rough week
G, who moved out of our home to MT about 3 weeks ago, was camping at the oregon coast last week...he was with Jeralyn and her family. On Thursday night G called at about midnight saying his back was absolutely killing him. He had stopped drinking beer a few hours previous, had already taken several aspirin and was wondering if B thought it would be safe for him to take a vicoden to get some sleep. Barry said he thought it was, but to not take more than one, and to call in the morning with an update.
G called in the morning, let us know he had gotten some sleep but that his back was still hurting quite a lot. More than just "out".
By the middle of the afternoon G ws in so much pain he decided to go to the hospital in Lincoln City just to have them look him over.
He had a freakin' heart attack! He was also diagnosed with advanced diabetes. His blood sugar was over 400. They feel like the diabetes masked all signs of the heart attack (chest pain, arm pain, jaw pain) and it all presented as back pain. The doctors there thought he needed much more thorough care and sent him by ambulance, sirens blaring all the way to St. Vincents.
On Friday night the cardiologist put a stent into the right main artery in his heart, there is also "sludge" in the other 3 main arteries. They are hoping to break all of that up with medication. He was in the cardiac recovery unit for all of that night and most of the next day. Late that night he got moved to a "regular" room. He spent until Wednesday night in the hospital. I was shocked that they let him out when they did because his blood sugar really wasn't under control yet and they hadn't been able to get his pulse to stay under 100.
I was not happy he was coming home...but he wasn't happy staying there AT ALL...he was a wreck and everyone hoped that his mood imporving would help his pulserate.
He continued to have a hacking cough and his leg was completely bruised from the cathedar...it kept spreading and looked horrible. They also did a chest x-ray because of the cough but his lungs were clear, no sign of pnemonia.
Before he left the hospital they did do a scan on his leg to make sure there weren't clots forming, and mapped where the bruise was. it spread way beyond the mapping in the next couple days. His coughing kept him up at night, it was better when he was sitting up but still pretty bad, and hurt his leg and abdomen quite a lot.
He was adamant that he go back to MT on Sat so Barry took him half way home, Jeralyn met them and they transferred G (and all his stuff, he had me take him on errands on TH and FRI while he picked up a ton of stuff for his jewelry business). Barry made it home in great time, but was worried about G's cough...G promised to hit an urgent care if it didn't improve.
It didn't improve, kept him up at night again and he was miserable so went into the ER. He is back in the hospital. They feel like he is in congestive heart failure...he has fluid on his lungs in around his heart. (from the heart attack they thought he had a little more than 20 percent damage to his heart, meaning his heart was pumping at 20 percent less than ideal). His heart is not pumping enough to remove the fluid. This is the same problem my mom had, they tried to fix it with medicine first and she ended up with a valve repair.
It's been rough. For everyone.
any good thoughts would be appreciated.
joycelyn
G called in the morning, let us know he had gotten some sleep but that his back was still hurting quite a lot. More than just "out".
By the middle of the afternoon G ws in so much pain he decided to go to the hospital in Lincoln City just to have them look him over.
He had a freakin' heart attack! He was also diagnosed with advanced diabetes. His blood sugar was over 400. They feel like the diabetes masked all signs of the heart attack (chest pain, arm pain, jaw pain) and it all presented as back pain. The doctors there thought he needed much more thorough care and sent him by ambulance, sirens blaring all the way to St. Vincents.
On Friday night the cardiologist put a stent into the right main artery in his heart, there is also "sludge" in the other 3 main arteries. They are hoping to break all of that up with medication. He was in the cardiac recovery unit for all of that night and most of the next day. Late that night he got moved to a "regular" room. He spent until Wednesday night in the hospital. I was shocked that they let him out when they did because his blood sugar really wasn't under control yet and they hadn't been able to get his pulse to stay under 100.
I was not happy he was coming home...but he wasn't happy staying there AT ALL...he was a wreck and everyone hoped that his mood imporving would help his pulserate.
He continued to have a hacking cough and his leg was completely bruised from the cathedar...it kept spreading and looked horrible. They also did a chest x-ray because of the cough but his lungs were clear, no sign of pnemonia.
Before he left the hospital they did do a scan on his leg to make sure there weren't clots forming, and mapped where the bruise was. it spread way beyond the mapping in the next couple days. His coughing kept him up at night, it was better when he was sitting up but still pretty bad, and hurt his leg and abdomen quite a lot.
He was adamant that he go back to MT on Sat so Barry took him half way home, Jeralyn met them and they transferred G (and all his stuff, he had me take him on errands on TH and FRI while he picked up a ton of stuff for his jewelry business). Barry made it home in great time, but was worried about G's cough...G promised to hit an urgent care if it didn't improve.
It didn't improve, kept him up at night again and he was miserable so went into the ER. He is back in the hospital. They feel like he is in congestive heart failure...he has fluid on his lungs in around his heart. (from the heart attack they thought he had a little more than 20 percent damage to his heart, meaning his heart was pumping at 20 percent less than ideal). His heart is not pumping enough to remove the fluid. This is the same problem my mom had, they tried to fix it with medicine first and she ended up with a valve repair.
It's been rough. For everyone.
any good thoughts would be appreciated.
joycelyn