Lots of time to play with the prop...for lots of bad reasons and very good one.

frank freedman · 2018-07-23 04:26

So, lots of time on my hands and to many weight restrictions to be usefull, I have much free time on hand, with only a minimal tech support question maybe.

This is likely not the post you expected to read, and I really intended it more for the "seniors" among us. Three times in the last 8 years my wife should have met me at bag & tag, each situation millimeters away from disaster. If the toymakers still read this they will have a detailed understanding of these type of events.This last was a 4x bypass after an optional cath procedure after "a minor" finding on a stress test. Cath Monday, 4x bypass Wednesday, yes with millimeters to spare. Enough of the gory details. No heart attack, no damage. Recovery is still going to be an itch.

So, why the post? Medicine is called practice for a reason, doctors make educated guesses. God is NOT a part of the job description. The source of the pain could not be really localized and presented in different ways. For almost a year. At which time I dropped the results of a CTA on my cardiologist who ordered a stress test. The test showed a "minor" issue in a not very important location. He seemed somewhat reluctant to order the cath because that also has its own risks. (read the fine print when you sign a consent forms. No, not the financial part, they will get that either way ) I walked him through what I was feeling and how it was progressing.And reminded him how far under the radar I was flying the last two events. I think there was some skepticism but with the phrase "you are your own best advocate" he ordered the cath. Happened on a Monday bypass on Wednesday. Would not have happened if I wasn't my own best advocate. Instead some ER doc would have been explaining some things just happen. NOT this time.

There are a lot of scary good prop and other users on this forum, and judging from work histories (PDP-8?) and other things a lot of us are in the same age group. From the selfish side I have and continue to learn from these folks. I don't want to wonder about where someone went then one day finding them gone because they did not listen to themselves or let their doc be to cautious. Your body will speak to you, the tricks getting the right doc to listen to what it is saying

I don't get to do as much with prop as I would like to and give back to the community but if this keeps even one forum member or friend or family member away from the bag and tag, that would be a significant down payment for past lessons learned.

Good night y'all

Frank

JonnyMac · 2018-07-23 04:52

Wishing you a speedy recovery from Hollywood, Frank!
-- JonnyMac

Cluso99 · 2018-07-23 09:18

Close call indeed Frank. All the best.

My dad had a quad 5 days after they jumped started him!!! Was good as new afterwards

I am now his age when it happened so I've been checked out

twm47099 · 2018-07-23 10:51

Back in 1999 (I was 52), I had been on 2 week travel for work out of country in Sardinia. Each day I had to go 2 miles down hill to the work site and 2 miles up hill back to the hotel. I was out of shape (actually pear shaped). The first few days walking back from work were rough. I had to stop often to catch my breath. About 5 days in I was making the trip fairly easily, controlled pace and one or two stops. After a week I was just cruising along, taking walking trips on the week ends.

Returning home I had a yearly physical scheduled, and at the physical I asked the doctor for an exercise plan. He decided to do an EKG and saw an unimportant change to an EKG that I had years ago. He finally decided to send me to a cardiologist. That doc wondered why I had been sent to him since my EKG didn't show anything important. But since I was there he gave me a stress test.

Everything seemed ok during the test, but he was not happy with my reaction during the post test rest stage. But again not that important, so he had me scheduled for a catherization a few weeks out.

Surprise, surprise -- during the cath, the doctor tells me I have signs of a prior heart attack (with damage and weakening of the heart -- ejection fraction of 25%) and 5 arteries that were 90% or more blocked. I got to sleep over that night and early next AM had my quint. I was out of work for a couple of months, followed by a long rehab & recovery and lots of meds. Luckily, my doctor had an early EKG as a baseline that showed the insignificant difference.

Take care & get well soon.

Tom

frank freedman · 2018-07-23 12:07

Thank you Jon. I posted because this was way to close to the edge for me, and a couple friends of people I know weren't so fortunate. Just wanted people to think about how they are doing in case they didn't think it could happen to someone they know. We are all too crazy busy at times to just step off the wheel.

Again thank you for the thoughts......

frank freedman · 2018-07-23 12:19

@Tom, amazing just how much the heart can put up with and still give a reasonably good waveform. Cath still seems the gold standard with CTA close on its heals. Sounds like you got way to close to traveling baggage class on that one. Good thing you did not have to push the doc to refer you. Those silly little details will get ya every time.

erco · 2018-07-23 17:13

What a scary wakeup call! Good to hear you're still with us and in a position to appreciate and share how delicate life can be. I have several friends with health setbacks (some privately within this forum) and it's shocking to hear what close shaves people have survived. Best wishes to you for a steady recovery.

msrobots · 2018-07-23 18:24

Kind of scary, because beginning this year they raised my Health Insurance AGAIN by 52% and I had to drop it.

56 now and - hmm - uncovered again.

Sometimes I am not sure if moving from Germany to the US of A was a good decision.

Mike

Peter Jakacki · 2018-07-23 23:52

Good to hear you are still "vertical" as I like to say, and about myself

Even though my wife has private health insurance, I don't, but the funny thing is that the free public health system here in Queensland and I guess the rest of Australia is actually very good, as long as you aren't waiting for elective surgery. I've found when I pay for private that I essentially am paying for a ridiculously expensive hotel room and service, but instead of a team of doctors that meet and consult together and are available 7 days a week, in private you usually have "your doctor" who won't be back until next Thursday

It's also good to know that even those $1,000 shots were all free too. I wonder what a $1,000 shot of whiskey would taste like.

Anyway, we're still mostly "vertical"

frank freedman · 2018-07-24 02:19

@msrobots, not sure if your move was an error or not, but Germany was an interesting situation. When I was with Siemens, I worked across multiple levels and grades. The big thing was to achieve your M grade. A management level. Instructors were considered management level. That came with the private insurance, difference was night and day from what I could understand and my German was appoaching fluency on the long assignment.

I actually was set to start at Wal-mart deli when dot bomb and telecom melted down. Just to have a level of coverage until I got into the hospital I work at. Even that has gotten more expensive over the years. The negotiated rates vs uncovered rates borders on ridiculous. If the economy keeps going like it has great insurance may become a significant bargaining chip to fill critical positions. My LinkedIn hits have really spiked, but as a last resort I still have VA for me at least. But you should look at a really high deductible or catastrophic coverage, at least you could catch a break on negotiated rates. Stuff never goes into the fan until it's not supposed to. At least that has been my experience. Good luck and don't jinx yourself by talking about insurances.

Lots of time to play with the prop...for lots of bad reasons and very good one.

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