Twin Cities Heart Walk 2010

I've been planning on walking in the Twin Cities Heart Walk as a milestone in my recovery. Saturday morning I put on my zipper shirt and headed out to Target Field bright and early at 8am, and enjoyed exploring the stadium and all the booths and displays. I had my picture taken with the North Memorial team at 8:30, and met up with my parents at about 9am and gave them the tour. We had fun walking around Target Field, getting some free stuff, and taking in the whole event. We took a brief trip to the upper deck to see our season ticket seats and enjoy the view. I got a free massage for my sore neck at a massage & chiropractic rehab clinic booth, got some freebie toys for Nathan, a free pedometer, and enjoyed some free fruit and granola bars from a tent out on the Twins Plaza.

Most importantly, I got a free hat. Now I'm not much of a hat person, but it's what the hat meant. They only gave them to heart disease survivors. I just told the girl running the giveaway table I had heart surgery 2 months ago. Thankfully she believed me so I didn't have to show off my incision scar! Speaking of heart disease survivors... they had a nice "survivors area" set up with tables to sit at and get off your feet and out of the crowd. The area was roped off and they had free coffee and food for the survivors as well. What I found ironic and quite funny was the selection of food made available to the heart survivors there... just donuts and pastries. Glazed, fruit and cream filled, high fat and high sugar. Not exactly heart-healthy, but a nice gesture. While I was tempted, I passed and got a free banana outside. Now I just have to work on resisting food temptations like this more often.

Beth and I are fans of the NBC show The Biggest Loser, and O'Neal (the Minneapolis contestant from the most recent season of the show) made an appearance at the Heart Walk. Beth and I really liked O'Neal and his daughter Sunshine on the show regardless of them being from Minneapolis. I figured Beth would get a kick out of this so I said hello to him, told him my wife and I were big fans, and were proud of him and his daughter (who lost 124 lbs and 99 lbs respectively). He was very kind and appreciative during our brief exchange. I had my mom take my picture with him, and he proceeded to give both of us hugs, which I thought was nice. After we walked on, it dawned on me he probably thought mom was my wife, since I mentioned that my wife and I were big fans, and Beth hadn't arrived yet. We all got a good laugh when I shared my realization with Mom, Dad, and Beth later while we were walking.

Nathan woke up from his morning nap at just the right time so Beth could make it out for the start of the walk at 11am. Before we hit the street I changed into my North Memorial team shirt I had picked up earlier in the morning. Thousands of walkers poured out into the street, and filled the streets around the stadium. The rain was very light, and we didn't need our umbrellas for most of the walk. The first mile ran right through downtown, which was fun, and looped back to Target Field where people had the option to stop or keep going for the full 3-mile walk. Beth and Nathan stopped after the first 1-mile leg so she could go home and feed him.

Mom and Dad and I walked the remaining two miles, and eventually met up with one of my cardiac rehab nurses who walked with us for about the last mile. Once we got back to Target Field, Mom & Dad hopped back on the light rail to go home, I hung around a little while, and then headed home myself. Overall it was a great experience and we all had a good time. Two months ago I could hardly walk a block without burning chest pain. I've since had open heart surgery, narrowly avoided a heart attack, and now completed a 3-mile walk with no difficulty. Needless to say it feels great to be able to do the walk, and to be where I am today. I'm looking forward to getting back to a normal routine.

Open Heart Surgery and Me

Wow, where do I begin? I'm sitting here in my recliner a mere week after open heart surgery, starting down the road to recovery, and trying to pull together the events of the last couple weeks here for posterity.

I had first noticed some chest pain and discomfort when I went walking for any extended period of time... out for a walk on my lunch break, walking into church carrying Nathan in his carseat, and walking around the neighborhood while Beth pushed Nathan in his stroller. I felt pressure at the base of my neck, which tended to radiate out over my collarbones and sometimes up into the back of my head. At first I thought it was some strange new muscle pain since I had just started being active once the weather warmed up outside. After a few days though it didn't take much to bring on the pain. Just walking from my car into my desk at work brought on a mild headache. The final straw was on a Tuesday trip to WalMart on my lunch break. I barely made it into the store before feeling chest pain and barely made it back to my car to sit down and call the doctor. I took the afternoon off work, went home, and had Beth bring me to the clinic for a mid-afternoon appointment.

Despite my young age (29) and lack of normal heart disease risk factors, my doctor took it seriously (which I'm told doesn't always happen). He ordered an EKG, a chest x-ray, and some blood work. All of these tests came up normal, so a stress echocardiogram (stress test) was ordered. We called the hospital and set it up for the following afternoon.

I went into work Wednesday morning and felt pretty good overall since much of my time there is spent sitting down with my body at rest. My boss was very understanding and helpful having dealt with his wife's heart issues in the past. We brought one of my coworkers up to speed on my big projects so they could move forward while I was out yet another afternoon. Little did I know I wouldn't be back for quite awhile.

The stress test was pretty straight forward. Record some ultrasound video of my heart at rest, walk on a treadmill until I hit 162 beats per minute, and record more video of my heart beating at that point. Getting to that point was a painful process, but I could appreciate the usefulness of the test... being able to re-create the problem for the medical staff who would be investigating. Like I had experienced before, chest pain set in fairly soon and got worse the longer I went. I kept telling the technicians about what I was feeling, pain level, etc. It was really tough. Once we hit the target heart rate I got back on the exam table and they took more video of my heart. After a few minutes of rest I was back to normal again. At that point I had my own cardiologist.

The cardiologist came in and described what they saw in the test. They could see in the video that some portions of my heart valves weren't opening and closing properly. This is usually caused by a blockage in one of the arteries of the heart. In my case, they were 90% certain there was a blockage in the Left Anterior Descending Artery. Needless to say Beth and I were shocked to be hearing this, and yet took some comfort knowing what was causing me so much pain and what could be done about it. The plan was to go in on Friday for an angiogram (test to locate the blockage) and possible angioplasty (implanting a stent).

After Friday's angiogram the terms "incredibly rare" and "incredibly lucky" were thrown around a lot. The blockage I had was not normal. It was called a Spontaneous Coronary Artery Dissection, meaning that the inner lining of the artery had torn and blocked the flow. This is very rare and there isn't any specific cause. Had the blockage happened only a quarter-inch "upstream" it would have most likely given me a heart attack and/or killed me. Because of the location of the blockage, a stent was not recommended. I would need open heart surgery to perform a bypass using an artery in my chest to bring blood flow below the blockage. The surgery would be a bigger ordeal and would require a longer recovery but in the long run would be better for me than dealing with the issues associated with stents. I stayed in the hospital Friday and Saturday waiting for my surgery on Sunday. My family set up my CaringBridge site to spread the news and keep everyone informed on how I was doing.

Thanks to my mother in law, our son was being taken care of, and I got to spend much of my time with my wife which made all the difference. She was my partner and friend throughout my hospital stay, and my second set of eyes and ears since I wasn't always able to focus on what was going on. Saturday night and Sunday morning were busy with surgical preparations. The last thing I remember before surgery was being wheeled down to an anesthesiology prep area with my family.

My first memory post-surgery was a half-conscious haze with a breathing tube in my throat. I was listening to my family talk to me and managed to talk back by writing messages in the air with my hands. I spent the rest of Sunday and part of Monday in the Intensive Care Unit, and moved up into my room on the 4th floor. Somehow I managed to get the best view of the downtown skyline from the corner room. Recovery in the hospital was rough, but it was the best place for me to be. Having Beth there much of the days really helped. My nurses and nurse assistants were very good to me, helping me when I needed it, and keeping an eye on my vitals. Sleep was ok, but never great. They also taught me some basic exercises I could start doing until I got my strength back. Progressively I got my various lines removed, and finally had my drainage tubes removed from my chest on Wednesday morning.

Thursday I got to go home from the hospital. A volunteer brought me down in a wheelchair while Beth brought the car around. It was a beautiful day and good day to go home. Each day since has been difficult in it's own way, and great in it's own way. Each day gets a little better. My muscle soreness has been getting better, my breathing has gotten better, sleep has improved, etc. My chest incision has been looking better, as have my drainage tube incisions. The recovery process has its own regimen to it. Right now I need to make sure I take all my medication, do my exercises, and take three 10-minute quarter-mile walks each day. As time goes on I'll e taking longer walks but right now that is about as much as I can handle. Everything happens slowly and I tire easily, but I can feel that getting better. Next week I start regular outpatient rehabilitation 3 days a week at the hospital.

It's going to be strange being home for 2 months without being able to lift or move anything over 10 pounds, but in the end, besides having a healed breastbone I think I'll come out of this a much stronger person.