Back in the horse-pistol again

Forums: a2k, Angioplasty, Coumadin, Community, able2know
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Y'know, this getting boring as hell. (Roberta will sympathize, I know.)

Here's the deal: Last month (Aug.) I spent five days in the local hispital (Hilo Medical Center) for a heart-condition I didn't know I had. Something called H. Fib, wherein 'fib' stands for 'fibrillation.' At that point the cardiologist who saw me said he very strongly suspected that I had had a recent heart attack and had apparently been unaware of it. But, subsequently, one thing led to another and I wound up being hospitalized. Then,after being released, I had to spend damned near $100 to fill all the prescriptions they gave me.

I didn't report any of this to you folks here on A2k (or any other website, for that matter) because I thought the whole things was just too absurd and trivial to bother with. I started taking the meds, as prescribed, religiously (that means I said "Goddamn!" every time I took another pill or capsule).

Now, here's the rub: yesterday morning (Wed., 12 Sep. 2012) I ended up back in the old beloved horse-pistol following a bizarre episode which made me think that I was knock-a-knock-knocking on Heaven's gate. They kept me overnight, "observed" me, and turned me loose again a couple of hours ago. One new 'scrip I have to fill, some blood work scheduled to be done this coming Monday, must make an appointment w/cardiologist for later in week. Have met the cardiologist, a very nice confidence-inspiring Japanese-American gentleman who would remind me of C.I. if he only were not so tall. [ Smile

] He's already making noises about the prossibility of angioplasty which would involve travel to Honolulu because they don't do that procedure locally here. My finances are a shambles right now and I have no idea how to pay air-fare to Honolulu unless some social service agency can declare me insolvent and indigent (insane is already on record) and provide for a medivac helicopter to fly me over and back.

What's the point in getting old? I should'a died back when I was in my mid-fifties. Even funerals were so much cheaper back then.

What's anyone here know about angioplasty? What do you know about a blood-thinner drug called Coumadin? I've been taking it under doctor's orders and it seems to have thinned my blood to the point where I am virtually anemic. Medics are scared that if I scratch myself I could bleed to death. And this is guy who used to be proud of the fact that I congeal beautifully and never bleed more than absolutely necessary.

Thoughts?

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Type: Question • Score: 32 • Views: 14,603 • Replies: 144

@Lustig Andrei,

Keep fighting and get better

Stay safe taking your blood thinner. No playing in the kitchen for you, and don't spend anytime in the bar.

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@Lustig Andrei,

lotsa folks know about coumadin here

will add a tag about it

I think we've got a couple of folks with fairly recent angioplasty

Your 50's? I don't think so. I'd be pissed at you because I'd have never got to be in a virtual saloon with you.

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@Lustig Andrei,

Farmerman probably has a thread on his fibrillation history - I'll see if I can find it. Will pm you on some other stuff.

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@ehBeth,

wait - my tags re coumadin and angioplasty won't work because of the existing tags.

I wonder if I can get into Penny's account and add tags .... hmmmmmmm

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@Lustig Andrei,

Angioplasty is pretty routine as an alternative to bypass. I assume you know what it does and are wanting input only from people who have experienced it?

Very sorry to hear you have been having more health problems and that you are having difficulties accessing the care you need!

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I'm pulling for you, Merry.

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@Lustig Andrei,

stay strong, pal...

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@Lustig Andrei,

Get well, Andy! My gramps has been on coumadin for years...one day when we were all in the doctor's office with him the doc mentioned, "oh I see you're on rat poison"...hahahaha the look on gramps' face! His doctor is a real jokester and loves pulling that whenever he can apparently.

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@Lustig Andrei,

Now you must be wishing that you had taken better care of your body in the past.

My grandpa died from atherosclerosis. He got angioplasty, but he didn't give up his vice. Smoked a pack day. Lasted him two years until he died of heart attack one night in his bed, without even as much as raising a commotion.

Change your diet, and lifestyle to a healthy side if you haven't already.

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f'mans thread re coumadin and arrhythmia and other stuff

http://able2know.org/topic/102420-1

foods to avoid on coumadin - safe recipes etc

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@Atom Blitzer,

Thank you for the advice, Atom. I still smoke about a pack a day. It's the last real vice I've got left. I've been doing it for nearly 60 years. Whenever anybody tells me that I should quit before it kills me, I tell them that, at age 73 (almost 74) I expect something will kill me within the next 10 to 15 years. If it's not tobacco, it'll be something else. I'm not much concerned about longevity; I'm much more concerned about the quality of my life while I still have a life.

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@Irishk,

Yup. The gp attending me the first time in the hosp. called it "ran poison" too. It was a little private joke between us. He was a reader of books, as I am, and we hardly ever talked medicine or health when he came into my room. We'd talk books and authors and literature for 10 to 15 minutes, then he'd ask, "Oh, by the way, how you feeling? Mind if I listen to your chest with my stethoscope?"

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@ehBeth,

I've sometimes find that if you add not one or two, but five or six or seven appropriate tags, sometimes that will kick in one of them. Don't know if that is still true.

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Andy, Sorry to hear you're having a problem. How's that for a euphemism? I know little about heart problems. Know a lot about being sick and having financial problems. I'm worrying back here on the mainland that you won't be able to get to the right hospital.

Saying an oy on your behalf. Also sighing.

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@Roberta,

Thanks for the 'oy' and for your concern, 'Boita. As you've probably surmised, I don't sweat the small stuff. And at this point in my life, everything seems like small stuff. Just an aggravation, a valid reason to kvetch, is all.

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@Lustig Andrei,

Sounds like you two have a great relationship, which is so good.

My grandmother has never admitted this to gramps' doctor (and she never will - we might, though lol), but she's never given him the recommended dosage of coumadin. She always cuts it in half (it's rat poison!) and then she tells us she's going to make sure he lives forever. She has all these med. books, and acts like she was a doctor in another life. She takes such great care of him, otherwise, we let her get away with it. One of these days, though....

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Jesus do I know about heart problems, through my husband.

You could find you have a lot more energy after angioplasty. The recovery time is minimal.

Are you sure the doc said H Fib rather that A Fib?

A Fib is for the upper portion of your heart, (atrial) many times it's bothersome, but not not life threatening.

Now, if they said V Fib, fir ventrical, you've got a lot more to worry about. that's why Wally has an implanted defribrilator. Fortunately it's never gone off, because the meds he's on has made his heart stronger, and parts that were thought dead actually are A-ok now.

The message I'm giving is there are new discoveries every day in heart disease, and wonder new meds and procedures.

I would have sworn to you on a bible my husband would have been dead by 2003, yet he's still kicking around, and in some ways better than before. He'd had a massive heart attack, didn't know it, thought it was the flu.

Good luck, and keep sharing your experiences.

BTW, have you considered trying an e-cig? I've got a topic about that here somewhere. Before you say not interested, my husband had been smoking camels since a young age, and the e-cigs are the only things out of dozens of attempts that has worked.

73 is not old Andy.

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@chai2,

chai2 wrote:

Are you sure the doc said H Fib rather that A Fib?

Now that you mention it, I believe the EMT who took me to the hospital in an ambulance first time around called it "A H Fib." State I was in, I wasn't sure if I wasn't hearing things. Thanx for the input, chai.

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Oi, Andy

Stop messing around and being sick!

You're no use to us sick!

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Back in the horse-pistol again

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