Art has an arrhythmia. His cardiologist put him through a battery of tests. None of the tests were conclusive.
Art has always known that his father had a heart condition and indeed passed away from a heart attack. His dad worked very difficult hours, didn't get enough real exercise, didn't always eat what he should, and smoked during his young years. He died too early at 70. For this reason Art has tried very hard to stay healthy.
Art's angiogram was supposed to be on Wednesday.
We'd gotten lots of fabulous advice from my Kansas go-to-friend, DrumMajor. We were ready.
Since I can't drive (far), my brother, Dennis took the day off to take us to Tripler at 7:15 AM. He rode his motorcycle in the rain to get to our house.
At 9:00 we learned that there wasn't a recovery bed available. Even if he probably didn't need a bed, they had to make sure a bed was available just in case something should go wrong. And they weren't sure WHEN a bed would open up.
The waiting room was so crowded that Dennis and I went home to await the call to pick Art up after the surgery. We weren't even sure what time he'd be having the surgery.
Back at home, Dennis and I took a nap, read and waited. I called the hospital around noon to ask if Art had come out of surgery yet. It took four phone transfers to finally get to the right people.
"I'm afraid he's still waiting in the waiting room, mam," said the nurse.
"What? It's been 4.5 hours!"
Sigh... The nurse transferred me again and Art came on the phone. "Would you pick me up?" asked Art.
We rushed over to Tripler where Art stood waiting for us.
We grabbed lunch at Champa Thai restaurant. Art was starving since he hadn't eaten or drunk anything since the previous night's dinner.
The angiogram is rescheduled for next Tuesday. I hope it isn't raining again and I hope they have a bed.
POSTSCRIPT:
Oh my gosh!
I forgot to wish all our dear Chinese friends a Happy New Year!
or
Art has always known that his father had a heart condition and indeed passed away from a heart attack. His dad worked very difficult hours, didn't get enough real exercise, didn't always eat what he should, and smoked during his young years. He died too early at 70. For this reason Art has tried very hard to stay healthy.
Art's angiogram was supposed to be on Wednesday.
We'd gotten lots of fabulous advice from my Kansas go-to-friend, DrumMajor. We were ready.
At 9:00 we learned that there wasn't a recovery bed available. Even if he probably didn't need a bed, they had to make sure a bed was available just in case something should go wrong. And they weren't sure WHEN a bed would open up.
The waiting room was so crowded that Dennis and I went home to await the call to pick Art up after the surgery. We weren't even sure what time he'd be having the surgery.
Back at home, Dennis and I took a nap, read and waited. I called the hospital around noon to ask if Art had come out of surgery yet. It took four phone transfers to finally get to the right people.
"I'm afraid he's still waiting in the waiting room, mam," said the nurse.
"What? It's been 4.5 hours!"
Sigh... The nurse transferred me again and Art came on the phone. "Would you pick me up?" asked Art.
We rushed over to Tripler where Art stood waiting for us.
We grabbed lunch at Champa Thai restaurant. Art was starving since he hadn't eaten or drunk anything since the previous night's dinner.
The angiogram is rescheduled for next Tuesday. I hope it isn't raining again and I hope they have a bed.
POSTSCRIPT:
Oh my gosh!
I forgot to wish all our dear Chinese friends a Happy New Year!
Gong Hei Fat Choy!
or
Xin Nian Kuai Le!
that is just awful! poor art. i hope it goes smoothly next tuesday. at least he got a scrumptious looking lunch!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Joyce. We already have the restaurant for next week picked out. :-)
DeleteThank goodness Art had you to be able to pick him up! Honestly, I just don't understand our medical system at the moment.
ReplyDeletePlease let Art know that I am thinking about him. It's a good thing that this condition was found out so he can have this surgery!
Love the header photo of the two of you, it looks magical. xx
Actually, my brother drove since I can't drive very far at all. It's good that they're checking everything and making sure he's OK. I'm happy about that. It's just not knowing for sure yet that causes the anxiety.
DeleteI hope Art's angiogram goes well on Tuesday! I will be sending prayers and positive vibes.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Keith.
DeleteIt certainly helps to have family, doesn't it. I hope the angiogram goes well. In the meantime, dining at Champa Thai must have been just plain wonderful. I love Thai cuisine. Good luck, Art!
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely, I don't know what I'd do without Dennis around.
DeleteThis is beginning to sound like Canada.
ReplyDeleteLuckily this was a rare occurrence. Usually things go pretty smoothly.
DeleteNo beds! How many times I heard that one through last summer. It has to be a bed on the right unit. Where do they hide all those beds?
ReplyDeleteIn our case, it was lack of beds and staff that just didn't work out. From the terrible rain to the wait to the re-scheduling, it was just one of those days. I'm glad it was a rare occurrence.
DeleteLove your header picture.
ReplyDeleteThat is a scary thing when one's heart starts banging in the chest. I've had that since I was 14 and I remember the day it started. I control mine with diet and a few supplements. I have been free of it for quite a few years but 2 weeks ago, bang, almost continual palpitations and my lower back hurt fiercely. My tailbone was out (again) and there is a connection between that and the heart that I don't exactly understand. First thing my naturalpath said, "You've been around chemicals." I said no, because I couldn't think of any. Then as we were talking I mentioned painting (still the aftermath to my frozen, busted pipes) and she said, "That's it! Stop it immediately."
She adjusted my tailbone back in and gave me a few supplements and I came home and put away the paint brushes for now. I was almost finished anyway. Not another irregular heart beat and my back ache was gone. I am again carrying heavy boxes to the garage and carried a heavy table upstairs last night. What a relief.
I hope Art finds comfort from that annoying affliction. I send him peace.
Manzanita, To go down a slightly different path, Little Apple :-) I would like to respond to the painting comment. Why? I think you were referring to house painting because you mention pipes. In my case, I am an oil painter. As nearly as I can figure it by reconstructing past events, I Iost the olfactory sense, the sense of smell, about June of 2010. It could be just age, but I have also wondered if painting with oils could be a cause. I also notice I often have the sniffles in Hawaii and we have VOG (volcanic smog). When I go to the Mainland, I dry up in the nose noticeably. So far I have not found any answer to this question or any remedy. It's not the worst handicap in the world, but if anyone out there knows anything about the NOSE and regaining the sense of smell, I would be most interested.
DeleteOh dear! I'm so sorry to hear this, Hank. Art's friend just lost his sense of taste! It's the most bizarre thing. They can't seem to find a cure.
DeleteManzanita, I'm so sorry for those palpitations and severe pain you've had to endure, but I'm thrilled that you've found a cure! Wonderful!
DeleteMr. Chapin -- I'm hoping you went to your doc or a neurologist about your deleted olfactory senses. That's certainly not too common. If you haven't, I'm mystified what might be affecting olfactory nerves. I'm assuming you don't sniff drugs, and stopped sniffing grade-school paste a long time ago. Good Luck.
DeleteDrumMajor
I do hope it all goes well, whenever it happens. And I'm sure DrumMajor has been a great help. This is pretty awful, though. The patient has no power at all in a hospital setting. Sigh.
ReplyDeleteI'm definitely keeping my fingers and toes crossed. Sigh...
DeleteI am so very sorry you had to put up with this. Oh the stories I could tell about Ron's care towards the end. At first all his medical treatment was great but it got worse and worse and toward the end we spent one session waiting in what appeared to be a storage closet for a surgery that was delayed from 8:00 AM to finally 7:00 PM and it was outpatient so we had to travel 80 miles home after dark in pouring rain with him still partially sedated and me trying to get him in the house alone. That is just one tale. There is no excuse for this mess. At least Art is healthy enough to take it.
ReplyDeleteOh gosh, Annie... I am so very sorry. What we had to go through is nothing, truly nothing compared to what you've had to endure. It breaks my heart to hear your story.
DeleteThis sort of thing happens everywhere - there's really no excuse for it. I hope all goes smoothly on Tuesday.
ReplyDeleteI guess it was just one of those weird days when the emergency room took up most of the beds. They said it was a very unusual situation. I think it might also have to do with Hawaii losing one of the major hospitals so Tripler has to take up the slack for emergency cases.
DeleteSeems like Art should get dibs on a bed the next time after his experience this week.
ReplyDeleteWouldn't that be nice?
Deletehospitals! that's explains his commitment to exercise and diet...good for him! best wishes on the return try!
ReplyDeleteHe's always been aware of the genetics that could be against him. Thank you for your well wishes, Lin.
DeleteWe have a hospital like that in my city. I've heard of people waiting 10 hours or more in the emerg. room. I told my mom that if I ever have to go to the emergency room then she'd have to take me to the other hospital. It is a bit more expensive, but when you're dire need, that's not important.
ReplyDeleteIn an emergency situation, you absolutely should go to the BEST place around. It's so critical.
DeleteWhat an adventure!
ReplyDeleteUh, you may want to refrain from taking any pictures in the hallways or anywhere except in Art's room of Art only. Privacy laws and administration would scream at you and take away your camera. A nurse would get fired for doing it.
And, just to reassure you, an angiogram (cardiac cath,) isn't "surgery," it's a diagnostic procedure. Surgery is cutting and removing stuff. Yes, it's technically "invasive" because they poke the access in the groin area.
Sounds like they'd had some urgent caths to do, and that's why their "recovery" beds were full, albeit unplanned. You want to have to be bothered like this vs. Art being an urgent case. "Recovery" could have been full, stemming from other types of urgent cases. (If it snows/ices outside, hospitals get many "people fell and broke something" urgent surgeries.)
I'm actually surprised they could determine in just 4.5 hours that they wouldn't be able to get to Art that day, after processing the urgent cases, then staying safe by making sure he had a "recovery" bed. They waited to see how fast others were recovering in recovery to determine if Art would have room to join them.
In Kansas, we don't call them "recovery" beds for such "lightweight" procedures, (I know: it's not lightweight if it's you,) we call them "post-caths" or "short-stay" beds. Yep, it's a good idea to have such a bed, and staff, on the tiny chance an overnight or longer stay is needed. If they use the unit that has multi-day admitted cardiac patients, it is rare that there is a bed for just recovering from a cath. When short-stay has been full, I've taken care of a jillion "not critical; just being watched post-cath for a few hours" patients when my cardiac unit had a single bed available.
You may want to stay at the hospital to hear what the docs report post-procedure. If Art is delayed again, he most likely won't have time to call you before they whisk him to procedure before he loses his place in line. I'm betting the result is light-weight.
Tuesday is usually a good day for procedures. The weekend urgently admitted patients have already been screened and tested.
You need to give your umbrella to your brother..... Keep breathing! It's good for your heart!
Aloha, DrumMajor
I did make sure that even if you blow up the photo, there's no one recognizable in the photo. It would be a blur. However, I will be extra careful in the future. Thank you for the warning.
DeleteYou're right in that Art's procedure was considered elective and that it was a rare occasion for this to happen. His cardiologist said this had never happened to her before. They were also understaffed and I sure wouldn't want them to work on him when they're understaffed and under stress.
On the other hand, juuuust in case... I've modified the picture to give it a more cartoon effect (thanks to Denise).
DeleteTippler is one of the best hospitals around. I'm so sorry this happened. How truly frustration. Great looking lunch tho.
ReplyDeleteWe have had very good experiences so far at Tripler and consider ourselves lucky that we can go there.
DeleteP.S. -- Art will definitely need a bed, or a flat surface somewhere, with the 5-lead heart monitor and a vital signs machine, post-procedure. We check all of that, and make sure the "poke" in the groin vessel doesn't bleed or leak. You also need enough staff to do that.
ReplyDeleteOne suburban 350-bed hospital here had 14 nurses call in sick for the same shift last week due to the flu. And that's with most hospitals requiring flu shots for all staff and volunteers. Sometimes "we don't have a bed," actually means "we don't have the staff."
Hundreds of patients are filling up the Kansas City hospitals due to the flu.
Keep Art's place in line.
DrumMajor
You're absolutely right and they were short staffed due to the emergency cases that had come in.
DeleteVery interesting information in the above comment from Drum Major. I hope things go well on Tuesday and you don't have to go through any more of this kind of frustration.
ReplyDeleteI just LOVE having DrumMajor for my consultant.
DeleteThis is understandable, although I'm sure very annoying and it's NOT the 'health system' as one reader commented, but a situation at one particular hospital. To do any procedure, all protocols must be in place.
ReplyDeleteNow the fact that they didn't re-schedule all non-critical patients is another matter.
PS One can tell that DrumMajor knows his/her way around hospitals!
DeletePPS Yes, put that camera away!! (HIPAA!!)
PPPS Good luck to Art next week.
Actually Art is considered non-critical. The critical, emergency patients had to be cared for first on Wednesday so they were also short staffed. It was just one of those days.
DeleteSince I'd seen this before: Yep, DrumMajor is a girl, an RN cardiac & hospice nurse in Kansas. I was Drum Major (the lead marching person, not the twirler girls,) of my high school's military-style marching band in another state, the top band in the state for several years, and still talk with my band director. But this isn't my blog, because it's dangerous for a practicing nurse to have one, be on Facebook, or tweet.
ReplyDeleteCheers, DrumMajor
I'm glad you can be my blog partner then, DrumMajor.
DeleteThanks, DrumMajor!! :)
DeleteThat sounds awful! It's very stressful to wait for your examination for such a long time. The situation is similar over here, patients are only better off if they have a private health insurance. All the best for Art and good luck next Tuesday.
ReplyDeleteThis is the first time this has happened. I think it was just a fluke. Our care has been pretty darn good, even great at Tripler so far. In fact, it's been better than some of the outside doctors we've seen in the private sector.
DeleteSo awful to wait like that for a procedure, only to find out you are rescheduled!! I hope his arrythmia is not the serious kind, but any arrhythmia is surely a weight on the shoulders. How does he continue with his running?
ReplyDeleteMy husband had the Wolf Parkinson White syndrome type of arrhythmia and got it treated with ablation surgery. So far he's doing pretty good, only a few "almosts". When that happens he bemoans not letting the doctor treat more areas of his heart since he could feel his heart flutter wildly each time they zapped it (he was awake during the whole procedure). He lived with his condition since a young boy, but only recently got the treatment. I think it was to be a preventative since the procedure was minimally invasive. I hope there is a treatment for what Art has.
L...w
Art was told to stop his running for now until they can figure out what is going on. He'll be walking the Aloha Run with me and our friend, Kristin this year. The Half Marathon has been completely nixed this year and probably never the Marathon again. They're just really cautious with him. He's never been able to actually feel his arrhythmia like many people can. They've checked him out thoroughly in Illinois where they said it looked OK, but it's good to be extra sure.
DeleteKay, don't open any emails from me....I think I got a virus. Husband just noticed an email in his email box from me which I never sent.
DeleteL...w
Doggone it! I was going to e-mail and let you know that yes, I did get one and erased it right away. I could tell it was a virus. I've learned my lesson.
DeleteBummer.
ReplyDeleteTruly.
DeleteOh that is awful.....I will keep Art in my thoughts.... Michelle
ReplyDeleteThank you, Michelle!
DeletePoor Art. Not only being hungry but sitting there with all the contagious people. You will both be in my thoughts and prayers Tues.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Patti. I'm always using the hand sanitizers around the hospital and Art washes his hands all the time too.
DeleteGoodness sake. Military medical care is worse than ever. Dianne
ReplyDeleteActually, it's really not all that bad. It wasn't great when I gave birth to Jon in the elevator some 35 years ago. It was sloppy back then, but it's gotten better here and at Great Lakes.
DeleteHello Kay,
ReplyDeleteDropped by your blog from Wenn's blog link. Hope Art's angiogram goes well next week.
Both my parents in law had angiogram and after that my mother in law put in a pacemaker for her arrhythmia. They are both in their mid 70s and doing ok now so fingers crossed everything goes well for Art.
Hello mun, it's so very nice to meet you. You have a lovely and fun blog. Thank you for your kind words.
DeleteWhat a day! Wishing Art all the best. I think your cover photo is lovely Kay. I haven't been on for ages but am working on being a better blogger/reader!
ReplyDeleteHi Cheryl! It's so nice to see you again. :-)
DeleteI'm sorry you had to deal with all that. Waiting for appointments that never arrive is a real pain but sounds like you are both very philosophical about such things. I try to be ;) How good of your brother to come over in the rain. He is a wonderful brother isn't he?
ReplyDeleteI don't know what I'd do without him. He's the best!
DeleteHope all turns out well
ReplyDeleteand thank you for being a new visitor
to my rambling :)
I'm enjoying your "rambling" very much.
Deletesending you strength, warmth and and positive thoughts for next week, you will nedd it!!
ReplyDeleteon a happy note, the food looks amazing!! you know i love food!!
We've already got another restaurant picked out for this coming Tuesday.
DeleteIt's a tough go when loved ones are ill! I'm getting pretty good at emptying a catheter bag! Hubby was only one night in hospital. Take care, both of you!
ReplyDeleteYour hubby is going through such a difficult time right now. I hope Buster is being more careful with his daddy. You are a wonderful nurse.
DeleteOh gosh, Kay. I'm so sorry to hear that you guys had such a frustrating experience. I'm praying for the next appointment to turn out better. I'll be thinking of you all and praying for good results.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Leona. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.
DeleteHi Kay, Hoping for GOOD NEWS on Tuesday! Sending healing thoughts to Art...Holly
ReplyDeleteThanks, Holly! I'm just hoping it doesn't rain since Dennis has to get here on a motorcycle.
DeleteI think this will all turn out OK. But it's an awful strain, of course. Best to you and Art.
DeleteWe love you, Art! Hope the medical "treatment" you are receiving improves and stands down!
ReplyDeleteWishing you and your well in this New Year -remember to rest as well as run!
ALOHA from Honolulu
Comfort Spiral
=^..^= <3
I'm catching up reading. I hope all has gone well for Art today and that he gets some good feedback.
ReplyDelete