Heart surgery
Okay, I thought Gail’s comment was interesting because it was similar to my
endo’s. Two years ago my chest pain was unbearable. I thought I was dying.
I couldn’t even make my bed without chest pain. I went to a cardiologist
without the knowledge of my endocrinologist. He admitted me right away for
a test and it showed that three of my four arteries were 90 percent closed.
I was on the verge of a heart attack. They put me on a nitro-drip and wanted
to do bypass surgery as soon as possible . I called the endo and the kidney
doc and found that their opinions were opposite of the cardio doc. They
said that once you "crack the ribs" that most people are not ever the same.
She said that the surgery doesn’t always work and so you don’t add years to
your life. I was shocked and in tears not knowing what to do. Finally, I
decided the surgery would be better than dealing with the awful chest pain.
I went ahead with it and ended up with five bypasses. Luckily, I had an
expert doc that did some new procedures (like tiny slits on my leg instead
of a long incision) and I healed much quicker than most. Maybe because of
my age and being on the pump. I feel so much better and yet I do
occasionally get the chest pain so I think the arteries are closing up again
so maybe the endo is right about not living longer. At least the quality of
my life is much better. I happened to read in "Diabetes Forecast" shortly
after my surgery that even with the best blood sugar control, heart disease
can still occur. Anyway, my sister had the same surgery almost a year
later than me and her doc said that there was a genetic mutation that put a
kink in the artery causing it to narrow. I wondered if that’s why my dad
had the surgery at age 44 and I had it at 39 and my sister had it at 34.
Interesting huh? Well, all I know is that surgery is sometimes the only way
to relieve the pain. Of course it is a last resort for most, but now I’m
glad I had it. JMO, Jeana Ü
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