March 19 - 23, 2004

On Friday, I started experiencing chest pain that radiated to my jaw and shoulder. After an hour with little relief, I called Dr. R.  He wanted me to go to the hospital.  Although I agreed, I was not happy as I knew they would keep me.


March 19, 2004
I went to the ER and they began an immediate cardiac work-up. They put in an IV, gave me baby aspirin, nitropaste, drew labs, did a chest x-ray and EKG. It was decided I needed to go back to Big Baptist, by ambulance, for another cath.

I was taken to Big Baptist ER where I think they did the same work-up. Around 1AM, I was admitted to the med-surg floor. I was put on IV Heparin, Q4hour vitals, O2, and a heart monitor.

When the cardiac doc came in, he said he had put me on the cath schedule for Monday. He said he had reviewed my cath films and there was a questionable area that he does not think should have been addressed 2 weeks ago but since I was having problems, they should take a look. He also saw no reason for a stress test since no matter what the results, I would need the cath so might as well do it.


March 20, 2004
There was little change in the plan of care. The labs were negative for a heart attack and I was told I was scheduled for another cath on Monday at 12:30PM. I slept most of the day and night unable to even try to stay awake. I sent Mike home by noon since I could not even stay awake while he was there. The IV Heparin was DC'd and replaced with Lovenox... another anticoagulant given by injection in the belly.


March 21, 2004
I was able to stay awake a bit more today. Things remained the same and I was to be NPO after midnight for the cath the next day.


March 22, 2004
The cath was scheduled for 12:30PM but did not start until 1PM. Unlike the last two, I was awake through this one and even felt the pressure from the insertion. At some point, I recall telling him that I had pain in my shoulder and he said it was working on it. Shortly thereafter, I was taken to the Cardiac ICU and DR D. went out to talk to Mike. He told him there was a 60% blockage adjacent to my first stent where he put in a longer stent which dramatically increased blood flow.

Now the recovery process is systematic. The check your Active Clotting Time [ACT] and once that reaches a certain point, the line in the groin in removed. I think it is supposed to be about an hour or so. Once the line is removed, they get a baseline BP and then using that BP, they come up with a number that is used to reduce the pressure every hour. Normally, the doctor allows this to be complete in 8 hours. Dr D wanted it to take 12 hours. I guess since I had just had one. Using this as a guideline, I figured I would be able to roll over by about 3AM. Not so!

First, it took 6 hours before my clotting time allowed the line to be pulled. But, at the same time, they can't allow too much clotting to prevent a blood clot at the site so they attached a Heparin IV directly to my leg.

Of course, during this time, I was flat on my back and I wasn't doing too bad. Mike left about 9PM and things got exciting. My leg started feeling funny and they couldn't find a pulse in my foot. They had to get out the Doppler and even then, it took a while. I threw-up. My back and hips started to hurt but my blood pressure was too low for the Dilaudid so they gave me Tylox by mouth which I promptly threw-up. I did not think I was going to be able to stand the pain. They gave me Phenergan to subdue the nausea and vomiting and I was at least able to sleep except for the hourly visiting to release the pressure.

March 23, 2004
At 9AM, the Femstop came off.  The doctor said, I could sit up until 10AM then I could get up to walk. Once I had walked and voided, I could go home at 11AM. It took a little while longer but I was able to leave around 11:30AM.

There are some pictures on the next page that show the Femstop. It might be a bit more graphic than you want to see.


My meds are now...

Hydrocortisone 20mg QD Florinef 0.1mg QD Synthroid 0.1mg QD Toprol XL 50mg QD Lasix 40mg QD K-Dur 20meq QD Plavix 75mg QD Zocor 40mg QD Aspirin 325mg QD Zantac 150mg QD Multivitamin 1 QD Nitroglycerine patch 1 QD