A week and a half ago, Mr B was complaining of not being able to catch his breath when he was lying down to sleep so had not had much sleep for 3 nights. On the second night he mentioned he had a bit of a whistle when he breathed so we monitored it. He also mentioned he had no energy to walk from his car to his workplace during the day, he was very lethargic. On the third morning he woke up not feeling well at all and his chest was rattling. I thought he had the beginnings of pneumonia so convinced him (after much “discussion”) it would be a good idea to go tho the emergency department of our local hospital.
When we got there and explained what the problem was, the took us in and within minutes of checking him over, had monitors and all sorts of tests and xrays happening. They thought he had either a blood clot in his lung or had had a heart attack but Mr B hadn’t had any pain or symptoms of a heart attack. After a trip in the ambulance to the radiology department for a ct scan, They discovered his heart was in fact damaged, and his right lung was filling with fluid as his heart was struggling. They informed us he had in fact, had a silent heart attack. We’d never heard of one before and as there were no symptoms, other than afterwards with lethargy and difficulty breathing, it appears he had his about 3 days prior, at work, whilst he continued about his job driving heavy machinery. Mr B drives a dozer clearing scrub timber on a cattle property so works by himself all day away from anyone else, often out of phone range so you can imagine my panic.
By late afternoon, we were travelling to Townsville, an hour away, by ambulance to a much larger hospital with cardiac specialists at hand. He was booked in for an angiogram last Monday, where they planned to put a stent in if at all possible. Well, Mr B being Mr B had to be a little more difficult than straightforward didn’t he? He was booked for open heart surgery Monday this week as it seemed he had five or six blocked arteries that needed bypass grafts. We did a tour of ICU on Sunday night so we knew what to expect when he returned from surgery as he was to stay there for one or two days till he was well enough to return to a hospital room. His surgery was booked for 12pm Monday and the surgeon rang me at 5 pm saying he was out and everything went well, although it was more extensive than they thought....he had to have SEVEN bypass grafts....unheard of!
I didn’t post FNSI yesterday as you can say I was a little preoccupied! But so far so good. Despite having difficulties overnight with maintaining his blood pressure, which they had to struggle to maintain with medications, he made it through. He was still intubated this morning and anesthetised so they could stabilise him but by afternoon the tube had been removed and he was breathing through nasal tubes to keep his lungs inflated and to avoid further complications like pneumonia. To say he’s out of the woods would be optimistic, but he has made progress and they are expecting he will spend another two days in ICU recovering where he will wake properly and walk around to promote healing. As they keep reminding me, it was a MAJOR operation, one of which the experienced nurses of 30 years had not seen before, six yes but seven......never! So my hubby is a bit of hard work at the moment, but worth every second in my opinion. And being 61 years old, he’s considered a youngster in the cardiac care unit, so he has a lot of life to look forward to. I’ll have me a new husband, Mr B 2.0!
To think, two weeks ago, we were planning a long needed weekend away with my son and his girlfriend but that has been postponed for quite a while now. I’m just thanking the Lord that I still have this special man still in my life and treasuring every moment we get. I won’t be taking any of it for granted anymore!
So you now can see where I’m coming from when I say this week I’ll be hosting FNSI from ICU. Join me in celebrating my new and improved model!
Sign ups below, and if your the praying kind, like me.....your prayers are very much appreciated. If not, thoughts and loving wishes of health and a speedy recovery are just as appreciated. It’s times like these you realise how precious family and friends are and how Quickly our routines can be changed forever.
Always Remember to tell your loved ones how precious they are
Love to you all and sugary hugs xox :o)
