When you are covered by the blood

 

This post is not a lifestyle post so much as a documentation of an event, for our grandchildren to read one day. This way they have a timeline.

Most anyone that knows us, knows Don is a heart patient. (5X CABG in July 2019) He has done fantastic for almost 6 yrs. Back in February he had random chest pains. (Quite unusual for him, as he had never ever used a single nitroglycerin for anything) He kept having them, every few days. They did not last long, from a couple minutes to 10 minutes was the longest. Off to our cardiologist we went. They did a few blood tests, a physical exam, talked with him and then scheduled a heart cath. (If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck. . .)

Once they got in there, his heart looked great. Like great for any age man, not just an older man. Our cardiologist even had another cardiologist in the cath lab come in and look, in case he had missed something. "Do you see ANYTHING I may not have seen?" He saw nothing and noted Don's heart looked great.
Meanwhile, in the early days of his chest pains I felt a nagging to check something. I discounted it as my brain racing trying to figure out what was wrong. (I'm a classic over-thinker and have a need to figure things out.) Finally after he was home and rested I talked to him about it. Some thirty odd years ago Don was diagnosed with sleep apnea. He went for his sleep study and before he could get home the next morning, they called and said "send him back" he must have a cpap, now! (He stopped breathing over 40 times every 30 minutes) It was severe.

He wore that mask for the next few years while I felt I was sleeping with Darth Vader. (Exactly what it sounded like) He tired of the mask and decided to have the surgery they offered at that time. Which was probably very early 90's.

Treatment for Obstructive Sleep Apnea~ [It was called "Uvulopalatopharyngoplasty" or UPPP.] Quite common surgery at the time, it involved a resection of the uvula, tonsils, & part of the soft palate to enlarge the airway and reduce apnea episodes. It was horrible for him! If you think about them removing skin and tissue from the throat to make more room. I believe he told me about day 10 or 12 post surgery, "I have to get better to die". He had to use liquid tylenol, he ate soup and soft scrambled eggs and his throat completely scabbed over. I nursed him back to health and he all but completely stopped the apnea episodes. We thought we were done. What we could not know is over time, aging, weight gain, muscle laxity, etc could cause you to begin the process over again. Now, it is 2025 and he has been snoring like a freight train coming through the middle of the room. Add chest pains. After his heart cath the cardiologist decided it may just be micro-vessels clogging and gave Don a new medication to help clear them out. Yet, the chest pains continued. They have since stopped and I'm sure the new med helped. Unlike his forty yr old self, he agreed to retest for apnea. So we requested a new sleep study. Gone are the days when you must sleep in a clinic overnight covered in wires all over your chest and neck. They mailed us a pack and he applied it to his chest, a lead on his finger and slept in it for three nights. Then we mailed it back to be diagnosed and he informed me if they wanted to do "that" surgery again, he was not a candidate. He would prefer to go on to Jesus. I assured him they no longer do that surgery and they had other solutions, even the cpap machines are better now. Well, he has severe apnea again. A cpap has been ordered and soon he will be in a newer, sleeker model. Here is the God part, if he had not had chest pains how would we have known? OSA shortens your life, causes blood pressure issues, heart attacks, stroke and can cause the early onset of dementia. No chest pains and we would not have known? I watched his symptoms increase as he slept too much, was tired all the time and was beginning to forget things. I'm watching to make sure all these things get better as his body finally gets what it needs. If you are suffering any of these symptoms or snore badly, please get yourself checked for OSA. It is so easy now to do the sleep study and treatment is much easier. If not for the chest pains and the urging in my spirit, what could have happened?

Psalms 91:4 He shall cover you with His feathers, And under His wings you shall take refuge; His truth shall be your shield and buckler.