Heartfelt story…

What a week!

The drama began on the Tuesday after I got back to work and sought my office GP for a referral letter to see a cardiologist because of the chest discomfort. To her credit, she told me to escalate the matter to the medical conceirge to make sure I get an appointment that very day.

I was assigned a cardiologist from Mount Elizabeth at 2pm that very day and was supposed to pop by on my own after lunch. But once the food was being digested, I started feeling breathless. Thankfully L works nearby and I got her to accompany me to the doctor. I couldn’t even drive. Once we arrived, the clinic was totally packed with folks for the after lunch slot. I was wondering if I’d survive the wait, but again miraculously the doctor called me in as the first patient – maybe being a new case helps.

He wanted to run some scans on me so they did an ultrasound scan immediately in the clinic but it was negative. The next step was to do a CT scan which had to be done next door at Paragon. I looked kinda dazed and he suggested I get warded so I can do it in Mount Elizabeth itself. That was already the late afternoon and after some rounds of waiting they couldn’t get a schedule so it had to be the next morning.

The next morning the CT scan finally took place. They injected contrast into the bloodstream and you can feel the liquid moving through your veins all the way down the groin. It was strange. So here’s what showed up. The pencil points at the black spot which approximates a 99% blockage of the Left Circumflex Artery. I was gobsmacked!

So my life starts flashing before my eyes then and I thanked God for allowing it to be found early and listened to the doctor explain the options for an angiogram to determine the veracity of it and the subsequent actions.

The angiogram was scheduled the next morning and it was worrying because I had to be fully awake for the procedure. I much rather be knocked out cold if you have to stick a wire through my wrist all the way to the heart. It wasn’t painful per se but just uncomfortable at times and it took almost an hour from start to end. So after the first round of the angiogram scan, they confirmed the blockage and I gave the go-ahead to insert a stent to rectify the situation.

I was put in observation in the High Dependency Ward for the next 24-hours where your blood pressure and heart rate vitals were measured automatically and surprisingly enough was discharged the next day when the vitals were all clear.

Previously, other than going through a few day-surgeries and bussing my family to hospitals for their own health emergencies, I’ve never really stayed in one myself as a patient. This week changed everything.

From getting warded with letters of guarantees, to waiting around anxiously for scans to happen, getting poked numerous times for blood tests and drips, getting angioplasty done and staying overnight in a high dependency ward totally wired up you can’t move out of bed, I think I’ve experienced the gamut of it all.

Now I fully empathise with all the times my loved ones were admitted.

In an uncanny numeric way, my mum’s life was changed spiritually when she had a heart attack more than a decade ago. She was born in 1946. This year I’ll be 46.

I am discerning what God has in mind for me. I know for sure he has given me a new life, a second stab at it. To get closer to Him as he wills for all of us.

Do keep me in your prayers and I pray you also stay healthy.