It feels like forever since I last made a post in this or any of my other blogs! In fact I think this is the longest absence I’ve had on this blog!
Well if you read the last post you’ll know why! Chris was admitted to the hospital with chest pains or rather a strong pressure feeling in his left chest and dizziness last Friday and he was in the hospital until early Monday evening. He had to wait until Monday before they could do the angiogram to make sure that his coronary arteries were clear (they were!), and then he was discharged on Monday evening to recover at home from the angiogram. He was also sent home with a prescription for cholesterol lowering medication (Crestor) since his good and bad cholesterol was sky high and his triglycerides almost non-existent.
So at this point he’s fine. They couldn’t find anything wrong with his heart, but he still has those symptoms (not now, but every now and then) and a permanently changed electrocardiogram reading that makes it look like he has that rare heart arrhythmia called Brugada.
We have to set up some out patient tests – like a 48 hour Holter monitor (like a 2 day constant ECG) and a stress test as well as followups with two doctors. Otherwise he’s all recovered from the angiogram and the needle in his groin and he’ll be going back to work on Tuesday.
One neat thing that happened or that might have happened this weekend … apparently there’s a big cardiology conference here in Toronto this weekend and one of the two doctors that discovered the rare heart arrhythmia, Brugada, that Chris might have (but tests can’t prove) are apparently attending the conference. So the cardiologist that first saw Chris on Friday when he was admitted asked Chris if he could discuss Chris’ case with Dr. Brugada himself at the conference. I presume he’ll also be taking Chris’ ecg as that is the biggest indicator that Chris might have this rare arrhythmia. Isn’t that cool? The discoverer of Chris possible heart problem might look at Chris’ case?
So I guess we’ll know sometime early this week what Dr. Brugada thinks of Chris’ ecg and symptoms. If he does think that Chris might have Brugada then Chris will have to have a pacemaker defibrillator installed which will shock him and get his heart going again if it suddenly stops due to this rare arrhythmia. Not a great thing, but I’d rather Chris have something that could save his life than living in the unknown and possibly losing him suddenly. That’s stressful!
As for me … well, Chris’ illness took a toll on my health as well. The hospital’s close by and within walking distance so I was trekking back and forth for four days bringing Chris things like my Laptop, dvds to watch on the computer, his big heavy pillow from our bed, clothes, toiletries, reading materials etc … and well of course my Crohn’s got worse, and so did my back. My back’s been bad for most of the last year and walking a block or two sets off spasms. I seriously think my vitamin D deficiency has weakened my bones and that’s why my back is getting worse and worse – the top of my left thigh – to below my knee is now numb (since Monday or so) as well, so something is pinching a nerve.
Plus I seem to have hurt my wrist last week – how I don’t know – maybe playing with the dog, so my wrist has been aching enough for the last week and a half that I’ve even wondered if it was broken! Hopefully it’s just a muscle or tendon that’s been pulled, but if this keeps up I’ll get it checked out this week -as well as getting a back xray!
So basically, Chris came home from the hospital on Monday evening feeling pretty good – well his groin and right leg hurt a lot due to the angiogram, but it’s better now … and I came home a mess! I was exhausted, had abdominal pains from the Crohns plus fevers, back pain and wrist pain … you name it. It took until about yesterday for me to start feeling somewhat better. That’s the main reason I haven’t written all week! Just feeling too crappy, plus the wrist makes it harder to type.
Ha, between Chris and I we’re a sad tale. LOL God forbid we start looking for life insurance quotes or anything like that. I’m sure the companies would just laugh at us right now.
I certainly hope that you have all had a better week than Chris and I have. I also hope that those of you who are getting some unseasonably warm weather (north east) are enjoying watching the snow melt away. We certainly are … although Midnight, our Lab, who likes to pee in snow banks is finding it strange.
Speaking of Midnight – the stress of the last week took a toll on her too. Between having three people she’s not used to in the house (the in-laws and Chris’ aunt) and the excitement that goes along with that, being in her crate for longer than normal while I was away visiting Chris in the hospital and of course missing Chris it threw her off. By Sunday she was barely eating her food (and she’s a Lab – they live to eat!). It took her until Thursday or so to start eating mostly normally again. She’s still being a little picky, but she’s pretty much back to normal. I guess she didn’t like all the changes and stress anymore than I did. I’m glad she’s pretty much acting like her old self as I was beginning to wonder is she too might be sick.
Also, thanks to everyone who left kind messages in my last post wishing Chris well. We really appreciated each and every comment. Thank you.
I’m happy to hear that your hubby is on the mend, and hope you start feeling better soon too! That is a cool coincidence that there is a conference with that doctor in town! Fingers crossed that he can look at Chris’ case, and that all will be well