On Heart Attacks and Gratitude
Nov 24, 2023 4:21 pm
TL:DR
- Rob had a heart attack, but is fine thanks to us listening to our doubts and the amazing technology of today
- Christmas Spirits is on sale for 99 cents
- I'm on Positively ProLife
What's New in FabianSpace
I have so much to be grateful for, but today, my biggest gratitude is for the advances in medicine that saved my husband’s life.
Last Wednesday, Rob called to tell me he was coming home early. The past couple of weeks at work had been stressful but ended with a successful rocket test, and he was tired. He came home while I was chatting with my writing group.
“I’m home. I’m so tired, and it’s the weirdest thing. My arm is aching, like a bone-ache. My chest was tight for a little while, too.”
That was it: tired, some minor chest tightness that was gone, and an aching right arm. Heart attacks typically cause pain radiating to the left arm, so he wasn’t panicked. He was thinking about a nap, but something in me said, “That’s not right.” I did a quick Google search: yep, those were the signs. We went to the ER.
The Cape Canaveral ER has two sections: one for the ambulances and one for walk-ins. The walk-in area is best defined as “chill.” By then, his pain was mostly gone, so we checked in and waited. They gave him an EKG while he was sitting and getting his vitals. The nurse was careful not to diagnose, but she said, “We’ll get you a bed when we have one, but you’ll notice that I’m smiling and talking with you.” We sat in the waiting room, both of us wondering if we were overreacting.
We weren’t leaving, however. Rob’s dad died of an undiagnosed heart attack. In fact, he’d gone to the hospital for chest pains, been released, and died of a massive coronary in his bed that night. Rob and I had vowed to always take the signs seriously.
Once in a room, they ran more tests: heart rate, good. Blood pressure, good. O2, good. Rob’s on medications and takes them faithfully. The only outlier was his cardiac troponin levels, which were high. This is a chemical that’s released when the heart is damaged. Based on family history and that test, they decided to keep him overnight, with blood thinners and a nitro patch.
All night, he had no issues, except the rising troponin. The next day, he had a scan of his heart. The cardiac surgeon came to see us, and asked a couple of questions. He seemed pretty calm about it all; enough that the nurse insisted we tell him about Rob’s dad.
The next thing we knew, he was getting wheeled to surgery for a cardiac catheterization. This is a remarkable procedure: They put a camera in through a vein in Rob’s wrist to view his heart. If there was any blockage, they said, they could then put in a stent through the same catheter right then and there. He’d be drugged but awake during the procedure.
Rob had 90% blockage in one artery. The stent went in. By the time they were wheeling him past the waiting room, he said he was already feeling more energetic than he had in a long time.
I am overwhelmed with joy, relief, and gratitude. Thank God Rob didn’t decide to gut through the day, which is always his first instinct. Thank God for nudging me that this was more serious than just being tired.
And thank God for the advances in technology. If not for a quick internet search, we might have blown off the symptoms. Without that blood test, they’d have probably sent him home with a directive to talk to his doctor, which he’d have done eventually. And heart surgery through the wrist? How amazing is that?
So I get to keep my man for (God willing) a great many more years. The happiest of endings. But I’m not writing this just to see my words.
If you have symptoms or just feel off, don’t disregard them. Remember two years ago when I had cancer? All I had was a feeling of “not quite right.” Here, Rob has such minor symptoms, he could easily have blown it off. Both times, we listened to our bodies—and the urgings of our guardian angels—and both times, caught a life-threatening condition in time for an “easy” fix.
Bring up family history—again and again, every time you see a new person. Trust me, the records don’t always convey or get read. Nurses and doctors must be told.
One outlier can save your life. If not for the troponin levels, there was nothing to indicate that Rob had a serious issue.
Take care of yourselves, dear readers. I care about each of you and there are others who love and need you.
Christmas Spirits on Sale Through Nov. 26
On to lighter topics! Vern has a Christmas story!
It’s hard enough being a dragon on the wrong side of the Interdimensional Gap. Vern isn’t a person by law yet isn’t allowed to have a cave in the mountains of Colorado. Only by good fortune does he have his lousy, leaky warehouse to call home. But when Flint, an ambitious entrepreneur, wants to tear down his home – and most of his neighborhood – to make a mall, he’s not feeling the Christmas Spirit. Neither is someone else – the Ghosts of Christmas are haunting Flint, and they seem intent on more than a simple scare.
Can Vern find his own Christmas spirit before the Spirits of Christmas haunt Flint to death?
Talking Humor and Pro-Life Issues in Discovery on Positively Pro-Life
I had a great opportunity to talk with Maria Gallagher on her podcast, Positively Pro-Life this week. It was a last-minute thing, and with everything that happened with Rob, I only managed about 10 minutes to prepare, but Maria is a gracious host and we had a lot of fun. We talked about writing, the Guild, and the pro-life issues in my SF novel, Discovery. We also had a chance to talk about the importance of humor and joy.
I love doing podcasts and radio interviews, but I seldom listen to them afterwards. I always feel like I sound 12 and babble. Take a listen. How old do you think I sound?