A Week Of "Fun" And More

Here's the plan for this upcoming week of "fun" and beyond. Tomorrow morning (Monday, February 28, 2022), I am going to the hospital emergency room due to shortness of breath, chest soreness, and overall weakness, as per my cardiothoracic surgeon. Why? I actually have that, and because my surgeon and his assistant agreed that I need to have my lungs tested before I have coronary artery bypass surgery (4 or 5 bypasses) on either Thursday or Friday (March 3 or 4, 2022). I am expecting to be admitted into the hospital tomorrow. This test will apparently determine the cause of my shortness of breath, outlining the percentage of the cause between my heart and my lungs. Scans late last year determined my heart ejection fraction (the strength at which my heart pushes blood through my arteries) to be dangerously low: 32 percent and 41 percent, respectively. Lower than 40 percent is flirting with death. An echocardiogram earlier this month has it at 45 percent. The normal range is 80 to 85 percent. It is better for the cause to be more heart-related than lung-related. If it is more lung-related - I have asthma/COPD - it may cause problems with getting me off of the ventilator after surgery, which could mean a tracheotomy and/or remaining sedated for up to two weeks. Either way, I would need to be fed through a tube inserted in my side and into my stomach. During the surgery, which is expected to take five hours, they will stop my heart from beating and stop me from breathing. They don't seem to be concerned with restarting my heart. A day before the bypass surgery, I am expecting to have a balloon surgically inserted to strengthen my heart. Also, the bypass surgery will begin with the removal of a two-foot section of a main vein in probably my left leg but possibly my right leg to be used for all of the bypasses. Because I had kidney failure (and six weeks of dialysis) early last year, I also run the risk of kidney failure. Diabetes, a recent heart attack, and congestive heart failure last year could further complicate the surgery. (I also had a thoracentesis of my right lung last year and three of four surgeries on my left foot, all last year.) This all seems to be subject to change, but at least we are moving forward. In the future, I may need to have a pacemaker or a defibrillator installed.