The Widow-Maker

As I’ve already shared, I’m facing the very gnarly reality of open-heart surgery within the next few weeks – maybe sooner.

Here’s how I got here…

Towards the end of the pandemic, my Apple Watch notified me that my average resting heart rate had significantly dropped over the course of a few months, from the low seventies down to the mid-forties.

This surprised me.

I went to my GP about it, but he didn’t seem to think it was serious enough to investigate, so nothing was done. I noticed I was more tired than usual, but I’ve been seeing him for 25 years, so I trusted his judgement.

I may need to reconsider my primary care physician, but that’s for another time.

About a year and a half ago came “the event” as I’ve come to call it. I woke up to uncontrolled A-fib at 4am on a Thursday morning. It was serious enough to make me want to go to the hospital, which is unheard of. Thankfully, my Apple Watch let me know about this one and is the reason I went to the hospital.

You can read about that one on its own.

I endured the usual poking and prodding after: A stress test, EKGs, blood tests, and whatnot. Nothing bad was found. I will say that I’m lucky to have been referred to a really good cardiologist as part of it though.

Over the course of the last year and a half, I cleaned up my lifestyle, got on the right meds, and managed to shed nearly 60 pounds, putting me back at the weight I was when I met my wife 32 years ago. I felt better than ever and was happy to be fit again.

Then about a month ago came the night I woke up to chest pain. I thought it was a cramp from sleeping wrong. Then came the same pain when I exerted myself. This told me something wasn’t right. Before I could get in with my cardiologist, I had more A-fib events which I was able to capture on my watch.

I took the first appointment I could to see one of the other doctors in my cardiology group since my regular doctor was booked. She recommended a CTA, or computed tomography angiography. The results of the scan were concerning enough to warrant a full-on invasive angiogram a couple weeks later.

I had that procedure late last week. My wife and I hoped a couple of stents could be placed and I’d be right as rain again.

That wasn’t meant to be.

Instead, my cardiologist found I’m on the verge of a widow-maker heart attack with multiple blockages of 80% or more. Stents couldn’t fix this one.

Damn. This is some really serious shit right here…

That catches us up to today.

I have an appointment with a thoracic surgeon on Wednesday. I already know what’s going to come of it – open heart bypass surgery. The only thing I don’t know is how quickly it’s going to happen. It could be a couple of weeks, or it could be a couple of days.

I’ve got to get a lot of things in order quickly.

I’ve never faced anything remotely like this in my life. I’m kind of scared by it, and I’m still trying to grasp what’s about to happen. It’s going to be intense and life changing. But, I know I can pull through it, and I know it’s for God’s purpose.

If you’ve read this, I appreciate you taking the time. I’m usually pretty private about things like this, but I needed to get it written and published so the story can be continued later.

I also appreciate the great encouragement I’ve already received. Thanks to all of you (so many already) who have shared something. It means more than I can say.

To be continued…