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Hi there! My name is Lee, and I'm a 51 year old male Caucasian. I am a widower with three kids - a daughter 19 and two sons, 18 and 14. My wife died almost 3 years ago due to complications from treatment for lung cancer. I've been a moderate smoker (just over a half pack a day) for too many years.
8 July 2008
My story started on Saturday, May 17, 2008. I had a few hours available that morning and decided to clean out a flower bed that was starting to get overgrown. My late wife was more the gardener and now I was finally getting around to attempt it. There were some azaleas that weren't doing too well and some ground junipers that more wanted to grow over the walk than in the bed. The first few azaleas came out with only moderate effort, then it was on to the ground junipers. I had worked the roots loose with a shovel and bent down to give the first one a tug. I felt an unusual sensation in my back, a kind of tension between my shoulder blades, and perhaps a little discomfort radiating up my neck from under my collar bones. I thought it unusual and remember a brief dizzy spell as I walked to the carport to take a break.
As I sat there in the coolness of the carport, a thought came over me that I should have my heart checked out. I have no idea what prompted the thought, but I justified it with my age and lifestyle. I remember lifting my eyes heaven-ward and saying "Lord, my kids don't need to lose their other parent!". I did try another tug on that plant, but quickly decided that I didn't need to do any more that day.
My youngest son was at a youth function at the church and would need to be picked up in an hour or two so I sat down and watched a movie on the tube. I drove out to the church and picked him up and dropped him by the house and informed him that I was going to the hospital to get a checkup on my heart.
I checked into the heart care section of St. Francis Hospital, expecting to be told that there was XX% restriction of such and such artery and that I'd probably need stints or some such. They quickly drew some blood and sent it off. When the doctor got the results back, he told me that there wasn't much out of the ordinary in the blood tests, so a heart attack could most likely be ruled out. He then ordered a CT scan. They couldn't get me to the operating room fast enough when they got the results of the scan which showed a dissected ascending aorta as well as an aneurysm. The radiologist and the attending physician both remarked to each other about "seeing the flap". The anesthesiologist, when he finally got to see the aneurysm, said "Wow, that's huge!
I did have time to call my sister and my girlfriend. My sister, a godsend to me at this time, was able to get there in time before they wheeled me off and kind of explained the seriousness of the situation. She is a nurse by training and now works for St. Jude Medical as a cardiac catheter technician. She checked through her network and found out that the CV surgeon that was going to do the operation, Dr. Tim Powell, was one of the best in the Memphis area.
I'm told it was about 3:30 AM Sunday when they rolled me out of the operating room. I have no memory of that day and very little of Monday. On Tuesday, they transferred me out of ICU to a regular room, and I was released from the hospital on Friday, the proud owner of a Dacron aorta and a St. Jude Medical aortic valve. My recuperation was "unremarkable"; I didn't even need the pain pills that were prescribed for me. Now, its been six weeks and three days since the operation and I'm feeling almost as good as I did before. I started back to work this week -- Im a desk jockey for a local utility.
My most heart-felt thanks go to Dr. Powell and the staff of St. Francis Hospital. I cannot begin to thank my family, particularly my sister, enough for their care and assistance during this time. And lastly, I thank the good Lord that I'm still here, that he whispered to me to go to the hospital. I believe there is a reason that I'm still here, and can only hope that one day it will be revealed to me.
Discussion, comments, or questions: Lee Guenther
© Copyright 2008 Lee Guenther
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