Some thoughts and prayers

[smazza]

he liked taking pictures

i miss our fights

hope you make a speedy recovery

[smazza]

On 1/8/2020 at 11:16 PM, MikeG said:

Well it certainly wasn't quick but I am getting out of the hospital for the first time this morning. It was hell living in this place (and the numerous other stays at various medical places) since September 21st-- the day I suffered from an aortic dissection (look it up-- it is nasty). I no longer have a sternum and I still have to deal with three times a week dialysis for my kidney issues but it will be so nice being home again after such a long hospital stay.

Thanks again for all the kind words and thanks to Brad for visiting as much as he did- truly appreciated!

drama queen

[BullEdD]

Speedy recovery! 

[crambone]

Glad to hear you are back home. Hope for the best for you. 

[Ricky the Bull]

At the Phoenix airport heading home, but lifting a glass to Mikey G for continued recovery!

[E.T.]

Best to you MikeG !

[MikeG]

This will seem really long but it is mostly just a lot of information about the procedures.

6 months later-- still hanging in there. Doing my dialysis and staying safely away from COVID19.

First-- some quick pictures to show the progress I made in the hospital in a time lapse sort of way. I weighed about 325 pounds when the ambulance took me to the ER on September 21st, 2019. By the time I left, I weighed 245 lbs (112 kgs). Most of the weight loss happened in the last couple of weeks (really bad hospital food).

potentially ****:

 

First shot from the hospital - I was on that ventilator for 6 weeks.

Before and after

not sure if you can see the time/date in each one but this moves through in order.

me at dialysis

This week was especially busy - I had two surgeries. On Monday, I had what is known as an Ablation (description below) to resolve an issue with Atrial Fibrillation that was left over/a result of the heart surgeon stabilizing my heart and isolating the aFib tissue to a separate section in my heart. This was a well thought out idea as I never felt anything that the aFib was doing to me-- but it sure drove the medical professionals crazy, especially early on.

 

 

Quote

I was going to try to avoid needing to be tested for covid by being careful and only interacting with others when absolutely necessary.

Now, thanks to recent visits with two cardiologists (something I pursued), the need for surgery has come up. In a procedure called cardiac ablation, they will attempt to correct a heart problem I have with Atrial Fibrilation (AFib).  They will be putting me under for the procedure and then running some wires using vessels starting in my groin area.

 

Quote

Cardiac ablation. Cardiac ablation is a procedure to scar or destroy tissue in your heart that's allowing incorrect electrical signals to cause an abnormal heart rhythm. Diagnostic catheters are threaded through blood vessels to your heart where they are used to map your heart's electrical signals.

But before I do the procedure I have to get tested for COVID. I assume I have to clear of it as well. I'm not real excited about any of this. My fear is that something happens to me during the procedure or merely being in a the hospital where I end up catching the ******* virus and never coming back out alive. My dad had something similar (though not through the femoral artery) this performed on him several times so I am less worried about the surgery as I am about institutional infection risks.

The Abrazo AZ Heart Hospital needed me to take a COVID19 test prior to admission for surgery-- took it on 7/15 and the results were back in 1 day-- negative. The procedure was on Monday 7/20. I've never seen so much medical equipment in a surgical room before (wish I had a picture). They put about a 100 various electrical sensors all over me and suddenly-- zzzzzzzzzzz

Everything went well from what I've been told.

I don't even remember falling asleep. It appears to have resolved my Atrial Fibrilation (Paroxyamal A-Fib) situation (for now - fingers crossed). I was under for about 2-3 hours.Spent the night in the hospital recovering.

5 days later, I feel much better. I had a little pain initially after surgery but the drugs (mostly  morphine -- such an effective drug!). There was some expected bruising on my leg, mostly from the blood thinners (Eliquis) I am on to prevent any resulting clots from my heart surgery.

Next up -- was a brachial artery ligation to help my Fistula after a quick dialysis session in the morning. A Fistula is a created place in your arm where they can connect your blood stream to the dialysis machines. I have relied on a catheter since October 2019 (on my 5th one). Once the fistula has matured and can be relied on, they can remove the catheter-- mainly precautionary to avoid infection.  This ligation is to improve the flow rate in my left arm fistula and allow it take over dialysis duties as it matures. I had tried using it for a few sessions but it needed a little more work to make it viable.

Ligation Surgery went fine

Though I had my left arm in a sling. They did a nerve block which will lasted about 12 or so hours. Arm totally limp/numb though I can use my fingers. The nerve block is the bomb-- never felt anything as they cut into my arm and rerouted my veins to increase flow rate of the fistula.

best I could do photo wise with one arm. Also my aFib stuff appears to still be doing the job.

I am definitely feeling SO MUCH BETTER from that ablation. My aFib is still gone and it is really helping my shortness of breath. During the whole ligation surgery-- I had very stable blood pressure (new to me) in the 115-120 range (perfect) where I used to be 70-90 (super low). Also my heart rate was nice and steady with no signs of any aFib. So glad I worked diligently to get a cardiologist working with me. I just feel better all around - save the bruising and the now moderate pain in the arm.

Meanwhile-- the bruise on my leg is getting huge. Doesn't hurt a bit but so ugly looking. I'll show the part that isn't near my junk in a spoiler below to get an idea. It is probably twice as large as it was yesterday which might be because I am taking the blood thinners again to avoid the clots:

 

As a comparison-- this is what the area looked like (albeit from a different angle- yes I am holding my genitals)

this was Wednesday - two days after surgery but at this point, because of the dual surgeries, I was not taking the blood thinners yet.

by Thursday, it had progressed to this level. I was on Eliquis at this point.

 

They were worse the next day. I added some sharpie dashed lines to make sure I could see if they got much worse going forward.

I ran the pictures by my renal doctor (Dr. Bhalla) Friday morning at dialysis and then my cardiologist/electrophysiologist (Dr Makkar) and his nurse practitioner that afternoon to make sure taking the Eliquis (blood thinner) was ok. I need that to regulate any chance of clots forming in my heart from the ablation procedure- which could cause a stroke until fully healed.

So that should get everyone pretty much caught up.

I am also organizing my medical records and stuff. I held on to as many of my wrist bands as I could and made this picture...

 

Edited July 25, 2020 by MikeG

[BulledOver]

Mr. Mike as I said in the past, I don't know you as others must but, you are a Fellow Bull. You have obviously endured a lot and been on a very long road as you try to recover. I hope you find some daily relief. I hope you are feeling 100% in the near future. Our household will keep you in our thoughts and .                                                

[MikeG]

Life is a bit different to be sure. Having to go to dialysis three times a week, living on a renal diet, and an overall weakness in my body I've never had before-- these things can make it a little tough.

But in general, I continue to improve in the areas I can get better. That was the entire point of getting a cardiologist involved in my care. The aortic dissection was a major event and there were several things left on my list to attend to. I was sort of amazed that they could eliminate an aFib. That has greatly improved my health. Now I am working towards getting placed on a kidney transplant list. It is a long list of things you have to get done before they put you on that list. There is a colonoscopy in my future for example. The sooner I get on that list, the better. Though even being on the list is no sure thing and even if you get a transplant, they do fail sometimes.

The main thing you learn if you are paying attention is to listen to your doctors and nurses. Be cooperative and always be as nice as possible. No one needs to hear me stomping my feet or getting upset because I had to wait ten minutes for a treatment.

Just know this much--- my health is vastly improved these past ten months. I do feel pretty good as a general rule.

Anyway-- thanks for listening.

[BulledOver]

On 7/25/2020 at 12:58 PM, MikeG said:

This will seem really long but it is mostly just a lot of information about the procedures.

6 months later-- still hanging in there. Doing my dialysis and staying safely away from COVID19.

First-- some quick pictures to show the progress I made in the hospital in a time lapse sort of way. I weighed about 325 pounds when the ambulance took me to the ER on September 21st, 2019. By the time I left, I weighed 245 lbs (112 kgs). Most of the weight loss happened in the last couple of weeks (really bad hospital food).

potentially ****:

  Hide contents

First shot from the hospital - I was on that ventilator for 6 weeks.

Before and after

not sure if you can see the time/date in each one but this moves through in order.

me at dialysis

This week was especially busy - I had two surgeries. On Monday, I had what is known as an Ablation (description below) to resolve an issue with Atrial Fibrillation that was left over/a result of the heart surgeon stabilizing my heart and isolating the aFib tissue to a separate section in my heart. This was a well thought out idea as I never felt anything that the aFib was doing to me-- but it sure drove the medical professionals crazy, especially early on.

  Reveal hidden contents

 

The Abrazo AZ Heart Hospital needed me to take a COVID19 test prior to admission for surgery-- took it on 7/15 and the results were back in 1 day-- negative. The procedure was on Monday 7/20. I've never seen so much medical equipment in a surgical room before (wish I had a picture). They put about a 100 various electrical sensors all over me and suddenly-- zzzzzzzzzzz

Everything went well from what I've been told.

I don't even remember falling asleep. It appears to have resolved my Atrial Fibrilation (Paroxyamal A-Fib) situation (for now - fingers crossed). I was under for about 2-3 hours.Spent the night in the hospital recovering.

5 days later, I feel much better. I had a little pain initially after surgery but the drugs (mostly  morphine -- such an effective drug!). There was some expected bruising on my leg, mostly from the blood thinners (Eliquis) I am on to prevent any resulting clots from my heart surgery.

Next up -- was a brachial artery ligation to help my Fistula after a quick dialysis session in the morning. A Fistula is a created place in your arm where they can connect your blood stream to the dialysis machines. I have relied on a catheter since October 2019 (on my 5th one). Once the fistula has matured and can be relied on, they can remove the catheter-- mainly precautionary to avoid infection.  This ligation is to improve the flow rate in my left arm fistula and allow it take over dialysis duties as it matures. I had tried using it for a few sessions but it needed a little more work to make it viable.

Ligation Surgery went fine

Though I had my left arm in a sling. They did a nerve block which will lasted about 12 or so hours. Arm totally limp/numb though I can use my fingers. The nerve block is the bomb-- never felt anything as they cut into my arm and rerouted my veins to increase flow rate of the fistula.

best I could do photo wise with one arm. Also my aFib stuff appears to still be doing the job.

I am definitely feeling SO MUCH BETTER from that ablation. My aFib is still gone and it is really helping my shortness of breath. During the whole ligation surgery-- I had very stable blood pressure (new to me) in the 115-120 range (perfect) where I used to be 70-90 (super low). Also my heart rate was nice and steady with no signs of any aFib. So glad I worked diligently to get a cardiologist working with me. I just feel better all around - save the bruising and the now moderate pain in the arm.

Meanwhile-- the bruise on my leg is getting huge. Doesn't hurt a bit but so ugly looking. I'll show the part that isn't near my junk in a spoiler below to get an idea. It is probably twice as large as it was yesterday which might be because I am taking the blood thinners again to avoid the clots:

  Reveal hidden contents

As a comparison-- this is what the area looked like (albeit from a different angle- yes I am holding my genitals)

this was Wednesday - two days after surgery but at this point, because of the dual surgeries, I was not taking the blood thinners yet.

by Thursday, it had progressed to this level. I was on Eliquis at this point.

 

They were worse the next day. I added some sharpie dashed lines to make sure I could see if they got much worse going forward.

I ran the pictures by my renal doctor (Dr. Bhalla) Friday morning at dialysis and then my cardiologist/electrophysiologist (Dr Makkar) and his nurse practitioner that afternoon to make sure taking the Eliquis (blood thinner) was ok. I need that to regulate any chance of clots forming in my heart from the ablation procedure- which could cause a stroke until fully healed.

So that should get everyone pretty much caught up.

I am also organizing my medical records and stuff. I held on to as many of my wrist bands as I could and made this picture...

 

You've been through hell and back. I don't think I would wish your terrible medical trip even on a UCF fan....

Stay strong.