{"id":5449,"date":"2011-12-05T16:32:35","date_gmt":"2011-12-05T22:32:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/richardbarron.net\/giantmuh\/?p=5449"},"modified":"2015-08-07T13:23:18","modified_gmt":"2015-08-07T18:23:18","slug":"another-scare","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/richardbarron.net\/giantmuh\/2011\/12\/05\/another-scare\/","title":{"rendered":"My Wife’s Heart"},"content":{"rendered":"

[stextbox id=”info”]This entry is a composite of two entries over a period of one week.[\/stextbox]<\/p>\n

As Abby and I travelled home last night, she complained increasingly of indigestion. Although she was able to sleep last night and actually get up and start to prepare for work, eventually she needed to lay back down. I called and got her an appointment with our family doctor, but by the time we actually got there, it was obvious she was having a cardiac event. EMS took her to the emergency room, where she responded well and immediately to nitroglycerin therapy. Doctors determined that she did indeed have a heart attack. As I write this, she is being flown to Oklahoma Heart Hospital<\/a>, where we imagine she will be given a cardiac catheterization\u00a0and, if necessary, a cardiac stent<\/a>.<\/p>\n

I have to say that I was pretty frightened as the morning progressed, particularly when her substernal chest pain peaked; I had never seen her in such pain. But after talking with emergency room personnel and seeing the relief she received, I felt much better. I will keep everyone updated here, but at the moment she is okay.<\/p>\n

Update:<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0They took Abby straight to the cath lab and did a cardiac catheterization before I even arrived. They found a blockage of 95% in one of the coronary arteries, and inserted a stent. She is going to be fine. I was already a believer in interventional cardiology, but quite honestly, this is amazing.<\/p>\n

Update:<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0Abby is home. Her heart attack was the result of one artery, the one that feeds the front portion of the left ventricle, with a 95% blockage. Her symptoms\u00a0came on gradually since Saturday, but as they peaked and she was asked by EMS her level of pain on a scale from 0-10, she told them \u201c23.\u201d In discussions with her at the hospital, I learned that upon exertion, such as using the elliptical trainer at her office, she experienced chest pains for some time now.<\/p>\n

She is resting comfortably now, and, except for being told to take it easy for a few days, is just fine. She plans to return to work on Monday.<\/p>\n

All of this is pretty impressive, since my dad had a similar cardiac event just 15 years ago, and had to undergo a coronary artery bypass graft, one of the most invasive surgeries you can imagine. He was down for six weeks. Abby, on the other hand, remained conscious throughout her\u00a0procedure\u00a0and felt better immediately afterwards.<\/p>\n

\"Medical<\/a>
Medical technicians load Abby onto a helicopter this afternoon; as I was writing this (hurriedly as I prepared to drive to Oklahoma City), one of the med techs called to say she was at the Heart Hospital, safe and sound.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[stextbox id=”info”]This entry is a composite of two entries over a period of one week.[\/stextbox] As Abby and I travelled home last night, she complained increasingly of indigestion. Although she was able to sleep last night and actually get up and start to prepare for work, eventually she needed to lay back down. I called…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5449","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/richardbarron.net\/giantmuh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5449","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/richardbarron.net\/giantmuh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/richardbarron.net\/giantmuh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/richardbarron.net\/giantmuh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/richardbarron.net\/giantmuh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5449"}],"version-history":[{"count":31,"href":"https:\/\/richardbarron.net\/giantmuh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5449\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15741,"href":"https:\/\/richardbarron.net\/giantmuh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5449\/revisions\/15741"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/richardbarron.net\/giantmuh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5449"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/richardbarron.net\/giantmuh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5449"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/richardbarron.net\/giantmuh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5449"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}