I cannot believe I am writing this:

I’ve had another Heart Attack. Its my 6th one since 2015 and #3 of this year alone.

This morning I was transferred from Reston Hospital to Fairfax Hospital at 4:00 am, in case we needed to get to the cath lab quickly today. When I arrived they got me hooked up to the monitor,  labs started and did an EKG. The labs this morning showed an elevated troponin (heart enzyme that indicates the level of distress/heart attack) and the labs are still climbing. They will continue to trend the troponins until they stop rising.

Given this change, my local cardiologist, Dr. K , as well as the team on duty this week, spent most of the morning in a conference discussing my case and decided that we need to get the Cath done tomorrow. Dr. K is not doing procedures tomorrow, so his colleague Dr. H, will be doing the procedure. Once Dr. H sees what is going on/where the blockages are, he will confer with Dr. K on his findings in the lab so that it can be a collective decision on how to move forward, stent or surgery? Literally no intervention will be done without conferring with Dr. K.

This my friends, was like a punch to the gut. When they told me about the elevated troponin labs, my only response was “I am so over my heart”. I am beyond frustrated and to be quite honest, very angry at Hopkins and my cardiologist up there. Back in May when all this started, they would not listen and instead of intervening two months ago when all of this started,  it progressed to the point that I had another heart attack. Im just going to need the Lord to control my tongue, the next time I speak to Hopkins or to a doctor who won’t listen. And let’s be real, He may need to hold Mama Bear back from some of these doctors,

The local team is trying to appropriately react and treat the  heart attack. But they also are already working on trying to find out how quickly we can get tied in with the apheresis clinic I mentioned yesterday, prior to discharge. That way whatever is treated tomorrow whether with a stent or left to be surgically intervened on,  could have a greater chance of not re-occluding. We will know tomorrow if we will place another stent or be sent for surgery.

The team’s goal today is to keep me as comfortable as possible until we can get to the Cath Lab. I am on oxygen, multiple drips and pain and nausea meds as needed. Just going to the bathroom sets off extreme pain, so I am limited to a bed pan or a bedside commode, nothing I thought I’d deal with at the age of 32. I have been blessed with a team of nurses today who have laughed with me, shared in my disappointment at another heart attack, made sure all our questions are answered and just made sure I am well cared for. We’ve gone through 5 IVs in the last 3 days and we finally got a midline placed this evening so that meds can be given without issue. We are prepped and ready for the Cath Lab tomorrow. Thankfully Mom is allowed to come for a longer period tomorrow to help post-procedure with my requests for ice, water, morale boosting, etc.

Just a little housekeeping note: I appreciate everyone’s love and support and following along with us. However, I am going to ask a favor over the next few days. Although I am eternally grateful for the care and love behind the texts and emails, unless I reach out to you first, I would kindly ask that you do not call or text. Messages on facebook or on the blog are welcome and appreciated. Having one spot to respond to is a lot less stressful than trying to remember who you did/didn’t respond to.

Please keep in mind, I have not had more than an hour or two of sleep in a row since Thursday night. Nor probably has my mother who has been awake with worry for her girl. I dont want this to come across as rude, but we need to be honest. Right now, she & I simply do not have the bandwidth to respond to messages and lets just be honest your girl here gets a little cranky when messages or calls come through right as I’m dozing off. Mom and I have to devote our energy to keeping these doctors in check, working with the nurses to try to stabilize things and leaning on each other to support each other through yet another setback.  We would ask that you keep in mind, we haven’t really slept, I feel like crap and our energy has to go towards managing this admission, the procedure and the recovery afterward.

As always please keep us close in prayer. As much turmoil and pain this admission has been filled with, there is also a peace about it, knowing the Lord is directing the steps. Am I disappointed that this is a part of the story he has written for my life? Sure. But I know He is near and is the divine physician and healer.

KG

.