That's all for now, folks!

Continued from yesterday, which was continued from the day before, etc., etc. click here

When my cardiologist said he wanted to keep my heart at rest for the weekend, he wasn't kidding!  I was kept in bed for the entire weekend, and again on Monday right up to the time I was lifted up onto the gurney to travel to the cath lab for my angiogram. I was really nervous about having an angiogram because I thought I had been told a long time ago that it was quite painful to the patient, and that the type of sedation given to the patient causes the memory of that pain to be erased. All these years I've been hoping that I would never have to go through it.  So, on Monday morning I was full of dread and nervousness--needlessly. It was a piece of cake! I was awake for the procedure, but sedated just enough to be barely aware of what was going on around me, and I didn't feel a thing!

For an angiogram, a large needle is inserted in the femoral artery, in the groin. A long tube is threaded  up to the heart and dye is injected so the doctor can watch on a monitor screen to see how and where the fluid is traveling through all the little tunnels and channels! That's when he knows for sure what the heart condition is and can learn more about the damage.

The only scary part for me was knowing that I had to lay flat and very still, both during the procedure and for a few hours afterward. The reason is so you don't bleed to death! In my room the nurse had explained to me that the femural artery is a main, heavy-duty artery, and if that artery wasn't kept sealed, you could bleed to death in a matter of minutes or seconds even. Now, that's scary stuff!

Fortunately, all went well, and there was no indication of any further damage or blockage, other than what the doctor already knew. I was pretty much floating in the clouds through the whole ordeal, including the hours of laying still afterwards.

I went to bed that night (Monday night), fully expecting to be released from the hospital on Tuesday.  That's what my doctor had indicated when he visited me after the angiogram procedure. Well, Tuesday morning held another little disappointment. When he came to see me on Tuesday morning, he said he would be keeping me for another full day. Sometime in the middle of the night my heart, having a mind of its own, decided to go for a little run, and exceeded the speed limit! Bummer! Bad heart! Bad heart! 

Now, when I think back on it, I realize that it was rather ironic, because during every night I spent in the hospital, my blood pressure dropped dangerously low in the middle of the night and they always had to wake me up to try to raise my blood pressure. I mean, every single night! Now that I'm back home, I am still waking up every single night around 3:00 A.M. 

On Wednesday afternoon I was released from the hospital. It sure felt good to get home and sleep in my own bed!  Oh, I forgot to mention that on Monday night I was awakened by the sound of a smoke alarm going off  just outside my door--again.  I stayed in bed and stayed calm this time.  (I had become a pro at this.)  It didn't take long before I began to smell the acrid smell of burnt popcorn in the microwave.  About that same time, all the night staff began laughing and having a good ol' time over the mishap! Once again, the firemen showed up, but all was well.

On Thursday I will see my cardiologist again, and then I will begin cardiac rehab on October 31st--3 times a week, for 8 weeks.  I'm actually looking forward to that. For now, I'm doing fairly well, for one who had a heart attack just a week and a half ago--thanks to the fact that it was a mild one. I have a good husband who is taking very good care of me. We go for a short walk, at a leisurely pace, every day.  That's all the exercise I am allowed to do for now--untill I begin cardiac rehab. That will be carefully monitored by nurses and a doctor, and will include EKGs and frequent checking of vital signs. Today I was up for most of the day--did the complete laundry, cleaned up the kitchen, and got all the bookkeeping and bill-paying done.

I'm thankful to be okay!  For those of you who have been praying for me--THANK YOU--from the bottom of my heart!  (Yes, the bottom of my heart--that's where the vein is that got blocked.)