Dancing with the devil!
I pretty much knew that I would pay for 40 years of smoking…and that time came Saturday afternoon.
Started out as a busy day Saturday…shopping for last minute ingredients, visiting my mom…finally home to make dessert for Easter dinner.
I was at the island prepping…hubs was in the den relaxing with our new lab (that he doesn't want to get attached to,,,lol).
My side of story…I was trying to think of words to tease him that I could see him on the sofa with Grace..snuggling and lavishing with movies.
His side of the story, I was babbling, and he thought I was teasing him…no once, but twice before he realized I was not being funny!
Remember him jumping from sofa with phone in hand telling me there was something very wrong with me. I was not speaking well. He called EMS anyway. I was not happy.
I told him I just needed a little break, water and some proteins as I'm hypo glycemic. I moved to the living room, actually took a baby aspirin…why, I don’t know.
EMS..came, blood sugar okay, BP normal, but speech is still impaired. Hubs is not convinced I’m okay. And is ready to catapult me to EMS vehicle. EMS team…also convinced me I should just go…just to be on safe side.
This is really going to interfere with my day and time if this isn’t a real emergency I’m thinking to myself!
So I went to local hospital…my speech is slurred..CAT scan is run..a few more test…next thing I know, I have definitely had a stroke, and am being transported to a specialized faculty that specialize in vascular treatment.
If you go back to my earlier blogs when I was in the beginning of my quit, I asked if anyone experienced a fuzzy numbness to their lower part of face…not anyone. So I did go to my primary. He ordered ultra sound…the CAT. Results were minimal. But I still would inform that fuzzy face. Came to the conclusion that it was a pinched nerve, something I would have to live with.
Apparently I have had 3 previous TIA mini strokes, that includes this stroke, so I have brain trauma. Normal course of action is go home for 5 days with blood thinners, keep calm. Return for a cath to the brain, then schedule for cardiac surgery.
Instead…
18 months later, April 1, 2018, Doppler, MRI, cardiac cath to the brain… the medical interventionist state’s I am now a STAT patient scheduled for a carodic artery plaque removal, 99% blockage, ¼ inch of crud removed. April 2, 2018--- 2 hour prep, 3-4 hour surgery, 2 hour recovery.
Yep glad it wasn’t scheduled for April Fools day!
Will possibly need another survey for another booked artery in the stomach, will know more in 2 weeks.
I am BLESSED to be alive and writing this blog.
I am BLESSED that only my speech has been affected. I talk like I’m trying to disguise my intake of alcohol!
1. Extremely happy that I am a non smoker healthy for this emergency surgery and all the tests that went with it.
2. Recovery and speed of the recopy better as a non smoker.
3. Extremely blessed for awesome medical team and surgeons…they are the best…and they know how profusely grateful I am.
Now a days they wouldn’t have risked this surgery as a smoker..who knows.
The most amazing comment was from pulmonary, she thought I was a non a non smoker…not someone who smoked 40 years and quit almost 2 years ago!
So in conclusion, for newbies…the uncomfortable journey is worth every step, complaint and the trip to NML. For us elders, don’t cave to the crave right!
Hang tight with this group Exes…the best group in cyber space! Couldn’t have a better life support system!
~Kathy 711 DOF
