Last Saturday morning about 5 AM I was awake and listening to Butch breathing. It didn’t sound good
and I was concerned. His breathing was shallow, frequent, and gurgly. I woke him up and told him I thought we should go to ER. He had been struggling with what he determined to be “sinuses”. This has happened to him a couple of times a year. We were in ER, the one close to Alamo on the frontage road. They hooked him up to a monitor right away and the first question was “How long have you had AFIB?” Butch said I don’t have AFIB, my wife does. But the machine didn’t lie. He was having AFIB, a fluttering of the heart. He had many tests including X-rays and CT scan. They said he had a lot of fluid in the upper part of his lungs and yet was dehydrated. They explained a procedure to take fluid off the lungs first by giving him lasix and a urinal. It was successful after giving them a gallon or two. The next step in the procedure is to rehydrate by IV and all went well. By this time it is 10 or so. We wondered what was taking so long but it turned out they were looking for an empty bed for him in McAllen Heart. They ended up finding him one in McAllen Medical, the same one he has been to in other years.
First, we were shocked that he was going to be hospitalized, and then we were surprised he had pneumonia, and yesterday we found out his heart was only working at 28%. He is scheduled for a procedure to check his arteries tomorrow. They will move him to McAllen Heart and his ‘surgery’ is scheduled for 11:00 AM. They told him if they found one blockage he would get a stint but if they found 4 he would be having open heart surgery.
We were frequently asked what the symptoms there were and there were NONE. In hindsight, there were a few signs like frequent naps, loss of appetite, etc. Never any pain. He was concerned a bit last Wednesday at square dancing when he was having trouble keeping up. He walked home from the pool hall one day and said he was getting out of shape because it was a chore. When we walked together he was having trouble keeping up with me.
We were very lucky to catch this when we did.
As for me, I have been a mess, fearing the worst. Lately, I have been getting a grip so things are looking better now that there is a plan. Always better when there is a plan.
I am having trouble keeping up with all the correspondence.
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