Gah!

[altivo]

So Gary's little brother had bypass surgery on Monday and seems to be recovering as nicely as they can expect. They plan to send him home by the weekend now. That's good.

I get home at 8:30 pm and Gary and his mom are sitting in the kitchen. He says "I need you to drive me to the emergency room." So I did.

Now he's hooked up to monitors and stuff there and they're keeping him overnight. He did not have a heart attack. But he was feeling tingling in his extremities and somewhat disoriented. I and the ER doc think it's stress and exhaustion. They gave him nitroglycerin and they want to put him through a stress test in the morning. The nitro relieved the cold tingling, and probably gave him a headache instead but he didn't mention that. Blood pressure, enzymes, and all that stuff are within normal ranges. Thank goodness he has a better insurance plan this time.

At least as long as his mom doesn't have an attack too, we should be OK. I'll skip work tomorrow so I can go get him when they release him. Then probably I'll end up driving her home to the city, which he would have done himself tomorrow, but I'm not letting him.

We got home at 11 pm, I made a dinner of leftovers, put mom to bed and I'm following immediately.

Comments

[innerwolf.livejournal.com]

Stress can bring on all sorts of things....hang in there.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I know. I've been watching it in the in-laws for years now. Fortunately I don't wind up so easily or so tightly. Everything appears to be cooling down now, thanks.

[avon-deer.livejournal.com]

That sounded like a stressful evening for all concerned. I hope things work out. Isn't Nitroglycerin an explosive though?

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Yup. Nitroglycerin(e) is a powerful explosive and the basis of dynamite. It is also a powerful heart stimulant. (Rather akin to starting a car in cold weather by squirting ether into the carburetor, I guess. Kaboom.) Anyway, things are back under control now, looks like.

[avon-deer.livejournal.com]

Dangerous stuff to take then. I am glad he is pulling through.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Yes, the conclusion now is that he was not having heart problems at all. It was stress and anxiety, complicated by exhaustion and perhaps an incipient ulcer from too much coffee. It sounds like they are going to put him on a stomach medication and tell him to cut the coffee (which I've been saying for years.)

[schnee.livejournal.com]

Gah indeed! x.x Good to hear it was not actually a heart attack, at least; I hope he'll recover again soon.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Talked to him on the phone this morning, he says he's fine and sounds quite well. I'm expecting a call to come get him any minute now.

[schnee.livejournal.com]

Mmmm, that's good.

goodness me -

[vimsig.livejournal.com]

2008 is not doing you lot any favours at the moment. Stay warm, stay safe, stay healthy

Re: goodness me -

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Yeah, my hope that 2008 would be an improvement isn't going very well just yet. However, all seems to be recovering at the moment. I expect a call any minute now to go pick him up and bring him home.

[farhoug.livejournal.com]

Hopefully it's just stress, one sure gets a bit jumpy after an operation like that. *fingers crossed*

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Yeah, and his whole family are abnormally jumpy to begin with. The diagnosis this morning is stress plus incipient ulcer from too much coffee. I'm going to have to clamp down harder on his coffee consumption, now that the doctor has backed me up on it. ;p

[farhoug.livejournal.com]

*nods* Coffee is a bit sneaky, if there's even a bit of stress on top of that it can make one feel pretty awful. I've had to remind myself a couple of times that I've been inadvertently overdosing myself, and that that's the most probable cause for any odd feelings. And I'm glad to hear it's nothing more serious. ^^

Just don't go hiding his morning coffee... ;-)

[altivo.livejournal.com]

A cup in the morning is OK. We make nine cups in the morning, of which I drink one and go off to work. On a typical day, by lunch time he has made a second pot, which he finishes about the time I get home.

He will also have coffee if he goes out anywhere to eat, or passes a coffee shop, or whatever. Giving him decaffeinated doesn't help, he just drinks more.

And he wonders why he doesn't sleep well.

[farhoug.livejournal.com]

I try to keep it around four cups per day, to start the day, and so it would actually work if I needed some extra "jitter" during the day. I think caffeine got a half life of 4 hours or so, thus it's better to keep the coffee drinking before afternoon anyways.
Though coffee is kind of a national drink around here, everywhere you go there's probably some offered to you anyways. It's kind of a social drink really, and well, a good reason to procrastinate too. =)

[dragon-punk.livejournal.com]

I hope he'll be alright. His mom too.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Things appear to be headed back for normal, thanks.

[shadow-stallion.livejournal.com]

I hope everything turns out ok with Gary. Keep us posted and let us know that ya'll are ok.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

All seems to be well as of now. He should be released from the hospital before noon, they say. Thanks.

Need anything?

[doug-taron.livejournal.com]

I called Tuesday to make sure that you guys survived the tornado OK. Gary told me about his brother, but sounded fine himself. That's distressing news. If there way that Leon or I could help at the moment? Call us any time, we will be there for you.

Re: Need anything?

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the offer, much appreciated believe me. Everything's fine. Gary's EKG and enzymes are normal, his blood pressure is normal, they're doing a stress test this morning just to double check and then we expect he'll be released.

The doctor's diagnosis and mine coincide: anxiety attack and incipient ulcer from too much coffee. No surprise there. Fortunately today is a light work day for me and I just took it off. Wayne is doing well too, they still expect to send him home by the weekend.

[felder.livejournal.com]

*hugs you both tight*

Hope he's feeling better soon hon. Hang on in there,things will work out

[altivo.livejournal.com]

*hugs back* Thanks, I needed that. Everything seems to be fine. Certainly no heart problems, anyway. They say he'll be released before noon, so I'm just waiting now to go pick him up.

[tinbender.livejournal.com]

Hopefully it's just the stress and exhaustion as mentioned.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Yep, that was the conclusion.

[cabcat.livejournal.com]

Nitroglycerin?

*offers the Horsey a blanket and some oaty treats* Hope you two manage to get some rest soon.

I had a panic attack once that gave me that tingling badly I thought I was having a heart attack or similar but I was rational enough to know that wasn't the problem. I found somewhere quiet and waited for it to pass. I've only ever had the one but by god I never want another.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Nitroglycerin is a powerful heart stimulant, somewhat like digitalis but faster acting and faster to wear off.

However, you've got it figured. I think it was an anxiety attack more than anything else. (An expensive one. The cost of seeing a doctor, let alone a hospital visit, is so high now that it's like buying a house.)

[cabcat.livejournal.com]

Isn't digitalis very toxic O.O Then again getting an explosive fluid pumped into you is kind of the same.

Luckily I now have health insurance which covers all emergency treatment. I couldn't afford it with my old job and the new health insurance policies allow people to taylor their policy themselves :) I don't have pregnancy or obstetric services cover *chuckles* makes it cheaper.