Me: So what’s going on Brain?
Brain: Well, we’ve had to take care of a few things which meant being away from here for a while
Me: Hey who is that?
Brain: It’s a close friend of ours that I thought the time was appropriate to join us. This is Heart
Me: Hey Heart
Heart: Hi, how are you?
Me: I’m great, the question is, how are you?
Heart: I am great thanks to Brain
Me: Brain? What the hell did Brain do?
Heart: Brain saved me
Me: What?
Brain: That’s right your Fattitude. I was smart enough to know that Heart wasn’t feeling right so I made Heart go to the Hospital
Me: Well that was smart of you brain, what happened?
Brain: Heart experienced a little tightness so I thought we should have it checked out
Me: And…..
Heart: Well funny thing that was all the tests they did in the Emergency Department were normal….Bedside ultrasound, EKG, lab work….everything was fine
Me: That’s great
Heart: Well that’s only part of the story. The smart doctor listened to what Brain said and suggested a nuclear stress test and an echocardiogram for the next day.
Brain: I liked the doc. Like me, he is a smart dude.
Me: So what happened the next day?
Heart: Well the nuclear stress test showed some ischemia
Me: What the hell is ischemia?
Brain: Ischemia is a restriction in blood supply to tissues. This is not good. That said, the lab tests for Troponin (3 or 4 tests over 24 hours) were all consistent which is really good as an elevated Troponin level can indicate a worsening of the condition. Needless to say this is not good for our friend Heart.
Me: Got it, so what did they do?
Heart: Brain you explain
Brain: On Friday afternoon at 3pm they did something called a cardiac catherization and inserted a stent into Hearts left anterior descending (LAD) artery as it was found to be 99% blocked
Me: WHAT?
Heart: Yep. That artery is really, really important as it runs down the front of the main wall of the heart. Did I mention it’s really, really important.
Me: Holy shit, that doesn’t sound good
Heart: That would be an understatement. Remember I said that the LAD is pretty important
Me: What the fuck?
Brain: It was pretty cool. They only consciously sedated me so I was awake, albeit a little loopy, during the whole procedure. I could talk with the doctors which was pretty cool.
Me: Cool are you kidding me?
Brain: Well they went in via our radial artery (on our right wrist) and snaked the catheter up to Heart and checked things out. That’s where they found the blockage and corrected it.
Me: What the fuck, that’s crazy. How did they correct it?
Brain: They first used a balloon to open the artery and then they put in a 3mm x 38mm stent to keep it open.
Me: Holy shit
Brain: It only took 90 minutes and I was back in my room in no time and they sent me home Saturday afternoon
Me: Now what?
Heart: I feel amazing today. It will take a few days to get back to normal and a few weeks from an exercise perspective to get rocking and rolling but that will all be fun
Brain: That’s right. The doctor said that all my exercising really saved us and that I need to keep it up.
Me: I’m all for that
Brain: We also have to be smarter in what we eat
Me: Ugh, really.
Brain: Yes, but that will be fun. Lots of healthy new food to explore
Heart: Never mind we can adopt more kittens
Me: What?
Brain: What?
Heart: When I was looking through Facebook, remember those cute kittens that were for adoption? Let’s get them
Brain: Okay Heart, you need to chill out. Just because we invited you to this party doesn’t mean we’re acting on every impulse you have
Me: That’s right Heart. We have to have some order here and adopting kittens just isn’t in our plan
Heart: But they’re so cute
Brain: Enough cuteness. We need to go walk for 10 minutes
Me: Right
Heart: If you say so
Brain: Come on guys, we still have a lot of mountains to explore
Me: Explore
Heart: Explore it is! Right on Fat Man
Me: Hey, don’t you start too
Brain: Heart is right Fat Man! Let’s rock
Me: Fine, let’s rock
Heart: Goody, let’s rocK!
Brain: Right on! We have so much more exploring to do!
