Blessed To Be Alive. May 31,  2016  4:45pm EST

I am the oldest of four children, and the last of the four to have heart by-pass surgery.  I guess you might say, heart disease runs in our family.  Our father died at age 65 of a heart attack.  Two months after my father passed away in 1976, my then husband has a triple by-pass.  It was new and not widely done in our area at that time.  That's when I stopped smoking because I made up my mind that I did not want to have that surgery!!   In 1999 my next to youngest sister had a heart attack and by-pass surgery.  In 2001 my youngest sister had a heart attack and by-pass surgery.  They both were 57 yrs. of age when they had their heart attacks. Neither of them had ever smoked and their chlorestrol levels were good.  I felt fortunate that I had already passed that mile marker and had no problems!  In 2010, my brother had heart valve problems and wound up having the valve replaced and also by-pass surgery at the same time.  That left only me, the eldest, who hadn't had heart surgery.  The thought was frequently on my mind though.  I felt like the last soldier standing and all the guns were pointed at me.  I had been going to a cardiologist for several years as I had high blood pressure, controlled by medication, and my chlorestrol was high but not extremely so.   I had had several echo cardiograms and chemical stress tests.  In June of 2013, while on vacation, I was carrying my great granddaughter when I had a pain in my chest.  I put her down and slowed my pace and by the time we got to our seats to watch her brother play ball, the pain had subsided.  I didn't mention it to anyone at the time.  I knew I had an appointment with my cardiologist when we got back home, so I waited for that.  I had no more pain, never had shortness of breath.  It had been a couple of years since I had seen the cardiologist so after telling him about the pain he scheduled me for an echo.  I went and had it done and went home.  About a week or so later, I got a call from the cardiologist's office saying he wanted me to have a stress test since it has been a couple of years since I'd had one.  I said okay, sure.  Went for that and was flabbergasted when they said I was going to do the treadmill.  I knew that wouldn't be good because I'm not an exerciser, and I've had both knees replaced and my legs are not strong, but I said I'd do the best I could.  So, I got on it and was doing okay until the nurse kicked up the speed and the elevation.  My legs got pretty shaky and weak.  I told her to stop, I got on the table for them to take pictures, still no pain or extreme shortness of breath.  When the test was completed I was told to get dressed and the doctor would be in to look at the test.  He came in and looked at the test and studied it for a few minutes.  Then he said, "This test is positive".  I thought ' Good'!!  Then I asked, "That's good, right?"  He said, "It's positive for blockage."...OH!  That's not good!!!!  I think that was on Monday.  My heart cath was scheduled for Wednesday afternoon.  It showed five (5) blockages.  My surgery was scheduled for Friday, Jully 12th, 2012....Less than a month befoe my 76th birthday.  I had the surgery, which went well.  They only did 3 by-passes because the other blockages werevery small veins and they felt would not cause any serious problem.  I went home the following Monday, July 15h.  I completed 6 wks. of rehab and had not problems.  I felt great!I am the oldest of four children, and the last of the four to have heart by-pass surgery.  I guess you might say, heart disease runs in our family.  Our father died at age 65 of a heart attack.  Two months after my father passed away in 1976, my then husband has a triple by-pass.  It was new and not widely done in our area at that time.  That's when I stopped smoking because I made up my mind that I did not want to have that surgery!!   In 1999 my next to youngest sister had a heart attack and by-pass surgery.  In 2001 my youngest sister had a heart attack and by-pass surgery.  They both were 57 yrs. of age when they had their heart attacks. Neither of them had ever smoked and their chlorestrol levels were good.  I felt fortunate that I had already passed that mile marker and had no problems!  In 2010, my brother had heart valve problems and wound up having the valve replaced and also by-pass surgery at the same time.  That left only me, the eldest, who hadn't had heart surgery.  The thought was frequently on my mind though.  I felt like the last soldier standing and all the guns were pointed at me.  I had been going to a cardiologist for several years as I had high blood pressure, controlled by medication, and my chlorestrol was high but not extremely so.   I had had several echo cardiograms and chemical stress tests.  In June of 2013, while on vacation, I was carrying my great granddaughter when I had a pain in my chest.  I put her down and slowed my pace and by the time we got to our seats to watch her brother play ball, the pain had subsided.  I didn't mention it to anyone at the time.  I knew I had an appointment with my cardiologist when we got back home, so I waited for that.  I had no more pain, never had shortness of breath.  It had been a couple of years since I had seen the cardiologist so after telling him about the pain he scheduled me for an echo.  I went and had it done and went home.  About a week or so later, I got a call from the cardiologist's office saying he wanted me to have a stress test since it has been a couple of years since I'd had one.  I said okay, sure.  Went for that and was flabbergasted when they said I was going to do the treadmill.  I knew that wouldn't be good because I'm not an exerciser, and I've had both knees replaced and my legs are not strong, but I said I'd do the best I could.  So, I got on it and was doing okay until the nurse kicked up the speed and the elevation.  My legs got pretty shaky and weak.  I told her to stop, I got on the table for them to take pictures, still no pain or extreme shortness of breath.  When the test was completed I was told to get dressed and the doctor would be in to look at the test.  He came in and looked at the test and studied it for a few minutes.  Then he said, "This test is positive".  I thought ' Good'!!  Then I asked, "That's good, right?"  He said, "It's positive for blockage."...OH!  That's not good!!!!  I think that was on Monday.  My heart cath was scheduled for Wednesday afternoon.  It showed five (5) blockages.  My surgery was scheduled for Friday, Jully 12th, 2013....Less than a month befoe my 76th birthday.  I had the surgery, which went well.  They only did 3 by-passes because the other blockages werevery small veins and they felt would not cause any serious problem.  I went home the following Monday, July 15h.  I completed 6 wks. of rehab and had not problems.  I felt great!  About 8 months following surgery, on Sunday morning, Feb 3rd 2014 (if I remember correctly) I had just finished breakfast and I said to our cocker spaniel 'get out of the way before I drop something on you.'  Then I thought....That sounded weird.  My husband turned to me and asked, "Are you having trouble talking?"  I said, "no".  Just like that my speech was clear.  So, I went in the bedroom and sat on the bed, and started wondering what had just happened.   I decided that something was wrong and maybe I should get it checked out.  I told my husband that I thought I should go to the ER and get checked, so off we went.  They did a CT Scan of my head immedicately and determined that I had a stroke, and that I had had a previous one at some point in time, which I had no knowledge of so it must have happened when I was sleeping...scary thought.  So I was admitted to the hospital for further tests.  I had a slight droop on the right side of my face and a little slur in my speech.  Plus I couldn't drink out of a cup very neatly...but other than that I seemed fine.  After a few days of observation, they did and EEG and took pictures of my heart which showed I had a blood clot in my heart.  They prescribed coumadin and I had to stay until that was regulated.  After 3 months they did another EEG and the clot was dissolved and gone.  (Thank you, Jesus!)  But I had to stay on the coumadin and get checked every month to make sure my coumadin level was still within range.   Around Easter 2014 I started having this weird pain that started in the top of my scalp and ran down behind my ear on the right side.  It felt like a little electric current.  I thought it was neuralgia which I heard my grandmother and mother speak of when I was a child.  A couple of days later, I got up and I think my husband questioned me about my face drooping more.  I went into the bathroom and looked in the mirror and raised my eyebrows....and only the left side moved.  I thought Great!  I've got Bell's Palsy, so off to my primary doctor I went.   She immediately order a CT Scan to make sure it wasn't another stroke, and it wasn't.  It was indeed Bell's Palsy and she gave me some medication to help with the pain, etc.   A few days, maybe a week later, I woke with this terrific pain in my head on the right side, behind and under my ear.  I thought I was getting the mumps again, which I had when I was a child and remembered the pain.  I put heat to it and took some Tylenol for the pain and tried to go back to sleep, which I finally did after a while.  When I woke the pain was pretty much gone.  Later I felt a bump in my ear and I asked my husband to look at it.  He said it was just a red spot.  I got to thinking about that and decided I must has shingles in my ear and that's what caused the horrible pain.  I went to the doctor again, and she said I shouldn't have shingles as that is the same virus as the Bell's Palsy and the medication I was taking for that should have prevented my getting shingles.  She looked inside my ear, and said, "I think you're right.  You have shingles in your ear!"  Well, it took a while to get over all that, but I did, and I was more than happy to have it gone!   In April of 2013, or some time shortly after having the stroke, my cardiologist recommended that I have a loop recorder inserted in my chest to monitor my heart because I had had the clot in my heart   He was 99.9% sure that I had A-fib because that's what causes blood clots in the heart.  I had never noticed any irregularities in my heart beat other than a skipped beat from time to time, but just to be on the side of caution I agreed.  I've had it in my chest for almost 3 yrs now and I have not had one episode of A-fib.  Praise God!!!   This is my story of my heart surgery, stroke, and at 2 yrs., last August, 2015 I had a chemical echocardiogram to check my heart and everything was good!  I'll soon be 79 yrs. old and I feel pretty well for my age, I would say.  I am thankful for the advancements in cardiac treatment and care and thankful that I am stil alive and enjoying life. I am blessed!  Thank you for taking the time to read my story.  In case you're wondering, all four of us are still alive and very thankful to be able to enjoy life.