The next
morning, as they prepped me for surgery, I had to rely on my humor to stay sane
and not breakdown crying. I had a song
stuck in my head that oddly gave me strength and serenity: Blue Oyster Cult’s 1976 hit “(Don’t Fear) The
Reaper.” “Seasons don’t fear the reaper,
nor do the wind, the sun or the rain, we can be like they are.” There was no sense in fearing what was about
to happen. It was out of my
control. The song gave me a sense of
solace. I found it ironically comical to
be singing that song to myself. It was a
matter of laugh or cry, or in this case, laugh or die.
As they wheeled
me into the holding area, I tried cracking jokes with the orderly. They gave me a lovely blanket made of what
looked like bubble-wrap and readied me for anesthesia. The orderly rolled me toward the surgery
room, and I was still joking about the situation. I asked him if he ever had patients joke as
they were being carted off to surgery, and he said sternly, “No, never.” I’m still not sure if that was a good thing
or not on my part. I was not in denial;
I just saw no need in fighting it. My
life was literally in their hands. I had
to put my trust in their abilities.
On June 12,
2013, I had a Coronary Artery Bypass Graft, also known as a CABG
(pronounced: cabbage). In layman's terms, I had a triple
bypass. This is referred to as open
heart surgery. That is a very serious
surgery that is done to treat people with severe coronary heart disease (CHD). Basically, plaque builds up inside the
coronary arteries and can cause heart attacks and even death. The surgery is intended to improve the flow
of blood to the heart. During this
procedure, the blocked arteries are bypassed with healthy artery or veins that
are grafted from other areas like the arm or legs. The surgery takes several hours to perform
and the opening of the arteries can last ten years or more.
I woke up
several hours later in the recovery room with tubes coming out of me and wires
everywhere. The only way that I could
communicate was a feeble attempt at sign language with my flailing of the
arms. It is hard to convey “Get the fuck
away from me!” without using words.
The surgery was
a success, because I was still alive, however, I could barely move. Just moving from the bed to a chair seemed
like an insurmountable act. Just the
thought of coughing or sneezing was excruciating. My chest had literally been split open and
sewn together with metal. Pulling the
drainage tubes out of me was just as horrible to feel as it is for you to
read. Imagine pulling off a band-aid
that is inside you, and you will have an idea of what it was like.
Blood vessels
from my leg were removed and used to connect to other arteries to bypass
damaged arteries. This is called
Coronary Bypass Artery Grafting. Nearly
500,000 CABG procedures are performed each year in the United States. It is one of the most common major
operations. That did not settle my
nerves at all.
Heart disease is
the number one killer in the United States, and it accounts for nearly one in
every four deaths. It tends to be more
prevalent in men than women, but is the leading cause of death in both
genders. According to the Center for
Disease Control, heart disease is responsible for over 600,000 deaths in the
United States each year. That is nearly
the current population of my home town, Nashville, Tennessee. The first couple of times that nurses told me
that I almost died, I ignored it. Then,
a few more nurses and doctors told me that I almost died, I still brushed it
off. But after a few dozen people tell
you that you almost died, you sit up and take notice. These statistics could have included me!
They had me stay
in the hospital for several days for observation and rehabilitation. Needless to say, I was the youngest one in
rehab. The other patients were primarily
elderly and some with pacemakers, but we were all in the same boat now. The walk from my room to rehab, which was
just a few doors down, felt like miles.
They had us get up on the treadmill and walk for just a couple of
minutes at the pace of a snail, but it felt like torture. I kept my spirits by singing Amy Winehouse’s
“Rehab” as I made the trek. In addition
to rehab, I was now on medications that they informed me that I may be on for
the rest of my life. But I was alive! Now, I’m a lifetime pill popper.
I had a lot of
time on my hands for the next week as I waited to be released from the
hospital. I posted pictures and updates
on Facebook. One of my friends appeared
alarmed by my post announcing my stay in the hospital and upcoming surgery by
asking me if I was serious. My
reply: “I’m serious as a heart
attack!” I do love a good play on words
and irony. This picture freaked people
out online. I had to unplug myself to go
to the bathroom, and it looked like I was flat-lining. I posted, “Oh, no. I’ve flat-lined.” Someone asked me, “Really?” How can I type this if I’m dead? Some people online aren’t super smart.
That much time
on your hands in a confined space gives you a great opportunity to reflect and
plan. I realized that life is not only
too short, but it could end at any time.
We are only here for a finite period of time. We need to make the most of it. Tomorrow is not guaranteed. Life is so precious and fragile. These phrases may sound very cliché, but
nonetheless true. I was given a second
chance, and I needed to do something with it.
We need to make
the most of this time, because we do not know how much of it that we have. We do not need to spend a single second being
unhappy. Now that being said, we cannot
possibly be happy all of the time. We
will experience sadness, anger, or stress from time to time. It is our reactions to these things that
determine how long we will be unhappy.
Life is too short to be in a relationship, job, friendship, or anything
where we are not happy. We either need
to change the situation or change how we react to the situation.
Before I could
be discharged from the hospital, I had to have a bowel movement. Their rules, not mine. I sat in the bathroom for a while trying to
make nature call. I had to drag my
machine and all of its wires over to the door, but even on the other side of
the door, I could hear the incessant beeps of the monitor. I brought in my phone and pulled up music to
drown out that noise. I thought that
Pantera could block the beeps, and I chose “Cemetery Gates”, because I thought
it would be creepy but still get the job done.
Sure enough, mission accomplished.
Music and humor got me through another tough situation.
According to a
report from the U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention, heart disease
is the leading cause of death in the U.S. and that number has stayed the same
as the prior year. Heart disease is the
number one killer in America, followed by cancer, according to the U.S. Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention. In
2016, 633,842 people died from heart disease, followed by 595,930 from cancer.
There are a
number of risk factors for heart disease.
These risks can play a role in developing the disease, as well as,
increasing your chances of making the existing disease worse. Among the various risk factors for heart
disease include: genetics and stress. One risk factor is if a person is genetically
disposed to heart disease. There is not
much that can be done about heredity, but knowledge of such a predisposition
can allow you the opportunity to take preventative measures. However, there are risk factors that can be
altered, such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol, an unhealthy diet,
being overweight, and being inactive.
Also, women after the age of 55 are more apt to get heart disease (and
keep in mind that the heart attack symptoms in women can differ greatly from
men). According to the Mayo Clinic,
about half of all Americans have at least one of the three key risk factors for
heart disease: high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and smoking.
Stress is also a
significant risk factor, because unrelieved stress may damage your arteries and
the heart itself. With today's busy
lifestyle, coupled with inactivity, stress has become a common element of our
daily lives. As we have learned, stress
is the number one killer today.
There are
several symptoms of heart issues, which may include: chest pain, sweating, a feeling of pressure
or burning in the chest, irregular heartbeats, shortness of breath, and/or pain
in the arm, back, or chest. But not all
people experience the same signals. For
instance, I felt the “elephant on the chest” and shortness of breath. I did not experience any pain, per se. Women typically have varying symptoms from
men in regards to heart attacks. But any
related symptoms should be taken very seriously, especially while participating
in physical activity.
Measures that a
heart patient may take to prevent and to improve their health would include
proper exercise and diet, as well as getting regular check-ups with a medical
professional and taking the proper medications.
There are also other actions that the patient may take to aid in their
health (of course, these alternative methods DO NOT take the place of medical
assistance, but are advised to be used in conjunction as a complementary therapy).
Now having this
surgery does not mean that I am out of the woods. I have to do check-ups each year and stress
tests every few years. But research done
at Aarhus University in Denmark shows that mortality increases after eight to
ten years. According to the Mayo Clinic,
most people may remain symptom-free for as long as up to ten to fifteen years,
however, other arteries or even the new graft may become clogged. This woul require another bypass or angioplasty. That is scary! I almost died, and I may die again. (Well, we all die, but ten years comes
quickly!) Along with a healthy diet and
regular exercise, the Mayo Clinic suggests that patients manage their stress. That hit home!
My book, The Heart of Happiness, is available on Amazon
at: https://amzn.to/2IZpXNP
Website: www.ChristyEidson.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ChristyEidson
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