{"id":3374,"date":"2013-11-12T15:34:35","date_gmt":"2013-11-12T19:34:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/svecho.com\/?p=3374"},"modified":"2013-11-13T12:19:41","modified_gmt":"2013-11-13T16:19:41","slug":"tropical-storm-jeff-our-own-personal-storm","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/svecho.com\/?p=3374","title":{"rendered":"Tropical Storm Jeff, Our Own Personal Storm…"},"content":{"rendered":"

The decision to remain in the hurricane zone during the season turned out to be just fine with regard to weather.\u00a0 Hurricane season will officially be over November 30th. It had been predicted to be an active season and was in some parts of the world, lucky for us it was calm in the Atlantic.<\/p>\n

On a personal front, we recently felt like we were in the midst of our own tropical storm shortly after arriving in Detroit October 23rd. \u00a0 We are extremely fortunate to have weathered the storm and expect to be heading back to Puerto Rico within the next few weeks.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

We had known for the past several weeks that Jeff had a cardiac issue and had been working with a cardiologist in Puerto Rico since mid August.\u00a0 It first became apparent when Jeff noticed a shortness of breath and tightening in his chest when he headed out for a jog in early August.\u00a0 We were in the tropics in the summer and it was oppressively hot so we initially hoped it wasn’t a cardiac issue but something respiratory due to the environment.\u00a0 After the second occurrence while just walking Jeff asked me to schedule an appointment with a cardiologist.<\/p>\n

Scheduling the appointment proved to be a challenge due to our language skills, or lack there of.\u00a0 While it is not a problem finding English speaking\u00a0doctors in Puerto Rico, it is a problem to call their office and schedule the appointment in English.\u00a0 After several calls I connected with HIMA\u00a0Health system which, through it’s “Medical\u00a0Tourism” office, provides the service of an English speaking health concierge.\u00a0 The initial appointment was scheduled fairly quickly and after an EKG and exam by the doctor everything looked ok.\u00a0 The doctor called for a stress test which unfortunately was not scheduled until\u00a0several weeks out.\u00a0 We were pretty bummed about the delay but again the language barrier was in play.\u00a0 Also, it seemed the doctor felt the symptoms were indicating respiratory rather that cardiac problems.<\/p>\n

During the intervening weeks Jeff’s symptoms gradually came on quicker with less exertion.\u00a0 He never felt pain but describes it as the feeling of exercising too hard and needing to slow down and catch his breath.<\/p>\n

During the stress test he quickly experienced the symptoms and for the first time felt some pain.\u00a0 The doctor also saw evidence of problems in the EKG report and stopped the test.\u00a0 He said the next step would be a cardiac catheter and felt he could schedule it the following week. \u00a0Our initial thoughts were to proceed with the next step but we became more concerned as there were delays in scheduling once again. \u00a0Our trip to Detroit was nearing and Jeff contacted a cardiac group at Beaumont hospital in Royal Oak where he was able to schedule an appointment for 8:30 the morning after our arrival.\u00a0 We collected all the reports and records from the doctor in PR in preparation for the meeting.<\/p>\n

We arrived in Detroit the evening on Wednesday, October 24th.\u00a0 Thursday morning (10\/25) we went in to Beaumont expecting a consultation where the doctor would call for more testing.\u00a0 It didn’t take long to see that these doctors were approaching the situation with a much greater urgency than we had seen in PR. \u00a0Dr Goldstein quickly determined that he would admit Jeff and arrange for a cardiac catheter that afternoon and,\u00a0at a minimum, Jeff would stay overnight following the cath.\u00a0 Dr Goldstein was leaving town that afternoon and organized for Dr Dixon who runs the cath lab to do the test.<\/p>\n

Once settled in the room we contacted Brian and Sarah to fill them in on what was happening.\u00a0 Prior to this we had hadn’t felt it was necessary to let them know since we didn’t know much ourselves. Brian had arrived in Detroit that morning from Seattle and Sarah was due the next evening.\u00a0 We were all looking forward to seeing each other and to attend Lindsey and Tim’s wedding.\u00a0 We had been pleasantly surprised to meet Jeff’s first nursing team when we arrived on the floor shortly before, Tim and Lindsey.\u00a0 It was a nice coincidence and they were a great team.<\/p>\n

It was early afternoon when transport came to take Jeff to the cath lab where we met Dr Dixon who explained the procedure and reiterated what Dr Goldstein had said that morning.\u00a0 It was likely they would find a blockage and fix it with a stent.\u00a0 Dr Dixon told Brian and I that it would be about an hour and a half before we would hear anything so when we were called back in 45 minutes later I knew it didn’t go as expected.<\/p>\n

What Dr Dixon had found was that Jeff in fact had several blockages and would require surgery. He showed Brian and I video from the procedure, one artery was fully blocked and others were as much as 70, 80 and 90% blocked. \u00a0He also pointed out the passageways Jeff’s body had created itself to provide some blood flow.\u00a0 He had already contacted the surgical staff and explained that he had asked them to consider surgery Saturday but we should expect at least Monday.<\/p>\n

Just after getting settled back on the room Dr Tepe breezed in and introduced himself as a cardiac surgeon and explained that Jeff was lucky to have been added to his schedule the next afternoon. \u00a0He explained that he does only this surgery and has done over 5000 of them.\u00a0 Jeff would need a quadruple bypass involving harvesting one vein from his calf and a mammary\u00a0artery for use to construct 4 new pathways to restore sufficient blood flow.\u00a0 The procedure is called CABG\u00a0– Coronary Arterial Bypass Graft.\u00a0 Dr Tepe explained that each of his\u00a0micro snitches would be identical and perfect.\u00a0 He displayed just the amount of arogance and confidence you would want in your cardiac surgeon!<\/p>\n

Once on the surgical schedule there was a stream of people through the room that needed blood, respiratory function tests, signatures, etc.\u00a0 I can picture Jeff trying to eat his dinner as people stood in line waiting to get access for what they needed. We called Sarah and found that her flight would have her in the air during Jeff’s surgery which would not work – she is not a good flier under the best of circumstances.\u00a0 Also, they had made this same trip just over two years ago for Nate with a very difficult outcome.\u00a0 She and Katie arrived Friday morning (10\/27) and were able to visit with Jeff for a bit before he was taken to pre-op.<\/p>\n

Jeff was in surgery for about 5 hours during that time we received periodic updates.\u00a0 The vein removal was complete, he is now on bypass, still on bypass with all going well, off bypass, etc.\u00a0 Once he was in ICU we were able to see him for a few minutes. He still had all the tubes, monitors and the ventilator and was still out of it but was doing great. He got through the initial recovery very well and was released from the hospital the following Wednesday.<\/p>\n

Jeff is doing very well and continues to get stronger daily.\u00a0 We also continue to be amazed with how incredibly lucky we are to have the outcome that we do given the significance of Jeff’s condition, the remote places we have been and the strenuous activities he has been involved in.<\/p>\n

Jeff and I did miss the wedding but Brian, Sarah and Katie went and were able to enjoy the festivities without too much worry for Jeff.\u00a0 We missed the opportunity to see so much of our family but are trying to see some people while we remain in the area for Jeff’s recovery.<\/p>\n

We see both his cardiologist and cardiac surgeon on Wednesday and Thursday and hope to have a better idea of when we can head back to Echo in Puerto Rico.\u00a0 It was nice to see a bit of fall in Michigan but with snow flurries and daytime highs in the mid 30’s we are ready to move on.<\/p>\n

\"20131112-143222.jpg\"<\/a>

Drugs are good.<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

Yesterday was Nate’s birthday. Being here in Michigan makes Nate more present to us in every way. We are surrounded by our memories of him and of the memories of all the friends and family that continue to remember and love him. Yes, the pain of his loss is even more acute, but so is the joy of all the memories. Happy Birthday Buddy.<\/p>\n

\"20131113-100850.jpg\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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