The WHOLE story...IkkiCon, Hospitals, and Heart Attacks
(This was posted on my FACEBOOK, and MYSPACE earlier this week....I'm sorry it's taken me so long to get it here)
I know there has been much speculation and inquiry as to my health, and the events surrounding my hospitalization last weekend during IkkiCon in Austin, Texas. Now that I am in stable condition, I am hoping that the following information will clear up any confusion.
While attending the guest dinner for Ikkicon, I started having very sharp chest pains, at first not so great but eventually making it difficult for me to breathe. I let both my brother, and the head of Guest Relations (Ken Wallen) know that I wanted to return to the hotel and lie down.
Shortly after returning to the hotel the pains got worse. I called my brother and told him that I feared it was kind of serious. My brother alerted IkkiCon officials and within minutes, the con-hired EMT’s were in my room running all of my “vitals”. It was determined that my blood pressure was very high, and that I needed medical attention.
I was taken by Ambulance from the Hilton Austin to the Emergency Room at University Medical Center Brackenridge. The ER Staff proactively treated me as a cardiac patient while also running tests to determine the true nature of my problems. Medical staff ran blood enzyme tests every four hours to monitor possible damage and develop a strategy to best deal with the problem.
At 12:30PM Saturday, I suffered a mild heart attack. Due to the hard work of the hospital staff and the medical treatment I received prior, the damage to my heart was so much less that in could have been.
By the middle of the day many news sources were already reporting on the incident. This resulted in a storm of calls and text messages not only to my phone, but my family, friends and industry co-workers. While some stories were close in detail, some were very inaccurate and bordered on slanderous.
At that moment, I was unable to make any kind of call on what to do, and my family and friends were doing everything in their power to make me comfortable. It was decided by a group of my friends that the best thing to do was to request the stories be removed in the interest of my privacy and recovery.
That night during the Cosplay competition my brother made a formal statement from the stage. He said that I had been taken to the hospital with chest pains on Friday night, and that I was being kept there for further testing and observation, and then repeated that again during closing ceremonies. It was decided that until I knew more about my condition, this was the best way to address concern as well as make a statement of some kind.
I continued to rest in the Immediate Care facility at University Medical Center Brackenridge for an additional three days. I had a wonderful team of doctors who continued to run tests and monitor my progress until I was well enough to return home to Houston to continue my rest and recovery.
While I consider myself very blessed and lucky in light of all of this, there are many people that I feel the need to thank for my care over the last few days.
I have to thank Mike Loredo, Ken Wallen, and the staff of IkkiCon for having the management and resources to deal with a medical emergency of this nature. Doug Schulz, and the other on-site EMT’s that were hired by the convention, offered an invaluable service to not just myself, but several other con-goers that weekend.
I am forever grateful to Dr. Paul Roach, Dr. Aaron Maxwell, Dr. Joseph Elizondo, Dr. Mahmuda Begum, Dr. Charles Anderson, and the entire cardiology Staff at University Medical Center Brackenridge for the best medical care I could have possibly asked for.
I can never thank Paul, Cindy-Lou, Sarah, Karen, India, Kasee, Monica, and the nursing and ER Staff of University Medical Center Brackenridge enough for the quality “day in - day out” care given to me, as well as the smiles, and words of encouragement they constantly sent my way.
My family, extended “family”, and friends who never left my side, did an amazing job at shielding me from all of the press and allowing me the ability to focus on my recovery. Thank you for insisting and demanding that I put my head down and rest a bit.
Now that the WHOLE story is out there.....maybe I can get back to resting up, and getting back to my old self again.
I know there has been much speculation and inquiry as to my health, and the events surrounding my hospitalization last weekend during IkkiCon in Austin, Texas. Now that I am in stable condition, I am hoping that the following information will clear up any confusion.
While attending the guest dinner for Ikkicon, I started having very sharp chest pains, at first not so great but eventually making it difficult for me to breathe. I let both my brother, and the head of Guest Relations (Ken Wallen) know that I wanted to return to the hotel and lie down.
Shortly after returning to the hotel the pains got worse. I called my brother and told him that I feared it was kind of serious. My brother alerted IkkiCon officials and within minutes, the con-hired EMT’s were in my room running all of my “vitals”. It was determined that my blood pressure was very high, and that I needed medical attention.
I was taken by Ambulance from the Hilton Austin to the Emergency Room at University Medical Center Brackenridge. The ER Staff proactively treated me as a cardiac patient while also running tests to determine the true nature of my problems. Medical staff ran blood enzyme tests every four hours to monitor possible damage and develop a strategy to best deal with the problem.
At 12:30PM Saturday, I suffered a mild heart attack. Due to the hard work of the hospital staff and the medical treatment I received prior, the damage to my heart was so much less that in could have been.
By the middle of the day many news sources were already reporting on the incident. This resulted in a storm of calls and text messages not only to my phone, but my family, friends and industry co-workers. While some stories were close in detail, some were very inaccurate and bordered on slanderous.
At that moment, I was unable to make any kind of call on what to do, and my family and friends were doing everything in their power to make me comfortable. It was decided by a group of my friends that the best thing to do was to request the stories be removed in the interest of my privacy and recovery.
That night during the Cosplay competition my brother made a formal statement from the stage. He said that I had been taken to the hospital with chest pains on Friday night, and that I was being kept there for further testing and observation, and then repeated that again during closing ceremonies. It was decided that until I knew more about my condition, this was the best way to address concern as well as make a statement of some kind.
I continued to rest in the Immediate Care facility at University Medical Center Brackenridge for an additional three days. I had a wonderful team of doctors who continued to run tests and monitor my progress until I was well enough to return home to Houston to continue my rest and recovery.
While I consider myself very blessed and lucky in light of all of this, there are many people that I feel the need to thank for my care over the last few days.
I have to thank Mike Loredo, Ken Wallen, and the staff of IkkiCon for having the management and resources to deal with a medical emergency of this nature. Doug Schulz, and the other on-site EMT’s that were hired by the convention, offered an invaluable service to not just myself, but several other con-goers that weekend.
I am forever grateful to Dr. Paul Roach, Dr. Aaron Maxwell, Dr. Joseph Elizondo, Dr. Mahmuda Begum, Dr. Charles Anderson, and the entire cardiology Staff at University Medical Center Brackenridge for the best medical care I could have possibly asked for.
I can never thank Paul, Cindy-Lou, Sarah, Karen, India, Kasee, Monica, and the nursing and ER Staff of University Medical Center Brackenridge enough for the quality “day in - day out” care given to me, as well as the smiles, and words of encouragement they constantly sent my way.
My family, extended “family”, and friends who never left my side, did an amazing job at shielding me from all of the press and allowing me the ability to focus on my recovery. Thank you for insisting and demanding that I put my head down and rest a bit.
Now that the WHOLE story is out there.....maybe I can get back to resting up, and getting back to my old self again.