As Misty's World Turns - October 2003


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Oct. 1, 2003

Every now and then something nice happens to you that restores your faith in people. Or possibly makes you feel that for once someone appreciates what you do for others. No one ever does something nice to get a pat on the back, but it sure is nice when someone tells you they appreciate your hard work and time. Tonight as I was opening my mountain of e-mail I came across a letter that completely blew me away. I had joined an online group called Modern Women in August...or was it late July? This is a nice bunch of ladies who I've enjoyed spending time with. I've helped out from time to time when they needed graphics made, etc. Tonight I find that I've been selected as Member of the Month. Now I suppose most people could care less, but for me....someone who's never won anything in her life....this is a big deal to me. So big in fact that as I was reading the e-mail notifiction I started crying. Thanks ladies, you'll never know how much this means to me.

Oct. 12, 2003

Thursday night I Took my Mom and my nephew out to Walmart for groceries. I started having this burning sensation in my chest, and it got worse with any activity. It would start to go away if I stopped walking, etc. But once I got back to my brother's house it started in all over again, without my doing a thing. After a few minutes of seeing my Mom go nuts with worry I finally let my brother take me to the emergency room.

They ran blood work, and EKG, chest x-ray.....everything looked fine. But they decided to keep me over night for observation. At this point I really didn't think there was anything seriously wrong with me.

Friday morning a cardiologist came in and suggested they insert cardiac catheter into my heart to see what was going on. I figured they'd put me out so I said, "ok". Little did I know I was going to be awake through this procedure. lol It felt weird as they ran the probe from my groin to my heart. As the surgeon worked he'd talk along like.."well we're in this area and all looks fine.......we're there and all looks fine" Then he got quiet. I could see the machine zooming here and there, but still he said nothing. Finally I said...."So, what's up". The surgeon said he'd found a blockage.

They'd found a 95 percent blockage in one of my arteries, so they did angioplasty on me and inserted a stent. The minute they inserted the stent the pain magically went away. I spent the rest of the day, and that night in the Catheter Lab. I was able to go home yesterday at noon.

I'm not supposed to do much for the next 3 days. I feel fine....except my groin is sore where they put in the probe to do the surgery. I'll be on heart meds for 3 months, and of course I've got to quit smoking. So far I haven't had a cig since Thursday night, although I want one every second of the day. But I'm smart enough to know I'll be back for more surgery if I keep smoking. This was a good enough scare for me!

Oct. 21, 2003

I had my first appointment with my Cardiologist today. It didn't go quite as good as I had hoped it would....but then I guess it could have been worse. I have another blockage in my heart. This one is in the center of my heart. It's about 50% blocked. Since they don't do anything until it reaches a blockage of 70% or more I've got to sit this out till it gets worse.

I also found out that my cholesterol was high, so I'm now on meds for that. She also gave me some nitro pills for the chest pain I'm still having from time to time. Plus she's changed her mind on my heart meds, I'll be on them for life now. Like I said...I guess it could have been worse, I just didn't expect to hear more bad news today.

She was happy to hear I'd quit smoking and told me that had added 25% more years to my life. I'm trying not to think of all these added costs. Like the cost of 3 new prescriptions for medication, or what my hospital bill is going to look like....or even what all these doctor bills will be. I know if my insurance doesn't pay it all I'm in deep shit. But I try not to think about that now, it just gives me more chest pain.

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