10/09/06

On Monday morning October 2 @ 3:30am Dad woke up very sick. For about two weeks he had been feeling bad and the early morning illness was getting worse. This time it was so bad that he had Mom take him to the hospital. By the time he got to the hospital he couldn't walk and they thought he was having heart trouble. At around 4:30 am his heart stopped - right after receiving a nitro pill.

60 LONG seconds of chest compressions and the old warrior was back and is still fighting. The hospital ordered a flight to a hospital in Lubbock that has a famous heart center. After he arrived they stabilized him and then performed a calcium scoring CT Scan. http://www.webmd.com/hw/heart_disease/ux1083.asp Dad came back with what they said was an almost perfect score.

To rule out any problems from compressed nerves due to Dad's previous neck injuries and to rule out other neurological problems, they also performed an MRI on his neck and an MRA on his brain. These both came back with no serious problems to report and no other problems related to the heart stopage.

On Tuesday morning Dad had an angiogram - http://www.webmd.com/hw/lab_tests/hw201112.asp The test showed no blockage, no cholesterol, and that the valves were working perfectly.

He also had an Electrophysiology test. http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/cardiomyopathy/ep_testing.htm This one came back with evidence of spasms in the blood vessels on the outside of the heart.

During the Electrophysiology test Dad also suffered from Sleep Apnia, stopped breathing, and is now on Oxygen at night. In a month or so, after his return visit to the cardiologist, he will have to do a sleep study to see if the Oxygen is enough or if he will need one of those masks.

They have good medicine for the heart spasms and Dad is now taking some every night before bedtime. It would seem that he has had these two problems for a long time. These easily contributed to how long it took to recover from the concussions in Corsicana and the trouble he had in Crane and before.

On Saturday Dad instinctively reached out to catch a falling box and tore something in his CPR damaged chest. He went back into the ER to see what medicine he could take for the pain and they decided to keep him overnight for observation. This sets his recovery and return to work and school back quite a bit.

But the warrior in Dad never stopped. When they were done briefing Dad on how the helicopter flight would work they asked if he had any questions. In very serious pain and after having his heart stop less than an hour earlier, his only question was "Are there any in-flight snacks?" (I don't think Mom thought it was funny at the time. The medic did.)

During all of this Dad had great doctors and nurses. The only serious problem was the 8 hours to check out from the Lubbock hospital.

So, after scaring everyone, Dad is back home and doing good. It will be a long recovery, but hopefully this has cleared up a lot of things.