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I had an appointment on the 15th of May. My wife and daughter dropped me off. I got my
scooter out of the trunk of the car. I went inside the hospital but between the
coffee shop and the elevators on the first floor, I had a heart attack.
Cecil had a massive heart attack at the VA on that day. We took him to the cath lab there.
We opened up his artery and put him on a support system called intra-aortic balloon pump. That
wasn't enought to keep him going. That was clear.
He was on a breathing machine, an aortic balloon pump, his artery was opened up. We'd stopped
the heart attack, but he had sustained so much damage at that point that he wasn't able
to sustain. His pressure continued to drop. He wasn't doing well.
He sustained a lot of damage to the ventricle on the right side and the bottom of his heart.
The right ventricle wasn't moving at all, so we wanted to put a pump in there.
Prior to a couple weeks to that event, they would have sent him down the street, opened
his chest and put the right ventricular assist device in surgcially. Which is an extreme
high complication rate, morbitidy, mortality rate for somebody who's had a heart attack.
Instead of a device placed inside the heart, this can be placed percutaneously. It's done
without making large incisions, it's done with periferal canulation.
Through large tubes that go through the veins and come up into the heart, we put the pump
aparatus. And through the veins and into the pulmonary artery. We're then able to pump
blood through the right ventricle basically bypass the right ventricle and act as a right
side pump. The affect on him was immediate when I was
there. We saw him come in a white pale color, despite being on a ventilator. He had poor
oxygen he could have oxygenation coming into his lungs via the machine but you don't have
enough blood flow going there getting oxygenated. Therefore he's not doing well.
As soon as we turned the RVAD on, he immediately "pinked up."
His color got better. His need for agents to support his blood pressure became much
less. Over the next 24 hours, he imporved remarkably.
I felt fine when I got out of the car. The next thing I remember is waking up over at
the med center on the 18th. I lost 3 days.
I think it also highlights the VA's mission to provide the best medical care it can. And
recognizing if they can't provide that service, they'll get a life-saving service done down
the street. I salute the VA for striving to provide the best care they can.
I feel so lucky because they didn't have to open my chest.
He happened to be in the right place at the right time. Cecil is very fortunate that all
the pieces fell into place. It worked out very well for him.
Oh, it's amazing. The staff over at the med center is phenomenal. I couldn't ask for a
better crew.
I'm just working now to get my strength back so I can get back home where I can be with
all of them.