Welcome to the Flip Side

What a rip-snorting week we've just had! On Saturday the 19th Danny had a heart attack while hunting. With no family history and good blood pressure/cholesterol numbers the doctors are stumped as to why he had a sudden 100% blockage to the front of his heart (called the widow-maker). We are left to ponder the unique possibility that when he shot his gun it was over a metal button on his bib camo overalls. That button was directly over an artery (the same one they used to insert the new stent). Could the kickback have been enough to release a bit of "plaque" that then floated down until it sealed off the artery?! Strange thought, but at this point it's all we have to think - the timing of shooting to that of the pre-heart attack pain was just too eerily coincidental.

After 5 days in the hospital he came home. We must say here that the entire Cardiac staff of Virginia Beach General was absolutely wonderful. And the nurses made him feel so special.

Since we weren't prepared for such an event the most challenging thing we've had is his No Salt (and no salt substitute) diet to avoid fluid build-up. We took that as gospel and attempted to follow it to the letter. You probably know that just about everything has Sodium in it. Egads! What a quest!

Yesterday we saw the PCP doc to get him caught up to speed & help us create order from the chaotic stack of papers we now possess. We asked about salt & he told us they say NO salt because patients that might not follow directions may at least be inspired to eat less of it. He also said 2,500 mg/day was probably acceptable. That's good because we had a chart that said 2-3 mg in store products meant no salt... it was confusing. So we have a tittle of hope now.

Danny's heart initially dropped to just 30%, coming back to 42% while in the hospital. He's on meds to keep the BP down, helping to reduce stress on the healing heart muscle. Low BP makes him colder too. Add that to the fact that we've had furnace issues so we haven't been able to turn on any heat during these latest cold spells. I'm having flashbacks to when we lived in the old farm house with the unheated upstairs bedrooms and the big stack of blankets we'd snuggle under. We do have a heated mattress pad, which helps a lot too. Hopefully the furnace will get quick healing too.

Danny's dealing with a sinus-type cough that first started at the hospital. Why do they have to make those rooms so cold? Killing germs, I guess, but nonetheless, he continues with it because it's cold here too. This can't be good when your chest aches already. But they say what doesn't kill you makes you stronger. He is one tough cookie!

This isn't easy on Danny who looks around at all the things left on his To-Do list (like the last few boards on the deck and servicing the furnace) and knows he can't do anything but sit there. I remind him that even though things look great on the outside it's the inside that's healing. Thank you for all the prayers for Danny. Please continue as we adjust to a new life on the flip-side.