First The Bad News...

Sunday, August 7, 2011 8:56 PM, CDT

Finally after 4-5 hours the wrist pressure cuff was completely removed and it was so glorious to have it off but my wrist and hand were still swollen and numb.  They were still telling me I was going home tomorrow and so Miranda went on back to Martin and we were so excited about getting to go home the next morning.  It all seemed routine and I marvelled at the fact I could hurt so bad earlier that morning and feel so normal later in the afternoon.  The wonders of medical technology! 

The next morning the nurse practitioner for the cardiology group came in my room and the first words out of her mouth were, "Well you know you had a heart attack yesterday, right?"...Long pause, thoughts spinning, freaking out on the inside, calm on the outside, and saying, "Well, no I didnt" ...Guess what?  I had a heart attack around 4AM on Friday, August 5, 2011 in Champaign, Illinois at a divey hotel in the bathroom, most likely.  HaHa, unimpressed boy from EMS, how about that!? 

Apparently my troponins had continued to rise after the initial reading which is not surprising since it was drawn a mere one hour or so after my pain started.  The cardiologist had been contacted re: the troponin elevation but guess what?  No one told me and Tracy about the change in diagnosis.  Not just ischemia but infarction, tissue death, heart scar, lifelong, forever, these are the words she used to describe what had happened to my myocardium.  My blockage was in the proximal LAD (left anterior descending) coronary artery which means the blockage was high up in the artery and therefore nothing below the blockage received oxygen and that LAD is a long one!  The anterior portion of my left ventricle was pretty much deprived of oxygen during the hotel episode of pain...well see the pictures next...