I had been in Illinois with my daughter and her family. Ken spent the first three weeks of August with me, and then returned home with our dog Princess for an eye doctor appointment and dental appointment.
On August 31, Ken picked me up from the (very late arriving) bus in Detroit. I had warned him that I would be hungry! We went out to dinner, and afterward he was belching loudly and saying he felt nauseous so I offered him some antacid tablets- chewable- and that seemed to solve the problem. We thought no more about it.
The next morning, we were both working on line, and we planned to break from that and have lunch at noon together and then prepare for choir rehearsal and leading services at temple that night. It was Friday of Labor Day weekend.
When I went to check on him at noon, he wasn't in his "office" in the side bedroom where I expected him. I found him sitting up in bed in our room.
"I still don't feel well," he said. "I have some pain."
"Where?"
He circled his hand around his chest. This was the first time I felt alarm. He'd had NO warning signs of heart attack: no shortness of breath, no pain in chest before this, no cold sweat, no tingling... nothing.
He decided to call his primary care physician, who is a part of what I will call CorpProfitHealth. She didn't have Friday hours, but the one answering the phone told him, upon hearing the symptoms, to go to the CorpProfitHealth system ER clinic about 20 minutes from our house.
We went there. He had an EKG. It was normal- for him- because he had always had a "left bundle branch" that really doesn't suggest anything but because it can mask other issues, they did the blood work.
The blood work came back with levels that absolutely suggested both heart attack and heart failure. BOTH.
"You need a heart catheterization to see what is going on, and maybe a stent," they said at the clinic. "We don't do that here. You need to go to CorpProfitHealth Hospital Oakland." This was another 20 minutes further from our home.
Ken went by ambulance. I followed by car. The cardiologist called me as I was pulling in to the parking structure. He said he'd meet me when I came off the elevator.
He took me aside. He had two wing men. He showed me pictures of blockages and other disease. He said Ken needed open heart surgery, quadruple bypass surgery. "We don't do that here," he said. "You need to go to CorpProfitHealth Macomb in Mt. Clemens."
Now an hour from our home.
I asked if we could go to another hospital (out of their system) closer to our home or family. "Well..." he said, "you could ask for transport, but this is urgent, and it's Labor Day Weekend, and the other hospitals may not have beds, or might not take him..."
Ken was taken by ambulance to the next hospital in CorpProfitHealth.
By now I had contacted my temple friends and handed off the services for that night, and notified our kids. They wanted to come in RIGHT NOW, and Ken and I both said NO, nothing is happening right now, it is too worrisome for you to drive on Friday of Labor Day Weekend. Tomorrow will be better.
This is what we learned in the next hours:
Ken did have a heart attack. There had been heart damage and it was recent, so it was the (what we thought was) "indigestion" Thursday night and Friday morning.
We learned that this was not his first heart attack. There was older heart damage as well.
There was significant heart disease. The blockages of 3 major veins were 30%, 90%, and 95%. He had to stay in the hospital and IN BED. They did not want any additional stress on his heart.
His heart muscle was weak, pumping at less than 30% and it should be above 50% (this is the amount of blood in the ventricle that is pumped- that's why 50% is a good number).
They told us then: There is good reason for hope that once the bypass surgery happens, that the heart will be more effective and stronger again, as it was currently not getting enough blood. Because of the extensive disease, it would probably be a quadruple bypass. This disease was a genetic problem, from both his mom & dad's side.
They told us then: His blood sugar has been elevated, which could be because the drugs he has been given contain glucose, or it could be pre diabetic. Surgery may cause/trigger diabetes, but this should resolve post surgery. Later, the A1C levels suggested he had been diabetic for a month or more before this.
The surgery was scheduled for Monday morning, Labor Day.
The surgeon said he was quite hopeful as Ken was in otherwise excellent health, and the veins that would be used from his chest wall and legs were in good shape. His valves were also in good shape, which was also encouraging.
They told us that surgery could last from 4 to 12 hours.
I let the kids know. I updated our temple family. We were all worried- Ken too- but hopeful that he would be better than ever after surgery.
