A Near Miss

I never dreamed as late as Monday morning that I would be giving an update on Mom's health right now. To cut to the chase, mom has had a silent heart attack. Aunt Linda alerted us to this when she talked to Mom Monday morning and noticed she didn't sound quite right. Vicki took her to NorthCrest in Springfield where they ran tests and decided to do an angiogram. This resulted in putting in a stint in one of the arteries around her heart. She is now recovering nicely and in good spirits considering all she's been through. I am sure that having to lay still and flat for hours after the heart catheter procedure was hard. All that is behind her now. She was moved from the CCU to a regular room this afternoon.

I am going to say she had the heart attack overnight Sunday/Monday, but it is possible the event began on Friday. Mom never complained to us about any pain or anything that was cause for alarm. She only reported to us that over the weekend that she was not sleeping well. We found out Monday that during those nights she did feel an odd sensation in her chest and arm but this was not distressing to her and she did not tell us. Actually, she complained more about her toe hurting. My cousin, Grant, came in from Ohio and visited us this weekend. We all went out to Los Agaves in White House and she enjoyed a nice conversation around the table Saturday evening.

The next morning Mom was really dragging when I came to pick her up for church. I have seen this before, but this was a little different and I was concerned. However, she participated in everything as normal and when I went back to check on her that afternoon she was perky and even asked if I planned to do anything about my hair loss. I left feeling better about things…except for my self-image.

To fill in the rest of the blanks, when Vicki got Mom to the hospital the EKG showed nothing abnormal. The bloodwork was a different story. This prompted the angiogram. Mom has a lot of blockage due to plaque and calcification buildup in all the arteries around her heart. This is not new, though I think her cardiologist will be surprised by how much. One artery did have a clot and was 99% blocked. This was treated with the stint.

Mom never felt any pain or discomfort in her chest. Vicki and I commented that she may have been the happiest heart attack patient they've ever treated. She even introduced me to some of the medical team as her father, caught her mistake, and laughed about it with everyone. She was still laughing about it when she introduced me to the CCU nurse after waking up.

Mom has had a near miss. I don't want to ignore how serious this could be, but I am thankful that it was caught in time for her to receive the treatment she needed. I am glad she has not dealt with a lot of pain and that in all of this we have found things to laugh about. This picture could be very different.

Joe

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An Update on Mom
Saturday, March 24, 2018

I just wanted to give a brief update on Mom. She was discharged from the hospital on Thursday. We were preparing for her to come home because that’s all the hospital staff had mentioned to us the whole time, so we were surprised when at the last moment they recommended she go to a local nursing home for rehab. That evening we moved Mom to NHC in Springfield. We met with the staff at there yesterday and they laid out their goals for helping Mom regain some strength and make sure she can do everything she was doing before this happened.

It was an understandable disappointment for Mom that she didn’t go straight home, but she also gets the rational behind this decision and has maintained her good spirits. Her heart is in better shape now and she has some work ahead to keep her previous level of independence. We all appreciate your prayers on her behalf and ask that you keep it up through her recovery.

Joe