Friday, February 27, 2009

First Actual Post Since Monday

I'm going to share my past week as I try to get back to a healthy condition. I'm sorry that I missed some return visits and have dug a hole from visitors that I don't feel I can get from under. I try to visit everyone who visits me.

I think most of you know a few weeks back I fainted and fell cutting my lip. A visit to the emergency room Robinson General Hospital ended with no results from testing but 13 stitches in my lip. My family doctor again sent me to Robinson General Hospital for a stress test which was determined to be suspicious by the heart specialist.

Doctor Khaled H. Sliek sent me for a cardiac catheterization on Tuesday of this week to Akron General Medical Center. The catheterization takes place while you are awake and there is virtually no pain involved. A tube is inserted near your groin and die is injected into your heart to check blood flow. The result of the test was an 80% blockage of the left anterior descending artery. I had an Angioplasty on the artery and a stint was put in to allow the blood flow. I stayed overnight in the hospital and was released home Wednesday. I would certainly recommend this doctor for his excellence in this type of work. The quickness of the procedure is amazing and Doctor Sliek can read the results and immediately perform the work to correct the problem.

I am feeling well and other then some pain at the groin where the camera and stints were inserted I am fine. The whole procedure was done while awake and I was aware through it all. This will limit some of my visiting on the blog but hope to be back in action within a week. Thanks for all your prayers and concerns.

Here are the photos as I saw them while lying on the operating table. The doctor talks you through the complete procedure. The doctor took all the photos of the arteries and then showed me the first photo and explained the blockage. If you look at the lower artery, the photo is on its side, you can see the narrowing of the blood flowing through the artery. The doctor then received my verbal permission to put a metal tube (stint) in the artery.
The results of the stint can be seen in the bottom photo. The doctor first places a balloon in the artery and blows it up enlarging the opening for blood flow. He talked to me about how I was feeling to make sure there were no dangers from what was happening. Once the artery is enlarged a metal mesh tube is inserted and the balloon is used to embed it in the artery. You can see from the photo that the stint gave me no blockage in the artery.

It is just a matter of exercise and diet to try to get back to full functioning mood. Thanks for all your concerns as I went through this time.

27 comments:

Ruth's Photo Blog said...

Praying that you will have complete recovery soon.Be patient and don't worry about visiting blogs.Your health is what is most important.
Blessings,Ruth

George said...

I'm glad to see that the stint is doing its job. Take it easy and don't worry about getting caught up. We won't forget you.

dot said...

I agree with Ruth, don't worry about the blog visiting. Just take care and give yourself time to recover.

Betsy Banks Adams said...

Tom, Sounds like you had a wonderful doctor.. AND--the stint must be doing its thing!!!! Yeah-Rah...

Don't worry about catching up. Just start from here --and do what you can. We all UNDERSTAND.

Take care, Friend.
Betsy

Pietro Brosio said...

I agree with Ruth, don't worry about visiting blogs. I really hope you'll feel well very soon.

Tina said...

Fg,
Glad to hear all went well and you will be up and running in no time!! Listen to your Doc, stay the diet and keep that camera handy when you are watching your back yard!! Don't worry about those ole blogs..we will be here when you decide to return!! :)

CountryDreaming said...

Have only just met you but will keep you in my prayers. Get well soon. Your health is your first priority, please take as much time away from blogging as you need.

imac said...

Hi my friend, nice shots, and glad the stint is working well, now just rest and exercise and get fit and recover.
Dont worry about catch-up, - I'll keep an eye on you haha, see you whenever.Take care.

Ken Conger Photography said...

Glad all went well. What an interesting post with the actual images from the operation. Hope your recovery is a quick one my friend. Blue Skies.

Anonymous said...

Those stints are wonderful when you need them. Good you got this taken care of before it ended up being a major heart attack.

Warren Baker said...

That heart looks like its ready for a few more years yet FG. You take it easy for a while.

Twisted Fencepost said...

I am glad everything is going well for you. We have missed you here in blog land!

Do they think that this is the cause of your fall?

Anonymous said...

I did NOT know this was going on w/ you & I'm sorry I hadn't gotten around to your blog in a while to learn about it!
You was awake the whole time? WoW! You're one tough man!!! You keep working at getting better & BE CAREFUL - and I'll be praying for you on my end!!!

Rose said...

One thing about heart surgery is usually there is a quick recovery. My boss had a triple by-pass one time and was out walking in his orchard about 4 days later. I hope you recover completely and have not more problems.

Tootie said...

I had no idea about your health problems. I'm so sorry you had that injury to your lip, but it was certainly good that you got the alert about a serious health problem. Thank goodness it was caught in time to correct it. Wishing the best for your recovery. Don't worry about those return visits. :-)

I almost forgot...that's the first time I have ever seen a black squirrel. Thanks for sharing that. Get rested up, I need you to help me keep my birds straight. :-)

Louise said...

Be well! And don't worry about visiting. You know I got REALLY far behind, and I'm catching up, but I haven't visited everyone like I would like. People understand... especially when you've been ill in a way. Rest and just do what you can WHEN you can!

Leanne said...

Gald to hear you are on the mend...now they are different photos to your usual photos.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for sharing. It's a good thing they discovered the problem early and were able to correct it.
Mary

DeniseinVA said...

I missed that post and am so sorry you have been ill. Please know that I am thinking of you, am so glad you had such a wonderful doctor to take care of you. It's hard enough to keep up with visiting everyone's blogs when you're healthy, so believe me when I say I don't think we expect you to visit when you are feeling under the weather. A speedy recovery to you and the best of health from here on in.

Mary said...

Tom, we miss you, but want you well and healthy soon! Will be praying for your recovery. Don't spend any energy worrying about not commenting on our blogs...just get well!

Shelley said...

I'm praying for you and hope you are taking it easy!

SAPhotographs (Joan) said...

Tom, you know you are in our thoughts and that we wish you a very speedy recovery.

Anonymous said...

I had no clue what you've been going through. I've had a heckuva time trying to open your blog for a couple of weeks now, but today it opened just fine (even yesterday it didn't!).
One of my brothers had this procedure done several years ago - he said that instantly he was feeling better than he had in quite some time.
Take care of yourself and know that you have lots of people pulling for you and thinking of you!

Tipper said...

So sorry for your health issues-and sorry I didn't know about them sooner-since I was hit with that awful flu. I've seen Pap go through a few catherizations and know they can take a lot out of you as can having the stint. Thank goodness they found the blockage and I hope you heal well from it all. I'll for sure add you to my prayer list! Just take care of yourself and don't worry about blog world-we'll all still be here when you're well :)

Unknown said...

First of all, that may have been a lucky fainting spell! Isn't it amazing what they can do for blockaqges these days!

Happy to read up top that you are doing fine and will keep you in my prayers.

Leedra said...

I have been on vacation, and to quote you, I am also trying to overcome what you said as 'dug a hole from visitors that I don't feel I can get from under'. You are toward the end, I am sorry to hear you had a bad spell, but at least they have now found and taken care of the problem.

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Lapa37 said...

I'm glad to hear it all went well for you.My dad had a stet put in almost 12 years ago and he is doing well with it. I hope yours works out as well as his did.No scratch that I KNOW yours will work out as well. I will check back to hear how well you are doing.