Home

Well with much anticipation my dad is finally home. He got home last week. It is very nice to have him home. One of the things that he is most excited about is sleeping in your own bed. Plus you don't have to worry about all the nurses waking you up every hour or so. But he is home and the family is happy now :)

My dad :(

I am sure that many of you have heard that my dad had a heart attack this weekend. IT'S BEEN A LONG WEEKEND! So here is the story and I will have pictures of it as well. (Not actual pictures of my dad, just pictures I found on the internet.)

Friday night and Saturday:

It all started Friday night when my dad ate some ribs. He woke up in the middle of the night with chest pain. He gets heartburn really easy, so he thought it was that. He took some antacid stuffs and it went away so he went back to bed. He woke up a few times that night before he took the antacid stuffs. In the morning, he woke up with chest pain again. He thought it was weird, so he had some milk to help calm his stomach, thinking it was heartburn again. And then started to head down to Jacob's house to help him with his remodeling project he has going on. By the time he reached centerville area his chest was hurting really bad. So he decided that he better get to the hospital so he missed the 500 S. Bountiful exit as well as the 2600 S. Exit. He could not merge over fast enough. So he ended up taking the center street exit of NSL. By this time the pain was so intense he needed to pull over for a bit. Not only was the pain intense but he could not breathe very well. He then started to drive to Lake View Hospital. On the way he pulled over again and lost his breakfast. By this time the pain was stronger and it was more difficult to breath. Had his cell phone been charged he would of called 911. As he was traveling he had to run 2 red lights because he NEEDED to get to the hospital. He was sweating profusely now. He pulled into the ER parking lot and walked into the ER. When he got to the reception desk he was in so much pain he could not stand. He was leaning on the desk telling them his name and that he thinks he is having a heart attack. So the nurse went and got an orderly and rushed him into the back. It was by chance that the doctor that does the heart surgeries was there in the hospital at that moment. They gave him several drugs. One of which was nitroglycerine. The doctor's and nurses were running around trying to do everything to save my dad's life. Had he been 5 minutes longer he would have died. :( It is a miracle that he is here now.

Here is what they did:
The aorta is what was %100 blocked off. Plus another artery was 90-80% blocked.

Here is another picture of the same thing. Just a different view:

Now what I mean by %100 blocked is that there was no blood flow going through the Aorta. What they did to fix the problem is put a stent in. A stent is a cylindrical wire mesh that they put in where the blockage is to allow blood to flow through. The one that they put into my dad was coated with medication to help the blockage free up and the body accept it. It is a total 36mm long. Which is almost the longest ones they make. Here is a picture of an example:

As you can tell from the picture they go through the body with a tube. In my dad's case they entered the femoral artery located in the crease of the right leg and the trunk of the body. They would push the tube up to the blockage and put in the stent. The whole time my dad was awake. He did not feel a thing from them putting in the stent. They numbed up the area and plus he was in too much pain from his heart to feel them doing the stent. After the surgery they put him into the ICU.

Sunday:

This morning my dad woke up with water in his lungs. Also called Pulmonary Adema. So they gave him lasics (spelling?), which helps him discharge the water naturally. Which he did wonderfully. The whole day he stayed up in the ICU. He had a hard time breathing. It was very shallow and forced. Every moment he had it seamed like he would try and sleep and then someone would come in and wake him. Usually the nurse's or family. Sunday he rested.

Monday:

Today my dad moved to a recovery room. He took a shower and got out with difficulty breathing again. He had Pulmonary Adema again. So they took him back to the ICU. At this point in time they gave him lasics again. It did not work as well as it did on Sunday. But it worked. His breathing was a lot more labored and intense that the first time he had Pulmonary Adema. The nurse's called the doctor and told him about it. So he came down and talked with my dad and family about the next step. They were not going to fix his other artery until a few weeks later when his body had healed more. The reason is because it is a lot of trauma on the body to go through what he did. So he told us that my dad was not healing fast enough and they are needing to a stent in the other artery that is 80-90% blocked. The doctor believes that the artery is supplying blood flow to the heart. Particularly the mitral valve. Here is a picture of a mitral valve:

So because the mitral valve was not working properly blood was going back into the lungs and then that would cause the Pulmonary Adema.

Tuesday:

Tuesday morning they took my dad into surgery again. They put another stent in. It was successful and without complications. He is in the ICU, currently, and will be there until they put him in recovery. He will spend atleast 2 days there and then be released. I know that my dad was watch by our Heavenly Father. It is an answer to many prayers and blessings that he is here. A friend of mine works in an ER and said that during that weekend there were 6 heart attacks, including my dad's. 5 died. My dad was the only one that survived. And they were all about his age too. I am grateful that he is here! :)