Glenda
My name is Glenda Ramsey. I worked for the phone company and retired after 25 years. I had a variety of jobs there and worked for both Northwestern Bell and Mountain Bell, later called US West. My last position was Marketing District Manager. Following my first retirement I worked for several airlines as a Reservation and Customer Service Trainer. I also worked for Computer Associates as a Resource Coordinator until 4/1/03 when the position was eliminated. I am now really retired and spend my time trying to take care of home and my husband of three years, Tom. I also have two adult children, three grandchildren and two Cockatiels, Dinah and Zeke who keep me company.
In the last eighteen months, Tom and I both have had challenges with health. He had quintuple bypass in October, 2003 and is doing very well. I had acute descending aortic dissection in March, 2004 and slowly getting back to being somewhat normal.
Toothache - Or So I Thought
2 November 2004
First let me say that I have been searching for this site for some time. Thanks to Chuck Burgdorf for directing me here. How wonderful to find such a great form of support in a desert of indifference!
My name is Glenda Ramsey, I am currently 59, and I was the victim of a descending aortic dissection March of 2004. I have always been extremely active both in my work and private life. I retired from US West in 1987 and have been a systems trainer and resource coordinator for numerous companies since retirement. I have been treated for high blood pressure for eight years.
I married Tom Ramsey in December of 2001, the second marriage for both of us. He was a widower of 5 years and had raised his two daughters alone after their mother's untimely death at the age of 47 from a brain aneurysm. Our life was pretty good but in October of 2003 Tom had quintuple bypass surgery. He did fine and was back to work in just five weeks. He has to be a statistic himself to have two wives with similar challenges.
Tom and I had been out the evening of March 12, 2004. I thought I was catching a cold and had a toothache - or so I thought. On Saturday, March 13, 2004, Tom went out to get some toothache medicine and other remedies. I rested on the couch. Just a dull toothache!
Tom returned and I took a Tylenol and dabbed Oracle on my tooth. Tom went to work on something on the computer. I walked the 5 feet to the office door and had an excruciating pain in my jaw followed by ripping in my back. My knees went out from under me and Tom ran to grab me. He immediately called 911. In the next ten minutes I muttered instructions for Tom on my last wishes and what to tell my two adult children.
The ambulance came and confirmed my blood pressure was out of sight but I had not had a heart attack. I kept telling them it was my back. They kept trying to find a heart attack. They gave me morphine and off to emergency I went. Dr. Randy Kessler had been in the ER which was very lucky for me, as he knew what had occurred. He kept me on morphine and worked very hard to lower my BP. I do not remember him.
The next 5 days were mostly blank. I do remember an angel floating and Tom and my daughter coming to see me. I remember being very sick and IVs hurting in my hands. I do not remember much else except every Doctor saying I should not have lived and how lucky I had been. I was told not to lift over ten pounds and all exercise was to stop. I could walk but only a short distance. Still in a morphine stupor I was released at noon on the 5th day. The next 4 days at home I do not remember at all.
It was not too long after I returned home that our insurance doubled our premiums and we could not longer afford to keep the insurance. With preexisting conditions both Tom and I will not have insurance for several more months. I found mail order for the drugs and had my cardiologist write scripts for a year. I do not have funds for tests or even to see a cardiologist now. I live in Englewood, Colorado so if anyone knows who might be able to help in the meantime I would appreciate the information.
Update - I have made it nearly 8 months. I have back pain daily and lately experiencing pain in my kidneys. I tire easily and have to lie down many times a day. I require help with most housework and laundry. I cannot participate in any of my former activities. I applied for SSDI and was turned down with the explanation that "I would be completely well within a year of the dissection." I am now awaiting appeal. I am seriously considering applying for employment with Social Security but they will need to supply a room with a cot for resting my back!
If anyone wants to correspond please do so. Thanks for listening. Just writing this has helped!
Addendum: 20 September 2005
Glenda passed away September 8, 2005, from a ruptured aneurysm.
Condolences: Tom Ramsey
© Copyright 2004 Glenda Ramsey
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