not mean it is out, but rather, not expected to spread any further. If we could just hold on a little longer, get our new daily cases below 10,000, while vaccinating, we will have contained this Covid19 “brushfire.”
But we are tired. It has been so long. The fact is, it did not need to be. We spent so much time arguing with each other, denying reality, and too many, made it clear, losses were going to be acceptable.
I am glad not to shake anyone’s hand anymore, or greet anyone with a hug or kiss. I have never liked these traditions and it has nothing to do with being a germaphobe. And crowds, I avoid them like the plague, pun intended with the current situation, so social distancing for me is no big deal. And seriously, was it really that big of a deal to expect people to wash their hands, or for businesses to clean if not better, at least at all?
But the mask thing, that was a line that was going to separate our country. The ironic thing, and again, we study history so that we do not repeat it, the mask issue was a major problem when our country dealt with the last major pandemic back in 1917. People protested masks back then as well, although to be honest, the current mask protest was more linked to politics than it was safety concerns.
I had posted before, the only mask that we were going to be able to use that would guarantee prevention, was an N95 respirator. But it needed to be properly fitted and worn. Which usually takes someone showing you how to do so. But we had a shortage of this equipment, and officials made the mistake of not being up front with the recommendation that masks would do nothing, in hopes of preventing us, the common folk, from buying all the masks, leaving none for first responders who needed it to work with Covid19 patients.
Then we learned that any kind of face covering would help, not prevent, but help. Seriously, what do we sneeze into? A tissue. Perhaps the crook of our elbow. When we cough, what do we cover our mouth with? Or at least we should cover our mouth. This is why the mask was so important. For the lazy slobs who did not cover their orifices when they sneezed or coughed. Of course, the concern included general conversation and anything else expelling air.
The stories that came out why not to wear a mask were down right stupid and selfish, and nothing had to do with nothing. “You get sick from the masks”. No, you don’t. “Because they are not clean and you touch it with your hands which are dirty,” yada yada yada. That falls back on the wash your hands thing. “You breath in your own air, and that makes you pass out.” No, you don’t. Doctors do it all day. Nurses do it all day. Dentists do it all day. The list goes on.
How about the real reasons? “The person I respect the most discouraged wearing a mask.” “This virus isn’t real.” Or my favorite, “I will look silly in it.”
As you can see in my photo, I am not wearing a normal “surgical” boring looking mask. I prefer to “accessorize”, make it less sterile looking. I have several masks with different designs. Some actually end up conversation starters. The one pictured above, recognizes my Native American heritage. I could wear the boring blue surgical mask. I choose not to. And I have not gotten sick once from my mask from Covid19 or any other germ.
For those who were protesting the masks, there was a huge opportunity that was missed. Just like I chose to make my mask a little more easier to look at, as political as the mask situation got, it was an opportunity for mask wearers who object to anything, to put their message on a mask. Be a walking billboard for their cause. We saw this in Congress after the election. We saw it after the murder of George Floyd. The point is, the mask does not have to boring, or ugly to you, it just needs to be worn to be effective.
I guess time will tell, just as the rush to reopen businesses to full capacity, if trusting people to wear the masks on their own, will have the same effect. The fact is, our daily new Covid19 cases are too high not to be impacted by the relaxing of this mitigation effort.
The other big news, which of course I am sure the Anti-vax movement will jump all over, is actually a move that should be hailed for its precaution. The government recommended pausing the use of the Johnson and Johnson, one dose vaccine for Covid19. Of course, the AV movement is going to use this opportunity to smear the entire vaccine program at all costs. They already use an unfortunate tactic taking information that is displayed on the actual CDC web site, a system for reporting side effects of vaccines called VAERS, and swearing it as gospel. But the AV movement is “cherry picking” as they say, only issuing information that they want you to see. The AV movement does not share the disclaimer information how VAERS works, that information supplied is just reported and not necessarily factual or confirmed, and can in fact be biased. So, just shut up anti-vaxxers with this. The vaccines have enough to work through without your misleading claims.
We all know that vaccines were rushed. In fact, they are not even approved. Nor is it likely that they will be approved soon. The vaccines are simply “authorized” for “emergency use.” And let’s face it, we would be dealing with a lot more fatalities without them. Studies that have been completed, allowing vaccines to proceed, were based on healthy people receiving them. Evidently, in the beginning, there were no notable issues, because recipients were healthy. But now, as other sects of our populations are getting vaccinated, that means less healthy people may react differently to the vaccine.
And then there is the difference between the vaccines authorized for emergency use authorization. Moderna and Pfizer are mRNA vaccines with no virus in them, and the J&J vaccine has inactive virus in it (in other words, a vaccine normally made the way other vaccines have been made in the past). With well over a hundred million Americans being vaccinated, we are on the path of getting through this Covid19 crisis.
I will admit that I do not have the exact number of how many have received the J&J vaccine, but it is believed somewhere around seven million. And out of that, six women have developed blood clots. What has not been determined is if the vaccine was the cause for the pause. Here is what has been explained as to why the action was recommended, and there is nothing conspiratorial in it, sorry anti-vaxxers. It is likely only to be days, but experts are waiting to see if anyone else comes forward having experienced this side affect of the clotting syndrome. Many may not have been aware that this was related to the vaccine. Let’s say that many more women in this issue come forward, then the decision is definitely the correct one, the safe one. And if not, this is what does come out of the pause, time and education. It is understood, this clotting “syndrome,” is not like normal clotting requiring the use of heparin. In the case of this “syndrome,” medical experts need to be aware of other therapeutics before treating the patients they see with this syndrome with heparin. And that could make the difference between life and death.
Try to keep it in perspective. No vaccine and no medicine is ever going to be risk free. Some may have more than others. When it comes to blood clots, six women out of seven million so far have developed this issue. That is one in more than a million. And that is not trying to lessen the concern. But when you factor in other causes of blood clots, women who use birth control and smokers all have higher risks of blood clots. And then of course, there is Covid19 itself, with no vaccine, you go from less than 1% blood clot risk to over 16%.
But again, you have to keep things in perspective, especially when it comes to risks. Myself, I am on blood thinners because I have stents in major arteries as well as my double bypass. But I have other issues from my treatments for Hodgkin’s Lymphoma over three decades ago. I have a medicine I take to control my acid reflux, which impacts not just my entire GI tract, but my lungs and heart. I need this medicine, yet, as some of the doctors of my team will argue, that medicine risks interfering with my blood thinner which could result in, you guessed it, blood clots. But without that stomach medicine, the only one that provides me relief, there is no quality of life.
The risk of the clotting from the vaccine, versus the risk of clotting from the virus is a no-brainer. Get the vaccine. I am sure this pause is only temporary. Cases are rising again, and yes, you can argue hospitalizations and deaths are going down. And that is because the vaccines are doing what they are intended, to reduce the severity of the disease to the most vulnerable. Until cases get low enough, the virus is still going to spread. And that is why the race to vaccinate versus the speed of the spread is so important.
Like many, I am following the trial of the former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin. And as I have stated before, the purpose of my post is not to promote or refute any particular verdict in the case. That is my opinion. That is your opinion.
Instead, I do want to focus on an issue with the testimony that is really upsetting me right now, and pushing my limits when it comes to my PTSD with my cancer survivorship issues. While some focus on what they feel is the primary reason Mr. Floyd died, it is the defense’s job, as well as the prosecutor, to prove or disprove that there were any other possible main reasons. And to do this, attorneys bring in experts, in this case especially, medical experts. Testimony must be given from issues related to pulmonology and cardiology.
As a reader of my blog, you know I am an unintentional “expert” by default in these two areas because of the many long term issues I deal with health wise from my treatments for Hodgkin’s Lymphoma.
Enter Dr. Martin Tobin, of Loyola University Medical Center. Dr. Tobin is an acute care physician, a pulmonologist, and an academic with so many recognitions for his work and research in pulmonology and physiology. I have had my experience with another doctor similar to Dr. Tobin, so when I heard Dr. Tobin give his testimony, I knew that Dr. Tobin was the real deal. The problem for me, too real.
Dr. Tobin gave great detail, in verbage that all could understand, how the pulmonary system works. He even demonstrated various examples of the system and conditions. Watching him give his testimony, whether you have experience in the field or not, you understood what he was trying to get across. And then, he started talking about certain conditions that had occurred during the now viral video of Mr. Floyd’s death. I will not go into all the details, because they are quite graphic, and have no relation to my own particular issue.
But one term has come up, repeatedly, Hypoxia. Hypoxia in its simplest terms is “a lack of oxygen.” In medical crisis, this probably happens a lot, and as a patient, we are not usually aware of it happening, unless we read the medical reports where it would be noted, like I do. The court proceedings constantly flipped back and forth between using the terms Hypoxia and Asphyxia, which in the end, imply the same thing, the difference that Asphyxia is more or less the results of the Hypoxia. Either way, it is a lack of oxygen. And that is what is being claimed as leading to the death of Mr. Floyd.
What does that have to do with me? Following my first event of long term survivorship, my emergency double bypass for a “widow maker” heart blockage, a diagnostic test was being performed on me. It was a test that required a level of anesthesia (so that I would at least not be aware of what was happening). I was not told initially, but when I returned the following year, to have that test performed again, I was to undergo a deeper level of anesthesia than previously because, as it was explained to me, “something happened.”
Now, at the time, I had no idea what “something” was. And the copies of my paperwork did not go into detail either. I spent a long time trying to find the right person to explain to me what “something” was, and then I found her, a nurse in my care. She gained access to the testing records. She obviously did not want to get too technical with me, so she just explained what happened. I “had a problem breathing” during the test, evidently because of being so relaxed from the anesthesia, my trachea, weakened from progressive damage from radiation therapy had collapsed, restricting my ability to breath.
There was not much more discussion after that. No big deal was made of it. However, any further diagnostic procedure I had, or surgical procedure, and it involved anesthesia, I made sure that the treating physician was aware of this “incident,” even though I did not know what to call it. And that was that. My warnings were obviously heeded as I underwent many procedures without further incident, until a couple of years ago. Someone did not listen.
Now a routine procedure I had gone through at least five times over the years, my warning about my breathing was ignored. And something happened. Only now, this time, I got the actual report. And there was a word that I had seen for the first time, ever, Hypoxia. The report explained that during the procedure, I had experience Hypoxia, and that the procedure needed to be stopped, so that I could be “stabilized.” Keep in mind, after I had come to and recovered, it had been explained to me that there was an “issue” with my breathing, but it was brought under control, very casually. Later on, I would find out, that “stabilized” meant, needing to get my oxygen levels back up. I needed help with my breathing.
Spoiler alert, I am here typing this post, so obviously I survived. And now, I have a word to throw at doctors who order procedures on me requiring anesthesia. That is great. It gives me more credibility to say “I have a history of multiple Hypoxia events” as opposed to “something happens to my airway when I am relaxed from anesthesia.”
But it was during Dr. Tobin’s testimony, where he explained the effects of Hypoxia, the symptoms, and the results that occur. And this is what has jarred me. Up to this point, I have not given much thought about these incidents that I have had. With both prosecutor and defense attorney questioning Dr. Tobin, I could not avoid hearing just how serious it could have gotten for me. After all, it was the lack of oxygen that led to Mr. Floyd’s death.
The most disturbing effect of Hypoxia I discovered during the testimony, is the effect on the brain. And that the brain requires 20% of the body’s oxygen. It is also the first recipient of the oxygen. The lack of oxygen, Hypoxia, would result in less oxygen to the brain, and clearly could result in brain damage. How often have you heard the importance of a rapid response when it comes to CPR on a non-breathing, no pulse patient, having only minutes to spare when it comes to brain damage? This is what everyone refers to.
Unlike Mr. Floyd, lying face down in the street, I was in a medical facility, being treated right away for the Hypoxia. As soon as it was recognized, I was being taken care of, and spoiler alert… again, I am here to tell the story. Hearing the testimony of Dr. Tobin, I have an even greater appreciation for not only the efforts to save my life, but to help me maintain my life.
To say I was overwhelmed by Dr. Tobin’s testimony is an understatement. I know too much of my conditions to grasp just how serious they really are, and now to hear another expert repeat what I already knew.
I immediately reached out to many other long term survivors with the news, that there may just be another resource to help us, when it comes to dealing with our pulmonary issues from radiation damage and chemotherapy damage to our lungs, especially if located in the Illinois area. We can use all the help that we can get.
Then it was the turn of the Hennepin County Medical Examiner, Dr. Andrew Baker. The focus on his testimony was cardiac related as any questions relating to Hypoxia and Asphyxia, he often deferred to having limited knowledge, and to recommend pulmonologist testimony for accuracy.
The focus on cardiology was due to the fact, that Mr. Floyd had pre existing cardiac conditions. I will spare all of the details for the purpose of this post, as it is a comparison to my health that I am trying to draw, and I am not a smoker or drug user. But it is the conditions of Mr. Floyd’s two main coronary arteries that of course caught my attention.
Again, this is something that I am very familiar with. I had a double bypass of my left anterior descending artery back in 2008, almost thirteen years to the date in fact (this was what I referenced as the “widow maker”). And then I had a stent placed in the right coronary artery a couple of years ago. As the medical examiner testified, these are two of the main three arteries. I had repairs done to both. How bad were they?
In discussing Mr. Floyd’s pre existing cardiac conditions, both of his same arteries were blocked at about 75%. As the examiner stated, this was a serious enough level that could lead to a fatal event (hence, the “widow maker”), especially with any kind of stress. These are in fact serious numbers. But there was a part of me sitting there observing thinking, “hmph, 75% is nothing, mine were blocked 90%.” Nothing to brag about for sure. And to be honest, the first time, though I had symptoms, and simply ignored them, it was the second artery surgery that I had to expect some day.
You see, with my history of radiation damage, mainly scarring, doctors avoid wanting to go back in again, and again. Healing and bleeding become serious issues. So, as is the case with many of my issues, we sit back and wait. We watch the conditions get worse, until the risk of doing nothing, becomes worse than the risk of corrective surgery. Think of it as a ticking time bomb. And that is what took so long with the second artery for me, as well as other pending issues that I have.
But again, that is the benefit that I have. I have doctors watching me, able to respond, treat and manage my situations. Mr. Floyd did not have these options available to him on May 25, 2020. The defense wants the jury to believe that it was cardiac and pulmonary reasons that caused Mr. Floyd’s death instead of what Dr. Tobin and the medical examiner testified. And honestly, if I were a juror, because of my experiences with medicine, I have no doubt in the credibility of Dr. Tobin and the medical examiner and their testimonies. I lived through it.
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