Thursday, April 9, 2009

This winter has kept us busy and then this.....

One should always be prepared to go with the flow of life. Sometimes it isn't what we want, but the ability to accept what is happening and face it head on allows us to take control of it and make more choices in the results. My cancer episode. Now Larry.

Back in January Larry THOUGHT he had a hernia. For several days he tried to ignore it. It had sorta bothered him for several months but finally he went to a doctor to see if something could be done. It wasn't acting like a regular hernia so we weren't sure, but it sure hurt. While there the doctor of course wanted to run some bloodwork and Larry was cool with that because he has been wanting to know what his cholesterol was. The results weren't nice. His cholesterol was 279 and his tryglycerides were 500+. Doc says go see a cardiologist.

Cardiologist does a echocardiogram. Nothing found there. Then has Larry run a stress test. Larry does so-so on that. So Doc says he thinks larry has some blockages and sends Larry off to do a CT scan. CT scan shows what was suspected and unwelcome. Blockages. Two about 70-80%. Doc says it's Larry call to put in some stents. We think about it for a week. Larry had a heart attack in 1989 due to too much fun (cocaine induced) and had a angyoplasty done then on one artery. So he is taking this seriously. We decide to do the stents. After all, the procedure is a day surgery and only mildly invasive. We feel like we are in control and taking care of things. Kinda like keeping your oil changed regularly.

So Larry goes in for the day procedure and while in surgery the doc discovers from the cathe lab imaging that is done prior to inserting the stents that Larry was worse that they thought. Three blockages - 75%, 95% and 100%!

So the Doctor won't do stents with blockages like that and says bypass is the only thing. That was a blow. It took us a week to research that and think, but Larry decided to 'getter dun'. Better fix that now than risk a heart attack later.

So that's the story. Yep, it was like having a freight train run over you. After all, surgery on your heart is about the most invasive thing you can do. Of all the risk factors from this type of surgery the doctors said Larry had none of them. Larry is healing fast and will soon be back to normal. Already he is noticing some differences that he didn't even realize. The effects of circulation can be very subtle and you don't even notice it.

So (you've heard this before!) eat right and exercise. It is all about quality of life not quantity. And appreciate life.